Nina Simon (born 1981) is an American exhibition curator, writer, educator, and museum director. She is the founder of the non-profit organization OF/BY/FOR ALL. Simon previously was the

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, from 2012 until June 2019. She is the author of two

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s: ''The Participatory Museum'', and ''The Art of Relevance''. Her work has been shared in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, and

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

. She resides in Santa Cruz, California.

Early life and education

Nina Simon was born July 15, 1981. Simon holds a B.S. degree from

Worcester Polytechnic Institute '' , mottoeng = "Theory and Practice" , established = , former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886) , type = Private research university , endowme ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Career

During the majority of her career, Nina has worked as an independent

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

and

exhibition designer An exhibition designer is a professional who creates fixtures and display stands for events such as large public exhibitions, Academic conference, conferences, trade shows and temporary displays for businesses, museums, Library, libraries and Art ...

with an expertise in

social technology Social technology is a way of using human, intellectual and digital resources in order to influence social processes. For example, one might use social technology to ease social procedures via social software and social hardware, which might incl ...

, gaming, and

participatory design Participatory design (originally co-operative design, now often co-design) is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure t ...

. During this time she worked with over one hundred

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

s and

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Ce ...

s around the world. In addition to her professional work, she has served on advisory committees for

IMLS The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mis ...

and AAAS projects concerning the future of museums and

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. Nina is known for her work as an author and

public speaker Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

. Over the years she has spoken to a multitude of audiences about her participatory audience and programming philosophy. Most notably, she has appeared on TEDx, and was the Keynote Speaker at the 2012 AFTA/National Arts Marketing Project Conference. Previously, Nina has held the position of

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

at the

Tech Museum of Innovation The Tech Interactive (formerly The Tech Museum of Innovation, commonly known as The Tech) is a science and technology center that offers hands-on activities, labs, design challenges and other STEAM education resources. It is located in downtown Sa ...

in San Jose, California and was the Experience Development Specialist at the

International Spy Museum The International Spy Museum is an independent non-profit museum which documents the tradecraft, history, and contemporary role of espionage. It holds the largest collection of international espionage artifacts on public display. The museum opened ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. She was the executive director of the

Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) is a nonprofit educational institution and museum founded in 1996 and located in Santa Cruz, California, at the downtown McPherson Center. Its mission is to ignite shared experiences and unexpected co ...

from 2012 until June 2020. She also worked as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at The University of Washington Museology Program, where she taught a course on Social Technologies in Exhibition Design. In addition, she is the principal of a

design firm A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

called Museum 2.0, which works internationally with museums, libraries, and cultural institutions to create educational programs and audience-driven exhibitions. She also authors the Museum 2.0

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

which reaches around 16,000 readers weekly and writes a column in Museum Magazine. Nina is currently a board member of The Center for the Future of Museums. Nina Simon on building community organizations OF, BY & FOR ALL.

Awards and accomplishments

* American Alliance for Museums’ Nancy Hanks Memorial Award (2012) * Among the 50 most “powerful and influential people in nonprofit arts” (Western States Arts Federation, 2012 and 2013) * Described as a Museum Visionary by

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' maga ...

for her audience-centered approach to design *Awarded an

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

Fellowship in 2019 *Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce "Woman of the Year" for 2017

Publications

* * Simon is also the author of the Museum 2.0 blog.

References

External links

* Interview
Museum Director Nina Simon on Inspiring Visitor Participation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Nina 1981 births Living people Directors of museums in the United States Women museum directors Worcester Polytechnic Institute alumni People from Santa Cruz, California