Open Forum

Nina Simon has been a NASA engineer, educator, exhibit designer, museum director, global movement founder, and author. She spent eight years leading the turnaround and growth of the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz before leaving in 2019 to found OF/BY/FOR ALL, a global non-profit driving inclusive, equitable change across the public sector. In 2020, following a family health crisis, Nina stepped down from that organization to care for family and write her first novel.  

Nina is well-known as a museum innovator, changemaker, and leader. Nina is also the author of The Participatory Museum and The Art of Relevance.  On December 8, she and Eric Siegel will have a candid conversation about the joys--and pains--of transitioning away from museum and nonprofit leadership. What does it mean to lead change at an organization, and what happens when the person most identified with that change moves on? This conversation will be followed by a general discussion.