The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (FIU) today announced the launch of the Virtual Frost Art Museum. This new website enables art enthusiasts to view exhibitions from their computer or smart phone, thanks to support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its Knight Arts Challenge. The Virtual Frost Art Museum can be accessed by visiting http://virtual.frostartmuseum.org
The Virtual Frost Art Museum applies cutting-edge software to the art-viewing experience by allowing online visitors to tour the Museum galleries and portions of the Sculpture Park at FIU from a variety of perspectives, including 360-degree panoramic views and close-up views of individual artworks. Current and recent exhibitions, as well as archived past exhibitions, will be catalogued, allowing viewers, even those outside South Florida, to visit current exhibitions, or exhibitions they may have missed.
“ The Virtual Frost Art Museum is really unique,” said Carol Damian, Frost Art Museum’s Director & Chief Curator. “We have been presenting world-class exhibitions and cultural programming to the public, free of charge, here for years, and will continue to do so in the future. We are pleased that now everyone can view these exhibitions for free online as well. As a cultural institution, we strive to break down the barriers that keep people from viewing, appreciating and learning about art; now physical distance will not prevent us from attaining that goal. For those with whom distance is not an issue, regular visits to the Virtual Frost Art Museum will help them get to know us better, to see our wonderful building and facilities and the exciting and eclectic art on display here, and to whet their appetites for visits to the actual Frost Art Museum, again and again.”
This project was a recipient of funding from the Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge. “The most innovative arts organizations are seeking to go where the audience is – and increasingly that is online. Programs like the Frost Museum’s can help spark interest from a distance that we hope translates into more engagement with the collection,” said Dennis Scholl, vice president/arts for Knight Foundation.
This tool may also be used by teachers, parents, and students who are planning a visit to the Museum. Miami-Dade County schoolteachers will be encouraged to utilize it as a pre-visit activity to prepare their classes for what they will experience at the Frost. For schools that may not have the ability or opportunity to visit the Museum in person, teachers can access the Virtual Frost Art Museum and conduct full lessons in the classroom.
This project is part of the Museum of the Future initiative, which focuses on developing an identity as a resource for everyone, from the casual art enthusiast to the graduate student researching art. In order to meet these goals, the Museum collaborated with a graduate design team from FIU’s School of Architecture to expand the means by which people interact with art through digital media. Through the launch of the Virtual Frost Art Museum, as well as by digitally publishing the Museum’s catalogues (http://issuu.com/frostart), videos of interviews with artists and curators (http://www.youtube.com/frostartmuseum) and the Museum’s Permanent Collection (http://thefrost.fiu.edu/collections_browse.htm), the Museum is now digitally pursuing its mission as “a resource for scholarly research and interdisciplinary collaboration, augmenting the university’s educational mission as both a local and global center of knowledge and culture.”
In addition to support from the Knight Arts Challenge, this project was made possible with generous support from the Members & Friends of the Frost Art Museum, Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC., and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.
About the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University
The Frost Art Museum opened its current 46,000-square-foot state of the art building in November 2008. Over 125,000 people have visited the Museum in its new building since its opening in November, 2008. Admission to the Museum is always free. The Frost is an American Association of Museums accredited museum and Smithsonian affiliate and is located at 10975 SW 17thStreet, across from the Blue garage and adjacent to the Wertheim Performing Arts Center on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Closed on Mondays and
most legal holidays. For more information, please visit http://thefrost.fiu.edu or call 305-348-2890. Follow us on Twitter and Like Us on Facebook.
About FIU
Florida International University is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, with nearly 50,000 students. About 110,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission, with research expenditures of more than $100 million per year. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.
©2012 The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum | 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami FL | 33199 | 305.348.2890 | [email protected]

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