Susan Talbott agreed to be interviewed for our MLAB101 series on August 22nd, 2011. She came to the interview with an extensive resume, and a detailed biography.
Susan Talbott is the director and CEO of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Before coming to the Wadsworth, she was the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum from 2005-2008, and the Des Moines Art Center from 1998-2005. She has also worked for several prominent art organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts. There she served as the director of its Visual Arts program from 1989-1992. As a director, Susan Talbott has achieved national recognition through her implementation of community engagement programs.
Susan Talbott formed partnerships with over one hundred community organizations. Her stated goal has been to reach out and create a cultural experience for inner city children, and other groups with a historically lower rate of attendance. During her tenure as director of the Des Moines Art center, Susan Talbott doubled the attendance rate in her first two years. She also expanded the museum, acquiring over seven hundred works of modern and contemporary art, and creating a downtown branch. She also acquired two million dollars in grants from the Wallace Reader’s Digest fund, and led an eighteen million dollar endowment campaign for the Arts Center.
Susan Talbott lived in Maine, Iowa, North Carolina, Washington DC, and New York before moving to Connecticut. She is a Harvard University Fellow, and an alumna of the Art Museum Director’s Program. She has received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an Alumna Achievement Award from Pratt Institute. She is married to Basil Talbott, an award winning journalist for the Chicago Sun Times.
(Wadsworth Atheneum photograph courtesy of Daderot, Wikimedia Commons)