Webinar | Curating Community: Museums as Cultural Hubs
Museums do more than preserve history and culture—they help shape the communities around them. In this webinar, Tiffany Baker, Executive Director of the Historic Capitol Museum, and Grace Robinson, Executive Director of the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, explore how museums function as anchors of place, catalysts for growth, and vital gathering spaces. Though rooted in different moments in time, both institutions have played central roles in the physical development of their communities—from the Historic Capitol’s role in Tallahassee’s formation to the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum’s impact as a driver of revitalization and investment in downtown Quincy.
Baker and Robinson will discuss how museums cultivate existing communities while creating opportunities for new ones to emerge. Drawing on their experiences, they will examine the importance of creative, mission-based programming designed with both current and prospective audiences in mind, the role museums play in bringing people from all walks of life together in meaningful ways, and how cultural institutions can inspire private investment, civic pride, and long-term care for the communities they serve.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Tiffany Baker has spent more than twenty years fostering strategic initiatives that demonstrate the importance of connecting a community’s past to its future path. Since 2014, she has been appointed by Florida’s Senate President and House Speaker to serve as the Director of the Florida Historic Capitol Museum. Her commitment to servant leadership extends far beyond her professional career. Tiffany’s proudest moments include her volunteer work as a stakeholder with the Florida Association of Museums, the Knight Creative Communities Institute Community Catalyst Program; Leadership Tallahassee; and Leadership Florida.
Grace Robinson is a Michigan native who has lived and worked in many parts of the country. She has been the Executive Director of the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum in Quincy, Florida, for nearly 20 years and has worked with the community to build the organization from a community arts center to a leading Regional Art Museum. In 2014, Grace was awarded the Outstanding Mid-Career Professional Award from the Florida Association of Museums, in 2016 she led Gadsden Arts to earn national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, and in 2017 Grace was recognized as Fundraiser of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Big Bend Chapter. She presently serves on the Capital City Bank Group Advisory Board, and the Florida Association of Museums Board of Directors. Grace came to Gadsden Arts in 2005 from the Vero Beach Museum of Art where she was Education Director and Deputy Director. Prior to work in museums, Grace taught art in public and private high schools and worked as a graphic designer and illustrator. Grace lives in Tallahassee, Florida with her husband, Dr. Tom Morgan, Director of Admissions and Associate Professor at the FSU PA School, and son Jamie, an avid soccer player who will soon be off to college.