WHAT IS HAHS?

The Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program (HAHS) is a coalition of 55 museums that were the homes and working studios of American artists. Come, witness creativity.

Information on Membership and Affiliate Membership

Public sites with a strong connection to a historic visual artist (or a group of artists) may apply to join HAHS.   The HAHS Advisory and Exceutive Committees evaluate each application using the criteria listed below, in collaboration with preservation colleagues at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Inquiries into HAHS applicant cycles and procedures should be directed to artistshomes@savingplaces.org

 Each HAHS member should exhibit a strong combination of the following, while not every criteria must be achieved to gain entrance to the program: 

  • Owned by a non-profit organization or a federal/state/local/ government agency.
  • Interpretative focus on the legacy of a nationally or regionally significant artist or artists.
  • Recognized by a local or state government as being historically or architecturally significant. 
  • Able to maintain appropriate standards of quality for the visitor experience.
  • Open to the public on a regular basis. 
  • Able to maintain, conserve, and administer the historic place to protect and preserve the historical integrity of features, materials, appearance, workmanship, and environment in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.  
  • Able to maintain appropriate standards for the conservation of its museum collection.
  • If appopriate, relative to the age of the site, either listed on or determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Operate with professional leadership, ideally paid staff working with an advisory board, council, or similar governing entity.

HAHS is a membership fees-based program.  Annual dues are determined on a sliding scale and based on a site's annual operating budget.  The lowest dues category is $500 per year, and the highest is $1,250.

HAHS members agree to maintain, preserve and administer the historic place, protect and conserve the related collection in its ownership, possession or control in an appropriate manner, and demonstrate a commitment to education and interpretation.  Each site interprets the historic place of an artist for a broad and diverse audience, in order to accurately and honestly convey the history of the site in the context of larger themes of American history and culture.  

Membership Application Updates:

New Affiliate Membership Category

HAHS has recently launched of a new Affiliate category of membership category. This new category complements its longstanding Membership category.  The addition of this new category represents a commitment by the National Trust, and the program, to create new pathways for organizations and individuals stewarding preserved artist properties, that may not meet the criteria under existing membership, to engage in meaningful dialogue with their professional peers.  This is the first time in its more than twenty-year history that the program has created a new sphere for acceptance into its network of sites.

Applications for Affiliate Membership

Applications for consideration are now being accepted for this new category and will remain open through July 15, 2022.  All applications will be peer reviewed by members of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios staff and advisory committees, composed of leadership staff working at HAHS-member sites, and esteemed members of the art history and preservation community.  Successful applicants will receive notification of acceptance in late August.  In coming years, HAHS will continue an “open call” for Affiliate applicants each spring, with a parallel open application period for the traditional Membership category occurring during winter months, annually.

In coming days, we will be adding more specific information about category criteria, application processes and membership dues and benefits.  To receive an application please contact artistshomes@savingplaces.org

 
Background on the New Membership Category:
The Affiliate category was expressly created to serve those sites which may be in earlier stages of development as public institutions, and/or may not conform to traditional definitions of a preserved artist home and studio space.  The category features more relaxed criteria thresholds and reduced annual membership dues to make participation feasible for those organizations with more limited financial resources.  Where desired, HAHS leadership will provide guidance and resources, to assist an Affiliate member for later entry into Membership.   

Creating a new category is also the result of recognizing that prejudice against, and social injustice and economic inequality experienced in BIPOC, and other underrepresented communities has historically meant barriers to opportunities to preserve sites of artistic legacy in traditional ways – and that should not in itself prohibit entry into HAHS.  

Affiliate Membership, therefore, actively seeks to broaden entrance into the program to include sites that may not follow traditional models of operation, interpretation, or visitation – and are outside the normal scope historically considered for membership in the HAHS program. In creating this new membership category, HAHS recognizes and embraces that there are different models for preserving cultural artistic legacy, and for activating sites, than those that have been historically included in its membership.  This new membership category will enable HAHS to further amplify that a variety of spaces existed and do exist for creating art, beyond traditional home and studio paradigms, including outdoor studios, collective workspaces, and artist-designed vernacular environments.  This new category will help HAHS achieve its goal of truly representing the rich diversity of our nation’s artistic legacy.

Eligible applicants in this new category could include:

Individuals or organizations which preserve a space associated with an artist or artists which is not strictly a historic home or studio but may have served as a salon or convening/exhibition space for artists and their working process.

Sites which are not currently open to the public but foster the legacy of an artist and the historic property through active public outreach online. 

Sites not currently holding non-profit status, but demonstrating a commitment to public education.

Sites operating as a for-profit while still having a strong legacy, community engagement, and interpretative component.

Preserved artists’ properties that may not function primarily as historic house museums, but in other educational capacities, such as housing for contemporary artist residency programs.

Foundations or other entities preparing for the legacy of a living artist with intention to open a public site at a future date.

Artist Foundations, which own and preserve artist spaces, that are not currently open for public visitation.