2023 AAMI Board
President: jennifer foley
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Jennifer Foley is the Deputy Director for Collections and Engagement at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she leads the division that includes the Learning & Engagement, Library & Archives, Curatorial, Collections, Conservation, and Digital Experience departments. Before joining the O’Keeffe she held positions as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the Director of Interpretation at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Paul Mellon Collection Educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Art History from Cornell University, and completed several years of doctoral studies focused on educational research and evaluation in museums at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been involved with AAMI since the first meeting in Baltimore and is deeply grateful to have spent the last decade being a part of this amazing community of practice.
Vice President: Courtney Morano
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Courtney Morano, is the Interpretation Manager at the VIrginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). In this role, she leads the Interpretation Department which a small team dedicated to interpretation project coordination and digital resources, and also includes the Evaluation, Tour Services, Early Childhood Education, Teacher Programs and Distance Learning Departments. Morano has held this position at VMFA since 2015. Prior to that, she was the School and Teacher Programs Manager. She received her BA, received her BA in art history and anthropology from George Mason University, and holds an MA in Greek and Roman art from the University of Virginia. She began working with AAMI on the Programming and Engagement Committee in 2018 to plan for the Detroit Convening and is thankful to have found this amazing community of colleagues.
Secretary: Julia Forbes
High Museum of Art
Julia Forbes is the Senior Head of Institutional Research at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. She is responsible for designing, implementing, and reporting on quantitative and qualitative research studies regarding the High Museum’s impact. Prior to her current position Forbes served for over eighteen years at the High’s Shannon Landing Amos Head of Museum Interpretation and is a founding member of the Association for Art Museum Interpretation. Forbes has held education positions at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington National Cathedral, the Walters Art Museum, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In 2022 she co-authored the book, Family Spaces in Art Museums: Creating Curiosity, Wonder, and Play. She holds degrees in Art History and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a master’s degree from the George Washington University in Art History/Museum Training.
Treasurer: Abram Jackson
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Abram Jackson joined the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as the Museums’ inaugural director of interpretation in June 2022. Jackson utilizes ethnic studies and DEIA theories and practices in partnership with staff to incorporate more inclusive narratives into didactics. One of Jackson’s contributions to this effort is the development of the interpretation partners program, which incorporates local voices into the interpretive framing for special exhibitions whose themes are closely connected to the lived experiences of communities. Jackson holds a Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University and a Master of Teaching in Social Studies from the University of Southern California. Jackson has fifteen years of administrative and teaching experiences at the high school and collegiate level and has taught at education programs for incarcerated people in California. Jackson first learned about AAMI at the 2022 Denver convening and is honored to serve on the board.
Alison Crites
Southern Vermont Arts Center
Alison Crites is the Manager of Exhibitions & Interpretive Engagement at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT where she leads the planning, curation, interpretation, and installation of 8-10 exhibitions annually. Since joining SVAC in 2020, Crites has significantly broadened artistic representation and increased public engagement in SVAC’s exhibition program through reinvigorating the artist membership program, securing loans from major institutions, establishing financial assistance for artists, launching an internship program with nearby Bennington College, and integrating visitor-centered & community involved interpretive practices. Prior to SVAC, Crites held positions in interpretation and community engagement at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she led the three-year community co-created reinstallation of the DIA’s Asian collection. She holds a B.A. in English from Davidson College, an M.A. in English from the Bread Loaf School of English (Middlebury College), an M.A. in International Education Development from Teachers College (Columbia University), and an M.S. Ed. in Leadership in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education. She joined AAMI’s Programming & Engagement Committee in 2018 to help plan the Detroit Convening and remains grateful for the opportunity to give back to this ever-growing, remarkable community.
GamynNe Guillotte
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Gamynne Guillotte is the Leanne and George Roberts Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The position is responsible for anchoring the institution’s efforts to connect with a wide range of audiences through educational and public programs, in-gallery experiences, community partnerships and offsite collaborations. Previously, she was the Chief Education Officer at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), where she was responsible for interpretation, public programs, education, and public engagement. Prior to this, she was a designer at Los Angeles-based Narduli Studio, an interdisciplinary design firm with commissions in public art and architecture and developed public programs at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. Guillotte currently serves on the Affiliates Board for the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University, the Executive Committee of the Association of Art Museum Interpretation (AAMI), and as a project contributor to the Museums as a Site for Social Action (MASS Action) initiative. Guillotte holds an M.Arch. from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a B.A. with areas of concentration in Art History and Architectural History from Sarah Lawrence College.
Mel Harper
National Gallery of Art
Mel Harper is an interpretive projects manager at the National Gallery of Art by day, and collaborates with DC-area conceptual artists by night. Mel received her MA in Black visual culture from Howard University, where she taught African American art history and managed the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center’s Prints & Photographs collection.
Keri Ryan
M+
Keri Ryan is the Lead Curator, Learning and Interpretation at M+, Hong Kong. M+ is Asia’s first museum with a focus on 21st century visual culture. She is responsible for the strategy and direction of museum programming, community engagement and exhibition interpretation. Prior to joining M+, Keri led the interpretation and visitor research team at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. She has more than 20 years experience working in the field of interpretation and museum programming and is a graduate and occasional instructor in the University of Toronto’s Master of Museum Studies programme. Ryan is a proud and enthusiastic founding member of the Association of Art Museum Interpretation.
Troy Smythe
The Corning Museum of Glass
Troy Smythe (he/him) is manager of interpretive strategy and education projects for The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. Areas of focus there include steering visitor studies initiatives and assisting with the development of the Museum’s DEAI ten-year road map. He is a founding member of Kaleidoscope, a queer employee resource group at the Museum. Troy is a member of the International Association of Facilitators where he currently is refining his approach to trauma-informed group facilitation. Before taking his position in 2014, he directed outreach, teacher, and docent programs for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now Newfields). Troy also has worked as an independent consultant with a focus on museum interpretation that incorporates principals of dramatic and narrative writing.