In March 2020, our lives were upended by the global COVID-19 pandemic. School days became Zoom-days, the Smithsonian temporarily closed to the public, and educators everywhere needed to scramble to quickly learn new ways of delivering virtual instruction. Fortunately, the Smithsonian American Art Museum was well prepared to support online learning, drawing on expertise from over two decades of teaching distance learning classes for students and adults. Even though our galleries were shuttered, learning continued at SAAM through online connections with more than 30,000 virtual learners.
