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Key Presenters

Salvador Acevedo is the Principal and President of Contemporánea and has spent more than 15 years designing and implementing successful communication strategies as a marketing consultant, executive and researcher. Contemporánea’s communications strategies are rooted in people’s needs, perceptions and values. Being bilingual and bicultural, he has helped organizations and corporations build bridges with the Latino community, aiding in their development and business opportunities. Some of his clients include San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the California Academy of Sciences, NASA-UC Berkeley, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Sonoma County Economic Development Board, among others.

Teaser: Contemporánea’s study of “The Latino Experience in Museums” link http://contemporanea.us/html/news.html

Dr. John Falk is a specialist in Free-Choice Learning and Science Education. He founded the Institute for Learning Innovation in Annapolis, Maryland and is currently the Sea Grant Professor in Free-Choice Learning at Oregon State University. He is the author of over ninety scholarly articles and chapters in the areas of biology, psychology and education, including the new book Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. Dr. Falk’s research priorities include the study of learning in free-choice learning settings (with particular expertise in museums), the long-term impact of free-choice educational institutions on individuals and communities, and investigating new business models for museums and other cultural institutions.

Teaser: A provocative interview regarding new business models for museums and other cultural institutions http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-with-john-falk-and-beverly.html

Nina Simon is an independent museum exhibit designer with experience in participatory design, gaming, and social media. She is the principal of Museum 2.0, a design firm that works with museums worldwide using social technology to create dynamic, audience-driven exhibitions and programs. Recent clients include the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Girls Math and Science Partnership, the Experience Music Project, and the Balboa Park Online Collaborative. Ms. Simon recently published The Participatory Museum, is an adjunct professor of Social Technology at the University of Washington Museology program, and runs the Museum 2.0 blog, which reaches 16,000 readers weekly and appears as a column in Museum magazine.

Teaser: Nina’s latest musings at Museum 2.0: http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/

Dr. Marianna Adams is the Principal of Audience Focus, Inc., which provides evaluation, research, training, and concept development related to audience experience for museums and cultural institutions nationally and internationally. Dr. Adams’ professional roots began in K-12 public and private school teaching before segueing into museum education, when she led several education departments in Florida museums. She founded Audience Focus Inc., in 2007 after 12 years with the Institute for Learning Innovation in Annapolis, Maryland. Her degrees are from George Washington University (Ed.D.), University of South Florida (M.A.) and Mercer University (B.A.); she has published in numerous peer-review journals.

Teaser: Fast and fun evaluation recipes to get your conversation with visitors started: http://www.audiencefocus.com/us/pdf/Evaluation Recipes.pdf

San Diego Team

Site Host: Celeste DeWald has served as the Executive Director of the California Association of Museums (CAM) since 2004. Previously, she worked in both administrative and education positions at the Art Museum of Santa Cruz County (which later become the Museum of Art and History at the McPherson Center) and the National Steinbeck Center. DeWalk graduated from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda with a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies. Recently, she has participated in AAM’s International Partnerships Among Museums program, which involved a personnel exchange with a museum in Valparaiso, Chile; served as a Special Advisor to the California Arts Education Strategic Task Force; and been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers on issues pertaining to California museums.

Moderator: Paige Simpson is the founding Director of the Balboa Park Learning Institute, a collaborative professional development program for staff and volunteers of arts, science, and cultural institutions. The program was launched in 2009 by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, a unique cultural collaborative in San Diego. Prior to her work in Balboa Park, Paige led a museum/school partnership program for the National Gallery of Art and D.C. Public Schools. She has also worked as an educator for museums in Virginia, North Carolina, and England. Paige holds a M.A.T. in museum education from the George Washington University and a M.A. in nonprofit leadership and management from the University of San Diego.

Los Angeles Team

Moderator and Breakout Session Presenter: Robert L. Sain organizes experimental exhibitions with a particular focus on artist’s commissions and public engagement, and teaches a course for Otis College of Art & Design at the Getty Museum examining new strategies for public engagement. Previously, Sain led Montalvo Arts Center into a new vision of engaging people in contemporary concerns through art. As founding director of LACMALab, the former R&D arm of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Sain pioneered programs that were participatory and intergenerational. As director of the Children’s Museum/Museo de los Ninos in San Diego, Sain launched the first major organization dedicated to contemporary art for kids and their families with a special emphasis on bi-national projects with Mexico.

Breakout Session Presenter: Jeanne Hoel is Senior Education Program Manager of School and Teacher Programs at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Hoel’s commitment to visual art, art education, and access is rooted in her studio art background focused on cloth and feminism, and her administrative work in socially-based public art. Hoel is currently serving as Pacific Region Representative for the Museum Education Division of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) and is a member of the Education Advisory Board for Art:21, a PBS series on contemporary art. Hoel studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art (BFA), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and recently completed the Leadership in Museum Education program at Bank Street College of Education (MS Ed.).

Site Host: Asuka Hisa is the Board President of the Museum Educators of Southern California (MESC) and Director of Education for the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), where she has been developing education programs since 1998. Prior to SMMoA, Hisa taught art to youth in France and to students of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Hisa received her B.A. from Barnard College and her National Diploma of Art from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. In 2003, she received the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2007 Hisa was appointed to the Arts Commission of the City of Santa Monica, and in 2009 she established the Arts+Learning Committee for the Santa Monica Arts Commission.

