Talk about education reform: There was a time when a sabbatical, a trust fund or both were

Anthony Downey, program director of the M.A.  in Contemporary Art program at Sotheby’s Institute  of Art-London, discusses Yass’ work with a student.

necessary to be able to make a serious study of your collecting category. Not any more. Auction houses, museums and collecting clubs now offer traditional ways with an exciting variety of educational opportunities that cater to a wider range of students—the busy executive, the peripatetic traveler, the art-business professional, the niche collector. “We’re trying to be very client-led,” says Lyn Calzia, program manager for Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, referring to its new approach to continuing education. “Our traditional audience has changed, and we continuously monitor the people taking our courses. People want serious content as well as flexibility.”

This fall, just in time for that scholarly urge we all get to buy and fill fresh notebooks, entities from Sotheby’s London to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are not only debuting new course offerings but making news with first-time programs, state-of-the-art facilities and a more customized approach to teaching.

So maybe you’re ready to take the plunge and go for your master’s in art; enroll in an evening postwar and contemporary photography workshop at Christie’s; get serious about applying for next year’s prestigious Attingham Summer School in England; or merely commit to the 15-minute lunchtime lectures on Frida Kahlo and Richard Serra at The Hammer in Los Angeles. No matter which, it’s time to hit the books.

START BY COMMUTING

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Anthony Downey, Program Director of the M.A. in Contemporary Art program at Sotheby’s Institute of Art-London, discusses Yass’ work with a student.

Blame it on a lack of funds for advertising and marketing, but the unsung asset of your local museum is likely to be its lecture and continuing education program. Throughout the year, watch for curatorial talks and guest speakers that coincide with an exhibition or highlight some part of the permanent collection. Most museums do not require students to be members, but membership does have its advantages. In competitive arenas like New York, where courses at the Metropolitan Museum of Art taught by favorites such as Rosamond Bernier or her son, Olivier Bernier, sell out before word even reaches the public, membership can help secure a ticket. In October, look for the Metropolitan’s renovated “campus,” the re-opening of the state-of-the-art Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, which will host the museum’s 20,000-plus annual educational programs.

JOIN A CLUB

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Chat with museum curators and start searching on the Internet and you’ll find there’s a club for your collecting category. Many of these have international reputations and strong alliances with museums and attract the crème de la crème of specialists who speak at their lectures and teach at their tutorials.

London ceramics dealer Jonathan Horne, of Sampson & Horne Antiques, a 40-year veteran of the trade, says he values his U.S. speaking engagements, which this year will include a lecture on English pottery at Greenwich’s Bruce Museum (Oct. 15) and a talk on Delftware at Charlotte’s Mint Museum of Art (Oct. 28). “If I can expound my knowledge to people, that builds their confidence in me,” says Horne, who might spend six to eight weeks preparing a talk. “It’s scholarship, the nitty-gritty.”

Horne’s sponsor at The Mint is one of the country’s most active and perhaps least-known academically minded clubs, the Delhom Service League, a group of 100 ceramics appreciators that was formed 40 years ago when Mellany Delhom donated her world-class collection to the museum. Today, the league offers comprehensive classes, including a mandatory year-long orientation for new members on the basics of ceramics-making. The group travels around the world to study ceramics in their “roving classroom” and sponsors an annual Potters Market Invitational with 40 local potters (Sept. 8).

“Studying contemporary pottery-making the way that we do aids us in our understanding of Meissen, Sèvres, Chelsea, Italian, Spanish and the Asian potteries,” says Elsya V. Stockin, president of the league. “We do research, we publish and when we travel, we all want to look at the same things.” And the cost? “You can attend the group for free, unless you want to join and that’s $25.”