Whom Do Museums Serve?

Joan Weinstein is Vice President, Program Planning at Getty. She was previously Director of the Getty Foundation, where she was responsible for strategic grant initiatives internationally related to museum practice, art history, and conservation. In 2010, she co-created PST ART, Getty’s region-wide art experience involving dozens of cultural organizations throughout Southern California and directed the project through its first three iterations. She led the $40 million LA Arts Recovery Fund during the pandemic and the LA Fire Relief Fund for artists and arts workers following the 2025 fires. Weinstein began her career as a professor of art history at the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of several books and numerous articles on the history of modern art in Weimar Germany. She holds a PhD in the history of art from the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied at the Phillips-Universität Marburg.

Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the former director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, California. A curator and museum educator, Jackson-Dumont served as chair of education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2014 to 2020. Previously, she was deputy director for education and public programs and adjunct curator in modern and contemporary art at the Seattle Art Museum (2006-14). She has also held posts at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Throughout her career, Jackson-Dumont has developed programming around museum collections and special exhibitions for diverse audiences, including teens, families, young school children and their teachers, the blind and hearing impaired, as well as artists and scholars.

Kia Vahland has been an editor at the Süddeutsche Zeitung since 2008, where she was head of the art section until 2017 and co-founded the SZ opinion section in 2018. Previously, she worked as an editor for the magazine Art and the ZDF program “Willemsens Woche.” Vahland is a columnist for Radio Bremen and the Swiss magazine Republik, and has written many nonfiction books on art and history. She was a fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin and teaches at LMU Munich since 2010.

Erin Harkey is CEO of Americans for the Arts, where she drives the organization’s mission to advance the people, organizations, and systems supporting arts and culture across America through advocacy, research, and national convening. With more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of arts, public policy, and community development, she has built a career focused on strengthening the role of arts and culture in civic life. Prior to joining Americans for the Arts, Harkey served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, following leadership roles as First Deputy Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner for Programming. She also served as Senior Policy Advisor for Arts and Culture in the Mayor’s Office, advising on cultural policy and strategy across government in Chicago.