Dr. Nile Blunt, MAG’s McPherson Director of Academic Programs and Assistant Professor of Curatorial Practice in the Department of Art & Art History at UR, has been named the Senior Director of Museum Learning at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston beginning on May 15. Nile will oversee K-12 school programs, teacher professional development, distance learning, academic engagement for higher education, gallery teaching, collections training, and community art and studio learning in this role. The MFA is the 20th largest art museum in the world and the 5th largest in the US. The museum holds nearly 500,00 objects in its permanent collection and has more than 1.2 million visitors annually.
During Nile’s time as MAG’s chief educator, he increased participation in the MAG-RCSD Expanded Learning Collaboration, built stronger connections between MAG and diverse communities, organizations, and institutions in this region, and played a vital role in the development of interpretation and visitor engagement strategies for exhibitions, amongst other accomplishments. Kathy D’Amanda, President of MAG’s Board of Managers, noted that as the Director of Academic Programs, Nile used “his remarkable skills as a teacher and belief in the power of art in transforming lives” to expand MAG’s reach into the city of Rochester and beyond. Nile’s last day will be May 5. In the weeks before his departure, Nile, and his team, alongside MAG’s Interim Director and COO, Michael Marsh, developed a detailed transition plan to ensure stability, continuity, and sustainability for the Department of Academic Programs, MAG, and our community partners. In the interim period, MAG’s two Academic Programs Coordinators will help lead the department under the supervision and guidance of Michael Marsh. Chelsea Anderson will serve as the primary contact for all department operations, while Chiyo Ueyama will serve as the primary contact for the content produced by the department and all public programming. Please direct any questions about this interim leadership model to Michael Marsh (mmarsh@mag.rochester.edu).