Resume

Elaine Heumann Gurian 4834 8th Street South, Arlington, VA. 22204 (703) 920-4077 Fax: (703) 920-4077, in Vieques 787-741-1769 egurian@egurian.com • www.egurian.com

Experience

• 1994 – Present: Senior Consultant, Principal: Elaine Heumann Gurian LLC. Summary of activity:
  • Senior advisor to museums and museum systems that are beginning, building, or reinventing themselves focusing on operations, construction planning and supervision, and project management.
  • Partner, Interim Museum Services, placing interim directors in museums.
  • Teacher and lecturer for in-service and graduate museum education including the University of Victoria, the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the Ministry of Culture, Argentina.
  • A member of the founding committee of the Museum Group, an association of senior museum consultants and former president.
  • Senior consultant to a number of organizations that concentrate, in part, on reconciliation between the majority and minority cultures of their country
  • Visiting Scholar, University of Michigan, 2006-2009
  • Lecturer and Facilitator in organized “conversations” on a number of new topics for museum consideration.
  • Writer, new volume, “Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian” published by Routledge, Feb 2006.
• 1998 - 1999 Acting Director, Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills,
• 1991 - 1994 Deputy Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.
• 1990 - 1991 Deputy Director for Public Program Planning, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
• 1987 - 1990 Deputy Assistant Secretary for Museums, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
• 1985 – 1987 Associate Director, The Children’s Museum, Boston, MA.
• 1972 – 1985 Director, Exhibit Center, The Children’s Museum, Boston, MA.
• 1969 -1972 Director of Education, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA.
• 1969-1971 Art Consultant, Summerthing, Mayor’s Office, Boston, MA.

Elected

• ICOM US Board, 2009-2012.
• American Poetry Museum, President, 2004-2007.
• TyPA, Argentina Foundation for the Arts, Advisory Board, 2004-present.
• The Museum Group, (association of independent museum professionals), President 2000-2005.
• American Association of Museums, Vice President 1982-1984, Treasurer 1984-1988, Council 1980-1982, 1989-1991.
• CECA/ICOM (International museum educators) Vice-President, 1980-83, 1983-86.
• AAM/ICOM (International museum organization), Board of Directors, 1980-84. Executive Board, 1979-83, 1983-86.
• AAM/Education Committee (AAM/EdComm), Regional Representative, 1977-79, Advisory Board, 1980-1989.

Awarded

• Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Argentina, 2007.
• American Association of Museums Centennial Honor Roll, 2006.
• Distinguished Service to Museums, American Association of Museums, 2004.
• The Lab School Outstanding Learning Disabled Achiever Award, 1993.
• Brandeis University Class of 1958 Distinguished Alumni Award, 1993.
• Museum Educators Award for Excellence, 1985.
• National Endowment for the Arts Museum Fellowship, 1985.
• National Museum Act Travel Fellowship, 1974.

Appointed

• Vieques Conservation Trust, Vieques Puerto Rico, Advisor, 2005-present.
• Routledge Press, Museum Encyclopedia, International panel, 2005-present.
• Brandeis University Visiting Committee for the Arts, 1999-2005.
• Brandeis University 40th Reunion, program chair, 1997, program committee 2003.
• AAM, Strategic Planning Committee 1997, Program Committee, 1992.
• Task Force on Education, creators of Excellence and Equity, 1990-1991, 1994-96.
• Te Papa, The Museum of New Zealand, chair, peer review panel, program, 1994.
• Pew Foundation, City Life Program panel, 1991.
• Experimental Gallery Advisory Panel, Smithsonian Institution. Washington DC, 1989-1993.
• American Museum of Natural History, Education Visiting Committee, New York, NY, March 1990.
• Conference and tour for the Indo-US Sub-commission on Education and Culture, “Architecture for Natural History Museums,” February 1990.
• Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA, advisor, 1990-1996.
• Curator, Editorial Board, 1989-present.
• J.P. Getty Advisory Panel, Museum Management Institute, 1985.
• Governor’s Advisory Council, Mental Health/Mental Retardation, 1975-76, 1976-78.
• Massachusetts Council on Arts and Humanities, 1972-75.
• Governor’s Task Force on Arts and Education, 1972-73.
• Brandeis University Hillel, Executive Board, 1976-1980.
• Museum Education Information Center, Advisory Board, George Washington University, 1977-79.

