The RISD Museum was founded on the belief that art, artists, and the institutions that support them play pivotal roles in promoting broad civic engagement and creating more open societies. Working collaboratively and responsively, we aspire to reflect and support multiple perspectives, cross-cultural dialogues, and opportunities for free expression. We interpret our collection with the focus on the maker and we deeply engage with art and artists, presenting ideas and perspectives that can be inspiring and complex.

We offer fellowships for curators, artists, designers, and faculty to pursue research, develop new work, and make important contributions to their fields, the RISD Museum, and our communities.

Serving as a laboratory for a larger creative community, the RISD Museum encourages new design methods through experimentation, iteration, and collaboration.

We provide spaces and opportunities for the intersection of artistic practice and research. Such creative investigations might take the form of collaborative and open-ended forms of exploration and inquiry that lead to new work and insights.