Yale Center for British Art journal honored for excellence in open-access digital media

British Art Studies, an open-access digital journal jointly published by the Yale Center for British Art and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, has won a gold-level MUSE award from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).

Part of the “MUSE Open Culture” category, the award recognizes British Art Studies for its high standards of excellence in the use of media and technology for gallery, library, archive, and museum (GLAM) programs. The two institutions were presented with the award during a reception on May 7 at the AAM’s annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

British Art Studies publishes new research and scholarship on British art, architecture, and visual culture using an innovative interactive, multimedia platform. It publishes a digital platform, extending research and scholarship beyond a traditional print format. Its open-access policy requires no subscription, fee, or password to access the journal.

“Since its initial launch in November 2015, the journal has continued to expand in multimedia formats, using film, photography, and original art research and analysis. The contributors continue to challenge assumptions about the limits of scholarly publication through the materials they submit, using evolving technology that also allows real-time collaborations of a diversity of voices from around the world,” said Martina Droth, co-editor of the journal and deputy director of research and curator of sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art.

The MUSE Awards competition received more than 200 applications from a wide variety of institutions internationally. This year’s entries included videos and films, interactive kiosks and installations, virtual reality experiences, websites, audio tours, and other media.

“We are extremely proud to have received this award,” said Sarah Turner, deputy director of research at the Paul Mellon Centre and the journal’s managing editor. “The journal remains a current source of widely accessed art historical research and a validation of the intellectual gains derived from open source collaboration, for both academic communities and the public.”

Anne Young, manager of rights and reproductions at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and chair of the competition’s “Open Culture,” said that British Art Studies “presents one of the most elegant solutions to the sharing and reuse of peer-reviewed, published research while actively applying fair use and fair dealing exemptions of copyright laws.”

“We are thrilled that the AAM has honored British Art Studies with this award. The journal’s open-access policy reflects the mission established for both the Yale Center for British Art and the Paul Mellon Centre by our founder, Paul Mellon ‘29, which requires that our resources are free and available to all. This publication serves as a dynamic way to emphasize our shared commitment to providing the public with updated, critical research on British art and culture,” said Amy Meyers, director of the Yale Center for British Art.

The journal was also awarded the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums Innovation (GLAMi) People’s Choice Award at the 20th annual Museums and the Web conference, held in Los Angeles in April 2016.

“This has been not only a transatlantic endeavor on the part of both our institutions but one that uses today’s technological advances to allow global participation. We greatly appreciate how AAM has helped inform the public about this open-access journal, sharing information with wider audiences through its highly acclaimed competition and awards program,” said Mark Hallett, the Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

To read British Art Studies, visit the journal’s website.