Curatorial Conversations
- Region: Online
- Type: Talk
- Cost: Free
The Civic Museum in Today’s Society: The Milwaukee Art Museum
Join the Warburg Institute and the Association for Art History in a conversation with Kim Sajet, the Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, one of the US’s major art galleries serving a large and diverse metropolitan population.
Sajet is the former Director of the US’s National Portrait Gallery who left that role after being singled out by the President for being too strong a supporter of EDI/DEIA. She now leads a museum in a city which promotes itself as one where “diversity is celebrated, equity is pursued, inclusion is practiced, and accessibility is prioritized”, something which some may see as in conflict with the national agenda.
Eight months into her tenure in Milwaukee, Sajet has ambitious plans for the institution and its relationship and responsibilities to its civic audiences—centred on health/wellbeing community engagement—as well as its national and international audiences. We will hear about these and, as always, have an opportunity for questions from those in attendance.
Kim Sajet is the Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum and an internationally respected museum leader, curator, and advocate for the arts. She brings more than two decades of experience leading major cultural institutions and shaping museums as a place for dialogue, scholarship, and public engagement.
Before joining MAM, Sajet served for 12 years as Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. There, she expanded the museum’s curatorial scope, strengthened its national and international profile, and helped double attendance. During her tenure, she commissioned the acclaimed portraits of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and championed exhibitions that broadened the range of stories and voices represented in the collection. The Washington Post reported that she had “expanded the definition of portraiture and widened the scope of people considered worthy of representation in the nation’s portrait gallery.”
Born in Nigeria to Dutch parents and raised in Australia, Sajet has led museums in both Australia and the United States and worked at major cultural institutions in Philadelphia. She holds advanced degrees in art history, business, and museum studies, as well as a doctorate from Georgetown University focused on photography and social change.
26 May 2026, 5:30pm – 6:30pm GMT
Image by Front Room Studios, courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum