In his speech, “The Museum and its City,” Andrew will discuss Cranbrook’s latest initiative, the Detroit Collection, a project to build a visual arts history of the city since the 1960s, a project that began quietly nine years ago from a gift to the museum. He will trace a trajectory in community and civic engagement from experiments at the Walker Art Center, where he worked previously, to those undertaken at Cranbrook over the past decade.

Andrew Satake Blauvelt has served as Director of Cranbrook Art Museum since 2015. Over the past decade, Cranbrook has ambitiously expanded its exhibitions, public programs, collections, scholarly research, and partnerships with both local and national peers. Prior to Cranbrook, Andrew worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in a variety of curatorial and administrative roles where he first directed and guided the brand identity of the institution across all media platforms; oversaw the first inter-departmental division responsible for audience , community, and civic engagement; managed major organizational initiatives and building expansion projects;  and organized numerous exhibitions and publications as senior curator.