Jennifer Foley and Gamynne Guillotte, former and current AAMI Presidents, share their views and vision for art museum interpretation.
Museums today face major social, economic, and political challenges, both in America and abroad, often becoming battlegrounds in our increasingly divided culture. During uncertain times, we look to history for guidance, even when those comparisons are troubling.
There’s a French saying: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” But it’s important to remember that history doesn’t actually repeat itself. It rhymes. The difference happens when we decide that things won’t stay the same. When we dig in and push until the course of events jumps its track and the future finds a new path—maybe not perfect, but better.
This makes our work more important than ever. As all of us know, every visitor interprets a work of art differently. Art museums are one of the few public spaces where we not only expect disagreement, we welcome it. As art museum interpreters, we help to build bridges and remove barriers between people, art, and personal meaning making. We help hold space for visitors to make sense of the world around them and sit with difference, something our society desperately needs right now.
That’s why AAMI exists. We serve our membership and larger community of practice as a place of convening and connection. Our website brings together our virtual community: we share experiences through our blog and exchange resources through our member portal. We offer learning opportunities through online programs and through our annual in-person conference.
In these challenging times, AAMI is here to bring our community together for important conversations, build professional connections, and champion the vital role of interpretation in art museums. We’re working to make sure that as things change, they change for the better.
Join Us
We invite you to become part of our community:
- Become a member and join our growing network of professionals
- Contribute to our blog by sharing your insights and experiences
- Attend our online programs to expand your skills and knowledge
- Join one of our committees to shape the future of our field
- Submit resources to our interpretive resource page to benefit the community
- Attend our annual convening this fall in Washington, D.C. and further your practice
We look forward to serving you this year and beyond as together we work to advance interpretation in art museums everywhere.
Jennifer Foley
Jennifer Foley, PhD served as AAMI President from 2023 to 2025. Jennifer, Principal at Horizon Insights, brings more than two decades of experience in the non-profit cultural sector, including extensive experience in museum interpretation, education, audience research, evaluation, and project management, as well as experience in public programming and grantmaking. She has worked in museums across the United States, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Albright Knox Art Gallery (now the Buffalo AKG), and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. She trained in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research methodologies while conducting doctoral studies in educational research and evaluation at the Virginia Commonwealth University, holds a PhD and an MA in art history from Cornell University, and a BA in art history from Brooklyn College (CUNY). She is also a certified project manager.
Gamynne Guillotte
Gamynne Guillotte is the current President of AAMI. Gamynne serves as 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. Guillotte currently serves on the Affiliates Board for the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University 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.