Consultant / Advisor / Client ( a partial listing )

• Current: 2008-2010.
  • Bush Foundation, St. Paul, MN, 1993-present.
  • Detroit Zoo, Detroit, MI, 2009-present.
  • Fundacion TyPA, Buenos Aires Argentina 2006-present.
  • Joods Historisch Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2009.
  • Memorial Museum of Dominican Resistance, Santo Domingo, DR 2008-present.
  • Museum of London, London, England, UK, 2004 present.
  • National Archive of Film and Video, Canberra, Australia, 2009-present.
  • National Children’s Museum, Washington DC, 2003-present.
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture 2007-present.
  • Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia, 2009-present.
• Past:
  • Antorchas Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2002-2004.
  • Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, 2004.
  • Bloomfield Science Center, Jerusalem, Israel, 2001.
  • Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, Canada, 2002-2004.
  • Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, 1994-1997.
  • Carlisle Museum Service, Carlisle, England, 1996.
  • Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL, 2001-2004.
  • Children’s Museum, Egypt, 1986.
  • Cirma, National Archives of Guatemala, Antigua, Guatemala, 1999-present.
  • Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, 2003.
  • Glasgow Museum Service, Scotland, UK, 1996.
  • Israel Museum, Ruth Youth Wing, Jerusalem, Israel, 1997.
  • Jewish Museum Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 1999-2002.
  • Memorial Museum, Rosario, Argentina, 2005-2007.
  • Minister of Culture, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2003-2004.
  • Minnesota Science Museum, Minneapolis, MN, 1998.
  • Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI, 2005.
  • Municipality of Dubai, U.A.E., 1996-2000.
  • Museum of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, 1997.
  • Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 1997.
  • Museum of World Cultures, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2001-2004.
  • Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CN, 2004.
  • Nassau County Government, Nassau County, NY, 2005-2007.
  • National Arts Council, Mauritius, 1995.
  • National Audubon Society, New York, NY, 1995.
  • National Discovery Museum, Bangkok, Thailand, 2005-2006.
  • National Museum American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 2004-2007.
  • National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia, 1997-2003.
  • National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1991-2007.
  • National Museum of the Army, Washington DC, 2004.
  • National Museums, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2006.
  • Newmont Gold Mining Company, Denver, CO, 2002-2004.
  • Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL, 2005-2008.
  • Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, 2002-2005.
  • Plimouth Plantation, Plymouth, MA, 2006-2007.
  • Port Discovery, Baltimore Children’s Museum, Baltimore, MD, 1994-2003.
  • Prisma, the Government of Puerto Rico Children’s Museum, San Juan, PR, 1995-2001.
  • Richmond Children’s Museum, Richmond, VA, 1994-1999.
  • Swedish Cultural Board, Stockholm, Sweden, 2006-2007.
  • Te Papa, National Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand, 1994-2002.
  • United States State Department, Mission to Chilean Embassy, Santiago, Chile, 2000.
  • Weeksville Historical Society, Brooklyn, New York, Advisor, NEH Grant, 2006.
  • World Bank Visitor Center, Washington DC, 2003-2004.
  • Zona Franca, (tax free zone) Montevideo, Uruguay, 2001.

