ATHENS, GA.- The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has hired Callan Steinmann as its curator of education, effective immediately. The previous curator of education, Carissa DiCindio, left over the summer for a tenure-track assistant professor position in art education at the University of Arizona.
Steinmann has been associate curator of education at the museum since 2013, during which time she has developed award-winning new programs and brought existing ones to new heights and new audiences. The museum organizes more than 300 public programs a year, the vast majority of which are run by its education department. These programs include developing and leading tours for UGA students, K–12 students, seniors, adults and other groups, as well as working with the museum’s community docents; collaborating with academic departments across campus; creating professional development opportunities for teachers, classroom outreach efforts and teaching materials; seeking out community partners; and overseeing community programs including studio workshop, Family Day, Teen Studio, Toddler Tuesday, music performances, film screenings, lectures and symposia.
“I’ve been so proud to work with the dedicated staff at the Georgia Museum of Art over the past four years to bring high-quality arts experiences to audiences in the Athens community and statewide. I look forward to continuing to expand the breadth and depth of our educational programs in this new role,” said Steinmann.
William U. Eiland, the museum’s director, said, “Callan Steinmann has already proved herself an invaluable asset to the museum. Now, as curator, with new responsibilities for our educational programs, I am excited by the expertise, knowledge and creativity she will likewise bring to her new position.”
Steinmann received her doctoral degree in art education from UGA last year, with a dissertation focused on the museum’s ongoing studio workshop program, which she created and implemented in 2015. She earned her master’s degree in art museum education from the University of Texas at Austin (with a thesis on school field trips to art museums) and her bachelor’s degree from UGA in interdisciplinary studies, with a focus on therapeutic arts and expression and coursework in studio art, art education, educational psychology and psychology.
While pursuing her master’s degree, she served as graduate assistant to the manager of public programs at the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, and as a graduate teaching assistant in art and art history. She interned at the Georgia Museum of Art in 2012 and 2009, once with the education department and once with the director’s office. She also worked as a paraprofessional/literacy specialist at Howard B. Stroud Elementary School, in Athens, and taught English at two elementary schools in Choisy-le-Roi, France.
Steinmann is currently teaching ARED 4010/6010 (Art Criticism and Aesthetic Understanding) for UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and has served as a guest speaker for many classes on campus. She was named a Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Fellow at UGA for academic year 2016–17, and was selected for the Teaching Institute in Museum Education, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in August 2015. She has presented at conferences including the Georgia Art Education Association annual conference, the National Art Education Association National Convention and the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries. She is a co-chair of Georgia Museum Educators and a member of the National Art Education Association, the Georgia Art Education Association, the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries and Museum Education Roundtable.
