Cindy Meyers Foley

Director & CEO
Grand Rapids Art Museum

"Leading People Centered Museums: Community Building and Change Management"

As museums confront seismic shifts—economic volatility, evolving workplace norms, demands for equity, and calls for relevance—traditional leadership models are failing. Adding to the frustration, traditional organizational structures, institutional planning, and decision making in museums can decenter people, both visitors, community and staff. The field is hungry for change.  This presentation will explore intentional ways a Michigan museum is forging forward with exciting change - while also experiencing a variety of new challenges.  That change is becoming a People-Centered institution or simply acknowledging that people are the reason that our organization exists. It means that institutional decision making, strategies for accomplishing goals, and every experience we provide must center on people. That can range from experiences that are deeply individualized to initiatives that promote community building at large. To do so, a shift in museum leadership is also essential to navigate ambiguity, practice relational agility, and hold space for collective problem solving. 

Biography: Cindy Meyers Foley has worked for 30 years helping museums become welcoming spaces that cultivate curiosity and social engagement. She is the Director and CEO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, an institution committed to being people centered by strategically placing people at the center of all decision making.

Foley has curated a number of exhibitions including Playground, 2002 which launched a groundbreaking project, Learning to Love you More. Foley is committed to the role museums play in developing creative thinkers. She has served on the faculty of the Maine College of Art and Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom Summer Institute and is a frequent keynote speaker at museum, art, and education conferences. Foley has given two TEDX Talks including Teaching Art or Teaching to Think like an Artist. Foley received the 2018 Ohio Distinguished Educator for Art Education award. She was appointed to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council in 2023.