Friends of the Art Museum
At Middlebury College, the Friends of the Art Museum (FoAM) play a vital role in sustaining the Museum’s mission to teach, inspire, and build community through art. Each year, members help shape the Museum’s collection, support learning opportunities, and enjoy access to programs that connect people and ideas through the visual arts. Join us as a Friend of the Art Museum. Help grow the Museum’s collection, support student and community learning, and share in the joy of discovery.
What Joining Means
Four-fifths of the Friends’ dues are designated for the purchase of artworks for the Museum’s permanent collection. At the annual Purchase Party in November the Friends have the opportunity to vote on which works to acquire with their funds. Over the past forty years the Friends have gifted more than seventy works to the Museum, including objects ranging from an ancient Chinese mirror and black figure lekythos (the Friends’ first ever acquisition) to works by modern masters such as Chuck Close and Jasper Johns.
Gothic Coffret Featuring Woodcut of Saint Roch
At the museum’s first in-person Purchase Party since 2019, the Friends voted to support the acquisition of a rare Gothic coffret dedicated to Saint Roch.
The remaining dues provide important funding for aspects of the Museum’s educational outreach including events, trips, family programs, and student initiatives.
The Friends sponsor regular day trips to places such as Montreal, Williamstown, and Boston, as well as overnight trips to popular regional destinations such as New York City and Philadelphia. In addition, the Friends coordinate special members-only gallery talks and behind-the-scenes events in the Museum.
Membership Levels and Benefits
Our membership year runs from July 1 to June 30.
Membership in the Friends of the Art Museum comes with many benefits, including access to special events, Museum store discounts, newsletters, and mailings. Below is a list of membership levels and the benefits associated with each.
Current Student: FREE
- Free gift: choose between a travel mug, water bottle, journal, poster, or other items
- Special notification/invitation to events and preview parties
- Subscription to the weekly ARTSmail/calendar
- 15% discount on most items offered for sale by the museum
- Invitation to take part in Friends of Art trips at a student rate
Member: Free, or Pay What You Wish
- Admission is always free for friends and family
- Digital newsletter and Museum to Go subscription directly to your inbox
- Special notification/invitation to events and preview parties
- Subscription to the weekly ARTSmail/calendar
- Personal Friends of the Art Museum membership card
Individual: $65
- All of the above and:
- 15% off most items offered for sale by the Museum
- Membership in North American Reciprocal Museum Program (NARM)
Family/Dual: $100
- All of the above and:
- Memberships in Reciprocal Organization of Associated Museums (ROAM)
Sponsor: $250
- All of the above and
- One complimentary Exhibition Catalogue (Let us choose for you)
- Recognition on the donor plaque in the entrance foyer of the museum for one year
Patron: $500
- All of the above and
- Invitation to a private tour of an exhibition offered by its in-house curator
Director’s Circle: $1,000
- All of the above and
- Special invitation to a private lunch with the museum director
Farnsworth Society: $2,500
- All of the above and
- Special invitation to dinner with the museum director and a guest lecturer
More Information
For more information on becoming a member, please call Douglas Perkins at (802) 443-5235 or email him at deperkin@middlebury.edu.
You can join the Friends or renew your membership anytime. Or you may send a check in the amount of the membership level at which you wish to join. Please make your check payable to Friends of the Art Museum and mail it to:
Friends of the Art Museum
c/o Gift Administration
Middlebury College
700 Exchange Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
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Friends of the Art Museum Board
Louise Cadwell, Chair
Louise has worked with schools and children throughout her career with aesthetics, integrated studies, and community engagement as guiding principles. Most recently, she consulted with educators across North America through Cadwell Collaborative: Sustainability Education and School Design. Louise attended Middlebury College, earned a M. Ed. from Lesley University and received her Ph.D. from Union Institute. Louise is the author of Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An Innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education, Bringing Learning to Life: The Reggio Approach to Early Childhood Education, and editor of In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia.
Lisa McLaughlin Wyncoop, Vice Chair
Lisa McLaughlin Wyncoop has worked in education for her whole professional life, focusing on international students in both university and high school levels. She is a former adjunct professor at Columbia University as well as a former teacher of English as a second language in the US and Spain. Most recently she was Education Manager at the Wells Mountain Initiative, in charge of the international scholarship program. She graduated from Boston College with degrees in English and philosophy and holds a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language from Saint Michael’s College. Lisa also currently serves on the Porter Hospital Auxiliary board and is a former board member of WomenSafe. She and her husband live in Orwell, where they raised two sons. She’s proud to continue her work on community-building through art and education by serving on the Friends of the Art Museum board.
Linda Mason, Secretary
A Middlebury graduate, Linda never got to take a course from Authur Healey because his courses always conflicted with required courses for her major, English Literature. Her art education was mostly in museums, many great museums, but one of her favorites is the Addison Gallery in Andover, MA where she lived for 37 years, prior to moving here. The Addison is also a teaching museum on a school campus, and she always found the diversity of their exhibits stimulating and instructive. She is excited by this opportunity, both to learn from, and to support Middlebury’s wonderful art museum.