Moderator: Elizabeth Morin specializes in diversity education and programs that are culturally inclusive. As a curator, she has organized exhibitions on urban expression (street art), history and Latino heritage. Her innovative work in education and creative edge have benefited some of the national’s most prestigious museums including the Smithsonian Institution, Experience Music Project, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. Elizabeth creates policy and directs program in arts education, youth culture, heritage, civic engagement, and community initiatives for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

San José Team

Moderator: Stacey Shelnut-Hendrick is the Director of Education for the Crocker Art Museum, where she oversees a diverse array of programs designed to engage and serve community members of all ages and interests. Previously, Shelnut-Hendrick served as Executive Director of the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House in Baltimore, and has held positions in education at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the New York State Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she co-directed the Visualize a Future community outreach initiative. Shelnut-Hendrick holds a Master of Science degree in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education, New York, and is a graduate of the Getty’s Museum Management Institute.

Breakout Session Presenter: Dr. Maureen Callanan is a professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work focuses on cognitive and language development in toddler and preschool children, exploring how children come to understand the world through everyday conversations with their parents. This research includes a focus on how children’s theories about the world develop within parent-child conversations. Children’s "why" questions and parents’ explanations are studied through parent’s diary reports of children’s questions and through videotapes of parent-child activities such as visiting children’s museums. Dr. Callanan received her Ph.D. from Stanford University and her A.B. from Mount Holyoke College.

Breakout Session Presenter: Jenni Martin is the Director of Education & Programs, Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose — In addition to Ms. Martin’s 13 years as a Senior Museum Manager, her professional experience includes 24 years of educational program development and delivery through curriculum development, staff development for teachers, and national training for after school providers. She has a BA in American Studies/English from Williams College and an MA from Stanford University in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education. She regularly presents at conferences on topics ranging from innovative informal educational programs to building diverse audiences.

Site Host: Adrienne McGraw is the Executive Director for the California Exhibition Resources Alliance and has served as a director of education for several history museums and historic sites in California. She holds an M.A. in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University and an M.S. Ed. from California State University, East Bay. Adrienne has authored educational curriculum, curated exhibitions, and is a founding committee member of the Green Museums Initiative for the California Association of Museums and the PIC Green for the American Association of Museums.

Site Host: Sherri Nevins is an independent content producer and Board member of Cultural Connections of San Francisco. As a teenager she moved to Denmark where she developed a profound interest in culture, world history and everyday people. Nevins loves a good story, especially the unexpected and untold one. For the past seven years she’s produced many stories in podcasts and audio tours for Antenna Audio, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications and the world’s leader in audio interpretation. Nevins completed her undergraduate studies in Anthropology and Cultural Studies at UC Santa Cruz and received a M.A. in Museum Studies focused on exhibition development and design from San Francisco State University.

Online Team

Online Facilitator: Greg Stevens is the Assistant Director, Professional Development for the American Association of Museums (AAM) in Washington, D.C. Since 2007, Stevens has been responsible for developing and overseeing AAM seminars, workshops and a growing library of webinars and online conferences for museum practitioners and has co-moderated (with Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes) all of AAM’s webinars since early 2008. Stevens is an adjunct faculty member at The George Washington University (GWU). Previously, Stevens held education positions at the National Museum of the U. S. Army, Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, National Building Museum, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Online Facilitator & Producer: Jonathan Finkelstein is the Founder and Executive Producer of LearningTimes.org and the President of the LearningTimes Network. He works closely with museums, educational institutions, libraries and other organizations to grow and maintain online learning communities. Finkelstein is the author of Learning in Real Time (2006, Wiley/Jossey-Bass) and the host of the "Real Time Minute" (www.realtimeminute.com), a podcast series about online collaboration. He is also a moderator and producer of many live webcasts, online conferences and 3D virtual world events. Finkelstein is a Certified Synchronous Training Professional (CSTP) and received his AB degree with honors from Harvard University.

Online Facilitator: Beth Branning is the Corporate Director of Vision, Innovation and Strategy for San Diego Zoo Global. Branning is responsible for bringing the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park’s vision and values to life by developing and overseeing the implementation of major strategic and facility-related planning activities. Branning is a frequent featured presenter on facilitation and has also helped a number of other nonprofit organizations to realize their potential, including the American Association of Museums, Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego, the Giant Panda Foundation, and the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Ms. Branning holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a dual emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising from San Diego State University.

Online Facilitator: Joe Sterling, founder of Sterling Insights Inc., has been facilitating strategic collaborations among corporate, non-profit and municipal clients for 20 years. Sterling’s clients include Toyota, IBM, Google, and CNN, as well as many municipalities and non-profits. All have engaged Sterling to help them forward their strategic goals through facilitation or graphics or both. Sterling has served the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, the San Diego Zoo’s Biomimicry Symposium, and facilitated strategic planning in preparation for the San Diego Zoo’s centennial celebration. A pioneer of online graphic facilitation methods, Joe routinely provides real-time online visualization for conference calls, meetings, major conferences, and webinars.

Audience Team