24 Women Museum Directors Debate The Future Of Museums as Part of Villa Albertine's “Museum Series”

Villa Albertine announced a new platform for dialogue on the future of museums. The monthly Museum Series, organized in partnership with the Center for Curatorial Leadership, will run from March through December 2023, bringing together many of the most prominent women museum leaders in France and the United States for substantive, in-depth conversations about the challenges and opportunities facing museums today.

The first event took place on March 8, in honor of International Women's Day. In total, 12 events throughout the year, each featuring one American and one French museum director, will explore a broad spectrum of collections, audiences, and geographies.

Museum Series lineup

March 8, 5:30pm EST: Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, in conversation with Laurence Engel, President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Moderated by Colin Bailey, director of the Morgan Library & Museum.

March 22, 6pm EST: Sasha Suda, Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in conversation with Amélie Simier, Director of the Musée Rodin.

April 20, 6pm EST: Courtney J. Martin, Director of the Yale Center for British Art, in conversation with Charlotte Vignon, Director of Heritage and Collections of the Musée national de la Céramique - Sèvres.

May 3, 6pm EST: Amada Cruz, Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum, in conversation with Yannick Lintz, President of the Musée national des Arts asiatiques - Guimet.

May 18, 6pm EST: Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, in conversation with Laurence des Cars, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre.

June 7, 6pm EST: Julia Marciari-Alexander, Director of the Walters Art Museum of Baltimore, in conversation with Séverine Lepape, Director of the Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen Âge.

The fall lineup will be announced in June.

Each conversation will take place live in English at Villa Albertine's Fifth Avenue headquarters. Though the in-person events are invite-only, each will be livestreamed for maximal accessibility. Seats will be reserved for press. Find each livestream at youtube.com/@Villa.Albertine.

"The pursuit of gender parity remains a major concern among cultural institutions globally. The new wave of women recently appointed to leadership positions in France and the United States is promising, and reflects an important infusion of new ideas in the museums space," said Gaëtan Bruel, Director of Villa Albertine. "American and European museums have long taken inspiration from one another, each building and adapting to fit their era. At this moment of great evolution for museums, Villa Albertine is proud to turn the floor over to so many talented leaders, and to facilitate this collective learning."

Laurence des Cars, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, and Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, serve as mentors for this year's Museum Series, in addition to appearing for an in-person for a dialogue on May 18.

To ensure that the reflections that emerge from this Series achieve their greatest possible reverberation, each discussion will be transcribed, translated, edited and compiled into a unique bilingual publication which will be available in 2024.

The spring dialogues of Villa Albertine's Museum Series are made possible thanks to the generous support of Maison Cartier and Friends of Villa Albertine.