Douglas Perkins ’94, Treasurer
Doug has been part of the museum staff since 2001 serving in various capacities. In his latest role as Associate Director for Operations and Finance his responsibilities include a little of everything: communications, digital content, budgeting, accounting, auction bidding, copier and fax repair. He’s been a semi-pro cyclist, a bartender, a poet, a web developer, and many other things, and is currently thinking about learning Gaelic.
Don Burns
Don is a recently retired geologist who has lived in Addison County over the past forty five years. He is a graduate of Middlebury College (BA Geology, Class of ’78) and also pursued a graduate degree at Tyler School of Art (MFA Sculpture, Class of ’83). Although he chose a profession in Geology, he has held a persistent interest in the Visual Arts throughout his life. As a Board member he is interested in exploring creative ways and opportunities for the Museum to share its resources with the local community of Addison County and beyond.
Theresa Harris
Theresa Harris was raised with a deep appreciation of the visual and performing arts. She studied classical dance, graduated from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia with a degree in Textile Design, and had a fulfilling career in the design world. Theresa moved to Middlebury in 2016 from Boston and was the director of Edgewater Gallery until May of 2025. She currently serves on the board of The New Music on the Point, volunteers at Town Hall Theater, does private fine art consulting and curation, and works to promote both the visual and performing arts in Vermont. She is honored to serve on the board of the Friends of the Art Museum and to work with the other members of the board to raise awareness of this valuable resource for the college and Middlebury community.
Perry Lessing
Perry has lived in Weybridge, and enjoyed the Museum of Art, since 1998. He retired from teaching math at Middlebury Union High School in 2020. Earlier in his teaching career he taught math and social studies in Saranac Lake, NY. Before that he taught first grade in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. He has degrees from New York University (BA in history, 1984) and Cal State, Los Angeles (MA in education, 1988). Though Perry has no training or expertise in art history, he has always loved museums and enjoys thinking about works of art.
Carole Mahoney
Carole Mahoney is a recent transplant to Vermont. She and her husband, Steve Mahoney (Middlebury ’78), spent nearly thirty years in California—twenty-five in Mill Valley, where they raised their two children, and the last five in the Truckee–Tahoe area. Trained in peer support, resiliency, and restorative justice practices, Carole co-founded a program that organized service trips for the bereaved community, leading sixteen international trips and three retreats over twelve years. Before moving to California, Carole and her husband lived in the Chicago area. “When I was living and working downtown, I was lucky enough to walk by the Picasso, Calder, and Joan Miró sculptures and the Chagall mosaics on a daily basis,” she recalls. “I’m thrilled to now be part of the Friends’ efforts to bring more public art to Middlebury.”
Barbara Marlow
Barbara has loved living in Middlebury the past 45 years. A Michigan State University graduate who majored in Fine Arts but taught high school math in Colorado for 8 years, she transitioned to college admissions at Middlebury after moving here in 1980 with her husband Hugh, and their family. The last 20 years of Barbara’s time in admissions were focused on international admissions, offering the occasional opportunity to explore great museums around the world. Barbara sings and performs with Maiden Vermont Chorus, is an avid pickleball player, and is excited to learn more about the workings of this wonderful museum and to help this community better appreciate all that the Middlebury College Museum of Art has to offer to everyone.
Lisa Rader
Lisa has been teaching art since 1998. She has been a graphic design and art teacher at the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury since 2004. Lisa earned her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Arizona and her BA in Studio Art from Allegheny. Lisa is proud to serve teen artists across our county and to help each of them expand through art.
Erin Sassin
Erin Eckhold Sassin is Associate Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Middlebury College, where she teaches modern architectural history and theory. She received her PhD in the History of Art and Architecture from Brown University in 2012. Her research is closely linked to her teaching interests: she has published on gender and design, the intersection of architecture, power, and ethnicity on the borders of the German Empire, as well as on Acoustic Ecology and the built environment. Her 2020 book, Single People and Mass Housing in Germany, was awarded a 2019 fellowship from the Graham Foundation. Her co-edited volume, States of Emergency: Architecture, Urbanism, and the First World War, informed a student-curated exhibition at the Davis Family Library in 2023. With her students, Erin curated two exhibitions at the MCMA—Bloom and Doom: Vienna 1900 (2016) and Weimar, Dessau, Berlin: the Bauhaus as School and Laboratory (2020)—as well as Ornament and Identity at the Sheldon Museum (2025).
Rebecca Strum (Becky)
Actor, Stage Director, Arts Educator. Founded and served as Director Academy for Visual and Performing Arts at Bergen County Academies, a public magnet high school in Hackensack NJ. Moved to Weybridge in 2016 with husband, Chuck Strum (now deceased). Children: Alec Strum (Middlebury College 2008 — Los Angeles), Kate Strum (McCall Idaho). Local Boards: WomenSafe, Middlebury Acting Company (where she also curates and directs Cutting Edge Staged Reading Series and directs full productions). Active member of CVUUS Worship team. BA Dickinson College, MFA Columbia University, PhD New York University.