Join the Contemporary Art Circle

At any giving level within the Founders Circle, you can join the Contemporary Art Circle. The Contemporary Art Circle provides engaged supporters with special opportunities to share and deepen their knowledge of contemporary art with other enthusiasts. Members receive unique invitations to view and discuss art with the deCordova curatorial team, artists, and collectors, deepening the experience of exhibitions presented at the museum and other Trustees properties. Exclusive offerings include travel to regional art institutions, annual art fairs, special roundtables, and lectures.

Thank you in advance for your support of contemporary art and the work of The Trustees to make it more accessible than ever.

Join or Renew Your Membership

You can join the Founders Circle and the Contemporary Art Circle or renew your annual membership on our webpage here.

Upcoming Contemporary Art Circle Calendar

Collector’s Evening
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Lexington, MA

Enjoy a special tour of a private contemporary art collection arranged in a unique home designed by the owners. Artists whose works are on view include photography by Chris Enos, Lalla Essaydi, Harold Edgerton, and György Kepes; sculpture by Michele Oka Doner, James Grashow, Anne Lilly, and Joseph Wheelwright; works on paper by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Fred Liang, and Louise Nevelson; as well as paintings and ceramics. Light refreshments will be provided, and the exact location will be shared with registered guests.

Artist Panel
Scales of Care: Craft, Land, and Community
Monday, Feb. 2, 2026
6 – 7:30 p.m.
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum

Join us for a conversation with Venetia Dale, Michelle Millar Fisher, and Sarah Turner who will explore how craft intersects with ideas of care—care expressed through artistic practice, care for landscapes and natural resources, and care for our communities and ourselves. Centered around Venetia Dale’s outdoor commission Within Time on view at deCordova as part of the outdoor exhibition Nature Sanctuary, the discussion traces the artwork’s roots in domestic craft traditions, ecological stewardship, and the intimate labor of making.

2026 Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture
Thursday, March 26, 2026
6 – 8 p.m.
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum

Join us for the 2026 Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture, featuring the three artists behind the original commissions for Art & the Landscape: The Land Tells Our Stories, opening across multiple Trustees properties in June 2026. This special program introduces the artists and the distinct landscapes that will host their site-responsive works, offering an early look into how each project reflects personal histories, ecological narratives, and place-based storytelling.

Ella Mahoney (Aquinnah Wampanoag) will draw on her connection to her ancestral homelands in Massachusetts through an installation at Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield, grounding her work in Wampanoag relationships to land, memory, and presence. May Babcock, known for using natural materials to explore themes of displacement and belonging, will create a new work for Moose Hill Farm in Sharon that reflects on our relationship with current day landscapes with their future ecologies. Posey Moulton will transform discarded materials from the fishing industry into a large-scale sculptural environment at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, magnifying the fragile micro-worlds these industries depend on.

Together, these artists ask a powerful question at the heart of this year’s lecture: Can art create an ecology?

Artful Jaunts Visit to Philadelphia
April 9-12, 2026

Contemporary Art Circle members will travel to Philadelphia with Artful Jaunts on April 9-12, 2026 for a captivating look at contemporary art and gorgeous gardens. The trip will include visits to the newly opened Calder Gardens, as well as established institutions like the Barnes Foundation and the Philadelphia Art Museum. We will also visit two important collections, including that of David and Julia Fleischner, and artist studios including conceptual artist Alex Da Corte and sculptor and installation artist Virgil Marti. We will also travel to the Brandywine Creek Valley to visit the beautiful Longwood Gardens.

deCordova Party for the Sculpture Park
May 9, 2026
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum

deCordova’s annual fundraising gala returns this spring, celebrating the change of season, bright opportunities, and new artwork at the museum. As The Trustees embarks on a new strategic plan, the organization deepens its commitment to protecting the special places of Massachusetts for everyone, forever. At deCordova, this work means providing a welcoming space for inspiration and education through contemporary art.

Along with honorary chairs Erica and Bob Mason, we look forward to celebrating a new year at deCordova with you. We’ll enjoy cocktails, dinner, and dancing amidst the unique art-filled landscape as we raise crucial operating support for the sculpture park and museum.

Opening of The Land Tells Our Stories
Sunday, June 7, 2026
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The Crane Estate, Ipswich

To mark the opening of Art & The Landscape: The Land Tells Our Stories, we’re hosting a celebratory brunch reception with artists Ella Mahoney, May Babcock, and Posey Moulton, alongside curator Tess Lukey. This festive gathering brings together art, place, and community to honor three powerful, new site-responsive commissions that illuminate the deep relationships between land, history, and creative practice.

Enjoy a special guided tour of Posey Moulton’s dynamic installation Second Wind, set against the sweeping vistas of Castle Hill on the Crane Estate. We’ll also explore the ideas and processes behind May Babcock’s Seaweed Protectors for American Chestnut, soon to be unveiled at Moose Hill Farm in Sharon, and Ella Mahoney’s Moshup’s Hand, sited at Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield, each offering a distinct lens on belonging, memory, and ecological care.

Toast the artists, experience the landscape anew, and be among the first to dive into the stories the land is ready to tell.