Published

• “Museum as Soup Kitchen”, Curator, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
• “One Meter Square” in Sacco, Graciella, M2, Museo Castagnino + MACRO, Rosario, Argentina, 2009.
• “A new form of forward, a caution”, Forward in Janes, Robert, Museums in a Troubled World Renewal, Irrelevance or Collapse?, Routledge, 2009.
• “Review of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum”, Curator, Volume 50, No 7, 2007.
• *”Along the Continuum, Museums and Possibilities, Contest and Contemporary Society, Open Museum Journal, Volume 8, http://amol.org.au/omj/volume8/volume8_index.asp, August, 2006.
• *Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian, Routledge, 2006, London and New York.
• “The Essential Museum,” Te Ara, Journal of Museums Aotearoa, Volume 31, Issue1, May 2006, pp. 4-12.
• “The Potential of Museum Learning, The Essential Museum”, in Lord, Barry, Manual of Museum Learning, Alta Mira, 2007, p. 20ff.
• “Free At Last, A Defense in Favor of Free Admission” Museum News, Volume 84, No. 5, Sept/Oct. 2005, Page 33-35, 61-66.
• *“Museum Practices Crossing Borders,” Curator, volume 48, number 1, 2005, pp. 18-20.
• “Threshold Fear” in MacLeod, Suzanne, Reshaping Museum Space, Routledge, London, 2005.
• “Singing and Dancing at Night,” in Edwards, Alison, and Sullivan, Lawrence, Eds., Stewards of the Sacred: Sacred Objects, Religious Culture, and the Museum as Social Institution. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2004.
• *“Timeliness: A Discussion for Museums”, Davis, Joy, Gurian, Elaine Heumann, Koster, Emlyn, Curator, volume 46, number 4, October 2003, pp.353-361.
• *“Choosing Among the Options: An Opinion about Museum Definitions”, 2002, Curator, 45/2, pp. 75-88.
• *“Function Follows Form: How Mixed-Used Spaces in Museums Build Community,” Curator, 44/1, January 2001, pp. 87-113.
• “Thinking about My Museum Journey,” Presence of Mind: Museums and the Spirit of Learning, Bonnie Pitman, ed., AAM, Washington D. C., 1999, pp. 31-35.
• *”What is the Object of this Exercise? A Meandering Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums,” Daedalus, summer 1999, volume 128, number 3, pp. 163-183.
• “Continuous, Unexpected Joy and Fascinating, If Demanding Work,” Museum News, volume 77, No. 4, July/August 1998, pp. 36-37.
• “The Changing Paradigm,” Collective Vision: Starting and Sustaining a Children’s Museum, Association of Youth Museums, Washington, DC, 1997, pp. 20-21.
• “A Savings Bank for the Soul,” Grantmakers in the Arts, autumn 1996, volume 7, number 2, pp. 6-9.
• *”A Blurring of the Boundaries,” Curator, March 1995, pp. 31-37.
• “Offering Safer Public Spaces,” Journal of Museum Education, volume 21, number 1, fall, 1995, pp. 14-16.
• Institutional Trauma; the Effect of Major Change on Museum Staff, Editor, American Association of Museums, Washington DC, 1995.
• “The Importance of ‘And’”, Patterns in Practice, Museum Education Roundtable, Washington DC, 1992, pp.88-89.
• “Reluctant Recognition of the Superstar,” Journal of Museum Education, volume 17, number 3, fall 1992, pp. 6-7.
• “The National Museum of the American Indian,” Forum, Issue 4, January/February 1992.
• “The Opportunity for Social Service,” in Zemer, E.(ed.) , ICOM-CECA annual meeting proceedings 1991, Museums and the Needs of the People, Haifa, ICOM Israel.
• “Noodling Around with Exhibition Opportunities,” Exhibiting Cultures, 1991, Smithsonian Press, Ed. Steven D. Lavine & Ivan Karp.
• “Let’s Empower All Those Who Have a Stake in Exhibitions,” Museum News, March/April 1990.
• “An Afterward,” Museum Education Anthology, ed. Susan Nichols, Museum Education Roundtable, 1973-1983, pp. 24-25.
• “Interactive Exhibits at The Boston Children’s Museum,” ICOM/Education, No. 10, 1983.
• “Museum Relationship to Education,” Museums and Education, Denmark, 1982.
• “Adult Learning at the Children’s Museum of Boston,” Museums, Adults and the Humanities, 1981.
• “Making the Move,” Roundtable Reports, Vol. 5, #3, 1980.
• “A Working Paper on Exhibits,” Museum News, March/April 1976.
• “Learning, Play and Fantasy,” An Interview, Summer Issue, Roundtable Reports

* published in juried publications.

Speaker / Lecturer

a partial listing in addition to conference presentations - AAM, ASTC, AYM 1971-2005.

