Museum director kicks off visiting artist series
Nina Simon – called a “visionary” by Smithsonian Magazine – wants people to be excited about museums.
She told the Santa Cruz Sentinel: “To me, a great museum is like a great dinner party – somebody greets you at the door and says, ‘I’m so glad you’re here. Let me introduce you to everyone.’”
The executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History will bring that message to CSU Monterey Bay on Feb. 23 when she kicks off the Visiting Artist Lecture Series.
Her presentation will begin at 6 p.m. in the Alumni and Visitors Center on Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard and Inter-Garrison Road. The public is invited to this free event.
Until she accepted the position in Santa Cruz last spring, she was a consultant for museums all over the world, and one of the industry's most prominent outside-the-gallery thinkers. Her blog, "Museum 2.0," is one of the leading forces working to remake the museum experience. She published a book in 2010 titled "The Participatory Museum" that outlines the ideas of her blog.
The book is a practical guide to working with community members and visitors to make cultural institutions more dynamic, relevant, essential places.
Simon previously served as curator of the Tech Virtual exhibition at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose and was the experience development specialist at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. She has presented workshops worldwide on visitor participation, audience development and creative uses of technology.