Welcome to the RISD Museum’s 2021–22 Year in Review, a summary of our activities for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. This document is just one of many ways we measure and summarize our work, and we welcome your feedback about what we have shared here.

With the museum once again open to the public for a full year, attendance rebounded and exceeded expectations; we enjoyed a vibrant visitorship of nearly 100,000 individuals, reaching 221% of expected revenue. To remove barriers to access, we shifted our hours of operation to include more time outside of the typical work day and added additional opportunities for free admission each week.

We opened ten new exhibitions and installations, offering new interpretation and research developed in partnership with faculty, students, local artists, and community members. We also reopened 9,000 square feet of gallery space with a new presentation of art and design in the collection from 1900 to today, developed in collaboration with 12 contemporary artists and community advisors including local high school students and school teachers.

Behind the scenes, we completed projects to increase access to the collection, including migrating our entire digital database into a new Digital Asset Management System, and photographing and cataloging areas of our collection that had previously received little attention.

Our full-staff anti-racist work progressed into 12 task force groups who embarked on clear and measurable work in areas such as communications, governance, community partnerships, climate and sustainability, and more. This work included creating the museum’s climate statement, which will guide our sustainability policies.

Many members of our staff also pursued professional development opportunities and represented the museum externally on committees and at conferences, workshops, symposia, and festivals.

To build a stronger fundraising culture and increase opportunities for support, our museum advancement team merged with RISD’s department of Institutional Advancement.

And finally, despite increased costs and another challenging fundraising year, we ended the year with a balanced budget.