• Keynote Speaker, Florida Museum Association, Sarasota, FL, September 2009.
• Keynote Speaker, Michigan Museum Association, Ann Arbor, MI, October 2009.
• Keynote Speaker, Irish Museum Association, Derry, Northern Ireland, November 2008.
• Keynote Speaker, Museum Association Alaska, Homer, Alaska, November 2007.
• Keynote Speaker, ICOM Triennial Conference, Vienna, Austria, November 2007.
• Keynote Speaker, ICOM CECA, Triennial Conference, Vienna, Austria, November 2007.
• Keynote Speaker, Hands-on Europe, Berlin, October 2007.
• Keynote Speaker, Mid-Atlantic Museum Association, Brooklyn, New York, October 2006.
• Keynote Speaker, Northwest Museum Association, Boise, Idaho, September 2006.
• Keynote Speaker, Museums Association, Napier, New Zealand, April 2006.
• Keynote Speaker, New England Museum Association, October 2005.
• Keynote Speaker, Canadian Museum Association, September 2005.
• Keynote Speaker, Visitor Services Association, August 2005.
• Moderator, Opening Symposium, National Museum of the American Indian, September 2004.
• Keynote Speaker, Leicester University conference on space and museums, May 2004.
• Keynote Speaker, Contested Spaces, Sydney, Australia, October 2003.
• Keynote Speaker, Canadian Museum Association, May 2002.
• Lecture series, Te Papa Community Service, 5 venues, 2002.
• Speaker, National Museum Australia, radio series, 2002.
• Moderator, Hands-on Europe, London, UK, 2001.
• Speaker, Inauguration Adult Lecture Series, Jewish Museum, Berlin, 2001.
• Moderator, Conference on Culture and Museums, Copenhagen, Sweden, 2001.
• Keynote Speaker, International Children’s Museum Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 1998.
• Keynote Speaker, New England Museum Association, Hartford, CN, 1997.
• “It Is Not A Small World After All, Museum Association Conference, Cardiff, UK 1997.
• Keynote Speaker, Museum Association Conference, Leicester, UK, 1996.
• Keynote Speaker, Museum Association Conference, Sydney, Australia, 1996.
• Keynote Speaker, Ohio Museums Conference, Virginia Museums Conference, 1995.
• “The Blurring of the Boundaries,” Education for Scientific Literacy Conference, Science Museum, London, England, 1994.
• “Constructing a Museum”, Western Museum Conference, Honolulu, HI, 1994.
• “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: History or Metaphor or Both?” Intolerance and Toleration Conference, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA, 1993.
• Keynote Speaker, ICOM/CECA Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 1991.
• Keynote Speaker, Canadian Museum Association, 1991.
• “Noodling Around with Exhibition Opportunities”, Poetics and Politics of Representation Conference, Smithsonian Institution, 1989.
• Commencement Address, Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC, 1989.
• “Museums as Socially Responsible Institutions”, Social Responsibility Conference, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 1988.
• “Broadening the Definition of Museums”, Keynote Speaker, Tel Aviv Art Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1984.
• Keynote Speaker, Museum Educators Association of Australia, Biannual Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 1982.
• Keynote Speaker, ICOM/CECA Conference, Swenborg, Sweden, 1982.
• Children in Museums and Children’s Museums, A Roundtable, Brussels, Belgium, 1981

Visiting Lecturer / Faculty ( a partial listing )

• Seminar series, Rosario, Tucuman, Buenos Aires and Cordoba, Argentina sponsored by Fulbright, US Embassy and Fundacion TyPA, July – October 2008.
• Faculty, “Enriching Museum Experiences. A Symposium on Education and Marketing”, Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, The Fund for Arts and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe, Bucharest, Romania, October 2007.
• Visiting Scholar, 2006-2009, University of Museum, Museum Certificate Graduate Program, Ann Arbor, MI.
• Bank Street Graduate School of Education, Museum Leadership Program, New York, NY.
• George Washington University Museum Education Graduate Program, Washington, DC.
• George Washington University Museum Management Graduate Program, Washington, DC.
• Gothenburg University, Graduate School of Museum Studies, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2004 – Present.
• Harvard University Extension Service, Museum Program, Cambridge, MA.
• Leicester University Museum Diploma Program, Leicester, England, UK.
• Museum Management Institute, Berkeley, CA.
• Tel Aviv University Museum Studies Graduate Program, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• University of Michigan, Museum Studies, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Appointed Visiting Scholar 2006.
• University of Victoria, Continuing Studies, Cultural Resource Management Program, Victoria Canada

Education

• Master of Education, Elementary Education and Art Specialist, State College of Boston, June 1966.
• Bachelor of Art, History of Art, Brandeis University, June 1958.
• Special Student, Rhode Island School of Design, summer 1956.