Attend openings and curatorial walkthroughs at local museums or alternative art spaces.

Attend artist lecture series at nearby gradu- ate art schools and institutions.

Subscribe to ArtNexus.com for updated news on the contemporary-art scene. This online resource includes current interviews, articles, and listings. Other helpful sites include ArtNewsOnline.com and e-flux.com.

Peruse what’s hot in magazines and newspapers. Chances are, some of the artists you read about are still within reasonable range. Publications like Frieze, Tema Celeste, Art  in America, Parkett, Contemporary, Artforum, ARTnews, LA Weekly, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Time Out, the Village Voice, and Cabinet keep you in the know.

Local museums of modern art and institutes for contemporary art often have collecting series, panels on collecting, and public programs.

Talks and lectures organized by museums, like the Hammer Museum lecture series in Los Angeles or the New Museum programs in New York, are great ways to get information.

For an annual fee, collectors’ forums like the Young Collectors Council at the Guggenheim Museum and MoMA’s Junior Associates program invite younger patrons to openings, behind-the-scenes curatorial walks, and private viewings to artists’ studios.

The Collectors’ Forum, hosted by Althea Viafora-Kress on WPS1 Art Radio, features interviews and conversations with curators, collectors, and arts professionals. The show can be accessed online at www.wps1.org.

Spring MFA thesis shows at art schools  showcase new talent. Some favorites: Columbia, Yale, UCLA, Rhode Island School of Design, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

With more than 200 biennials worldwide, there’s sure to be one close to home.