Caroline Goldthorpe
Currently teaching:
Learning and Museums
Museum Origins and Issues
Caroline Goldthorpe is director of the Museum Studies Certificate Program at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies, where she received the 2008-2009 Distinguished Teaching Award. Born and trained in England, Caroline began her career as a curator in the Department of Textiles and Dress at the Victoria and Albert Museum before serving as curator of the Willis Local History Museum in Hampshire and keeper of costumes and textiles for the Hampshire County Museum Service. Subsequently she was deputy head of the costume department at the Museum of London and a curator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she curated the 1988 exhibition From Queen to Empress: Victorian Dress 1837–1877 and wrote the accompanying book. Caroline has served as a curatorial consultant for Ringwood Manor, taught in the MA program in museum studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and provided expert testimony for Sotheby’s New York. Her writings have appeared in such publications as Museums Journal, Connoisseur, Museum News, and Curator. She is a lifetime fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the American Alliance of Museums, the United Kingdom’s Museums Association and was on the Board of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Textile Society.
Caroline also teaches online in the Museum Studies Department of the University of New Mexico and in the University of Oklahoma’s online MA program in Museum Studies where she received the Superior Teaching Award in 2017.
Debra Kerr is president and CEO of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, a position she has held since 2014. Since her arrival, attendance at the museum has doubled, the museum’s physical footprint has doubled, the staff has doubled in size and the museum’s budget has doubled. Deb’s passion is for the role museums can play in social good and increasing museum relevance through programming focused on bringing the marginalized into community. She is excited by opportunities to introduce audiences to unexpected engagement with art and opening each person up to their own untapped creativity to experience catharsis and self-fulfillment.
Founded in 1991, Intuit celebrates the power of outsider art, a mission grounded in the ethos that the instinct to create is universal—the arts must embrace and be accessible to all, regardless of education level or socioeconomic status. Art can be made by anyone and found anywhere. Intuit is one of the world’s premier museums of outsider art, the work of artists with little influence from the mainstream art world.
In 2010, Deb founded YouthMuse, which facilitated teens building their own online social change campaigns in partnership with host museums. During her 17-year career at the world-renowned Shedd Aquarium, she held progressively responsible roles, serving as executive vice president for 11 years. In 2013, she won a distinguished teaching award from Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies, where she has taught museum management since 2005. She is a past board member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the National Veterans Art Museum, serves on the board for the Merit School of Music, and is a member of the American Alliance of Museums. She is a frequent guest speaker on issues related to museum relevance, museum planning, teen empowerment and activating the public for social good.
Kerr is pronounced car.
Jack Ludden
Currently teaching:
Successful Museum Management
The Journey of a Museum Exhibition: From Vision to Reality
Jack Ludden is Senior Strategist and Innovation Specialist at Balboa Park Online Collaborative. BPOC is a 501(c)(3) that provides professional services to museums and cultural institutions in San Diego’s renowned Balboa Park as well as cultural organizations across the United States. Jack has been a part of the cultural heritage community for more than 30 years. He is a digital advocate, communications specialist, and User Experience champion who uses innovation and collaboration to transform organizations.
For fifteen years, Jack worked at the Getty in Los Angeles, the world's largest cultural and philanthropic organization dedicated to the visual arts. He was head of digital experience and new media development. Jack oversaw multi-million dollar operating budgets, negotiated contracts, set strategic goals and refined business processes to provide scalable services and efficient workflows. Most importantly, he created a work environment that was collaborative, ambitious and grounded in sustainable outcomes.
Jack has experience working with complex cultural heritage organizations with more than 1,500 employees as well as small non-profits with less than three dedicated staff. He builds consensus among administrators, managers, content specialists and audience experts. Whether it is creating a meaningful onsite or digital experience, leading conversations about new media or helping assess the integration of new technology, Jack enjoys the journey of learning and helping.
Earlier in his career, Jack was co-founder of Red Card Studios, a producer at Disney Online, a project lead at the Shoah Visual History Foundation and worked for the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago. Jack is an active board member of the Sandor Family Foundation and The Book Truck. He was executive chair of the American Alliance of Museums Professional Network from 2014-2017.
Jack continues to find philanthropic opportunities and enjoys giving lectures about staff management, change management, and creative production techniques. Jack is currently a member of American Alliance of Museums (AAM), Museum Computer Network (MCN), California Association of Museums (CAM), and College Arts Association (CAA). He received his BA from Northwestern University and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
David Russick
Currently teaching:
The Journey of a Museum Exhibition: From Vision to Reality
David Russick has been the Exhibition Designer at the Milwaukee Art Museum since he was hired in 2012 to oversee the renovation of the museum’s entire (110K sq. ft.) Permanent Collections galleries (completed in 2015). Today, David oversees exhibition design for all special exhibitions, permanent gallery rotations, and 3-D design campus-wide. From 2007-2012 he was the Chief Designer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art where he established the museum’s Design Studio. While at the IMA Russick oversaw all special exhibition design, as well as the renovation of the museum’s Textile/Fashion galleries and African Collection galleries, the Toby Theater, Design Center store, and it’s 100 Acres outdoor sculpture park. From 1996-2007 Russick served as Director/Curator of the Herron Gallery at the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI. Prior to that Russick was the Assistant Director of the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago. He has an MFA in painting from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.