Collaborating for Visitor Centeredness
The collaboration between curators and educators is key to creating successful visitor experiences in the museum. In this workshop, Keri Ryan and Swarupa Anila, museum professionals with decades of experience in learning, and board members with the Association of Art Museum Interpreters, will explore the concept of visitor-centeredness, by sharing museum examples and field research on visitor behavior and motivations. In group activities, participants will wrestle with decisions and choices that consider the curator’s role in developing gallery experiences to serve target audiences.
| Speakers | | |  | | Swarupa Anila, Senior Vice President, Exhibition & Gallery Development, Royal Ontario Museum Swarupa Anila leads team-based collaborations in design and interpretive planning to create exhibition and permanent collections gallery experiences with and for diverse audiences. She models inclusive practices in cultivating cross-institutional alignment, including recent generation and implementation of ROM’s Museum-wide Interpretive Plan. Prior to ROM, Swarupa was Director of Interpretation at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Over her career, she has developed strategic vision and processes for shaping exhibition environments guided by principles of free-choice learning, object-based learning, impact evaluation, and systems thinking. She has earned recognition for field leadership in community-engaged practices, innovative exhibition work, and anti-racism strategies for inclusion and representation. Her publications are taught in Museum Studies programs internationally, and she has shared learnings with organizations and conferences such as AAMD, AAMC, AAM, and VSA. Swarupa was a founding member of the Association for Art Museum Interpretation (AAMI) and served as the organization’s first board president.
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| | Keri Elizabeth Ryan, Lead Curator, Learning and Interpretation, M+
As part of the curatorial department, Keri leads the team that is responsible for all learning and interpretation across the museum, including school, family, youth, community, and adult programs. She was responsible for introducing and leading the interpretation process for the museum’s grand opening in 2021. Prior to joining M+, Keri was the Director of Learning and Interpretation at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto where she spent 12 years developing audience centered strategies for the permanent collections and exhibitions. While in Toronto Keri taught, Interpretation and Meaning Making as part of the University of Toronto Museums Studies program, of which she is a graduate. Keri began her career in education roles at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Museum of History, Te Papa Tongarewa, NZ, and the Science Museum London. She is currently a board member of the Association of Art Museum Interpretation.
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