By Christian Tufino
The Student Association plans to convert the Art Acquisition Board into a club instead of a board. This would result in a budget cut from $5,000 a semester to receiving less than $1,000 over two semesters.
For over 50 years, the Art Acquisition Board has served SUNY Plattsburgh by acquiring, maintaining and showcasing diverse art from deceased and living artists with the goal of enriching the campus’s culture and providing educational, contemporary art to inspire and entice students to think critically.
Junior Max Alexander, vice president of the Plattsburgh Association of Visual Arts, PAVA, has been a member of the Art Acquisition Board since 2024. Alexander said the shift into a club would hinder their ability to complete their mission of obtaining meaningful art.
“It’s not just the art that we’re purchasing, it’s the transportation, it’s the handling and it’s the framing. We need to get it and preserve it. It’s easy to look at $5,000 like it’s a lot of money, but it’s hard to find a living artist’s art for $3,000 or even $4,000, which is on the lower end for pricing,” Alexander said. “They’re telling us to just become a part of PAVA while simultaneously defunding PAVA.”
Alexander said PAVA has also faced budget troubles, with their budget requests being denied and shrunk over time.
Student Association Vice President Dominick Andre said in an email that neither himself or the president were available to speak on the topic at the moment, but emphasized there is no concrete decision yet.
According to the Art Acquisition Board, the SA has expressed concerns about how often pieces are being shown and how they aren’t happy with the amount of art being shown on campus.
While the Art Acquisition Board works to acquire and present art to students, they are also responsible for taking care of the art ethically.
Senior Virginia Luchetti, board member on the Art Acquisition Board, explained how the overexposure of art can result in irreversible damage to art like fading, smudging, and bleeding colors.
“These artists are trusting us with these pieces. When we buy them we are also supposed to take care of them,” Luchetti said. “With that being said, they can’t constantly be shown, there’s a science behind it.”
Senior Steven Vazquez, board member of the Art Acquisition Board, sees art as a core part of the campus and the student body as a whole.
“The art here is not decor, its representation. When you walk into not just the art building, but every building on campus, you see yourself on the wall,” Vazquez said.
Alexander expressed concern over the Art Acquisition Board’s future, wondering what will happen in future semesters.
“There’s no guarantee of a good budget for the arts considering we get defunded each semester,” Alexander said. “It’s like a butterfly effect in a way.”
The SA votes on whether the Art Acquisition Board will be changed into a club on April 9 during the Student Association referendum.
