Press Releases & Statements

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) will hold its mid-winter meeting in Miami from Monday, January 23 through Wednesday, January 25, 2017. The meeting will feature presentations from experts inside and outside the art museum community, as well AAMD committee and task force meetings and visits to local cultural institutions. The meeting will also include informal sessions for members to share information on key issues and trends emerging in the field. In Miami, the meeting will focus on entrepreneurial leadership, collaborative partnerships, and inclusive strategies, with presentations from AAMD members and leading academics and practitioners.

The opening keynote will be presented by Porchia Moore, doctoral candidate in the University of South Carolina’s Museum Management Program; a regular contributor to Incluseum; and frequent presenter on race, culture, and museums. Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, an expert on the study of human interactions in the creation of successful enterprises, will also give a keynote address on “The Power of Teaming in an Uncertain World.” Nancy F. Koehn, the James E. Robinson Chair of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, will present the closing keynote. Koehn’s research focuses on effective business leadership, and she will speak on “Leadership in Turbulent Times: Rising to the Challenge.”

The AAMD mid-winter meeting will also feature a session on “Public Partnerships in Miami”, a conversation between Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Bass; Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami; and Michael Spring, Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

Two case study presentations, featuring Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Coyote” project and The Frick Film Project, will highlight the ways AAMD museums are advancing their missions through the integration of inclusive practices and programs to better serve their communities.

 “Seeing with Words: Visual Description and Web Accessibility,” presented by Susan Chun, Chief Content Officer, MCA Chicago, and Sina Bahram, Founder, Prime Access Consulting, is a participatory session that will report on insights and best practices from the MCA Coyote project, which aims to describe every image on the MCA’s website. The initiative is part of the MCA’s commitment to web accessibility and providing rich content for all visitors to their site, including those with vision impairment.

“The Frick Film Project” will be presented by Joseph Hall, Executive Director, Ghetto Film School, and Ian Wardropper, Director, The Frick Collection. This session, moderated by Elizabeth Easton, Director, Center for Curatorial Leadership, will share insights on The Frick Film Project, a collaboration between the Bronx-based Ghetto Film School and The Frick Collection. The partnership promotes cross-discipline arts learning by providing on-site arts education across the fine and cinematic arts, while demonstrating best practices for making museums inclusive spaces for people from all backgrounds.

“Challenges of Leading in Uncertain Times,” facilitated by Gretchen Dietrich, Executive Director of Utah Museum of Fine Arts, will invite AAMD members to share questions, challenges, and issues they are currently facing.

“De-Risking a Leveraged Portfolio”, presented by Jeremiah Wise, Chief Financial Officer, Indianapolis Museum of Art, will examine the measures museums can put in place to improve long-term financial stability in the wake of the 2008 and 2011 financial downturns, as well as other external factors that put pressure on museum budgets.

AAMD is grateful for the support provided by Phillips for the mid-winter meeting, and is pleased to welcome Arnold Lehman, Senior Advisor at Phillips, Director Emeritus of the Brooklyn Museum, and former president of AAMD, who will give a presentation to members.

The Association was invited to hold its meeting in Miami by the directors of three of its member institutions in the region: Silvia Karman Cubiñá (The Bass), Jill Deupi (Lowe Art Museum), and Franklin Sirmans (Pérez Art Museum Miami). In addition to events hosted by those member museums, attendees will also visit the Rubell Family Collection, the de la Cruz Collection, and the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse.

As with previous meetings, the meeting in Miami will have an active social media presence, and attendees will be encouraged to live-tweet and Instagram their experiences with the hashtag #AAMDMiami.

The full schedule is available here. 

The Association of Art Museum Directors advances the profession by cultivating leadership capabilities of directors, advocating for the field, and fostering excellence in art museums. An agile, issues-driven organization, AAMD fosters engagement, leadership, and shared learning. Further information about AAMD’s professional practice guidelines and position papers is available at www.aamd.org

Generous Support for the mid-winter meeting is provided by: