WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.-- Members of the Comite Internationale d'Historie de l'Art (CIHA) from China, Australia, India, France, South Africa, Switzerland, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Turkey, Canada, Japan, and the United States will travel to the Berkshires to meet at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Saturday, August 11 to discuss current topics in art history. The public is invited to hear the global thoughts of the CIHA during a free Clark Conversation, "Art History from the International to the Global: Imagining a New History for CIHA," at 5:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

CIHA was founded in 1930 and organizes a congress every three years to maintain continuing relationships among art historians throughout the world, and to oversee the preservation of works of art. Realizing that we no longer live in a euro-centric universe, etc, members of CIHA will discuss how their organization and the discipline of art history can and must change. Learn how they aim to encourage a new global network and to expand the traditional boundaries of the subject.

The Clark is one of the country's foremost art museums, as well as a dynamic center for research and higher education in art history and criticism. The institute is one of only a few art museums in the U.S. that is also a major research and academic center, with an international fellowship program and regular conferences, symposia, and colloquia, and an important art research library. The Clark, together with Williams College, jointly sponsors one of the nation's leading M.A. programs in art history, which has been part of the professional development of a significant number of directors of art museums, curators, and scholars.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. The galleries are open daily in July and August, 10 am to 5 pm (closed Mondays, September through June). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and under, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November through May. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit www.clarkart.edu.