Claudine K. Brown

Claudine K. Brown (1949[2] – March 17, 2016) was an American museum director and educator and nonprofit executive. She was best known for her work at the Smithsonian Institution, where she was Director of Education, responsible for directing its work to help educate K-12 students.[3] She was also a specialist in African-American history.[4][5][6]

Claudine K. Brown
BornAugust 7, 1949
DiedMarch 17, 2016 (aged 67)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPratt Institute,
Bank Street College of Education,
Brooklyn College
Known forBrooklyn Museum,
Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution,
Director of the Nathan Cummings Foundation
Director of Education, Smithsonian Institution

Career

Brown began her museum career as an educator in 1977 at the Brooklyn Museum, thanks to arts employment under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), which supported many cultural institutions. She advanced to become "manager of school and community programs (1982-1984), and then assistant director for government and community relations (1985-1990) for that institution," then becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Smithsonian. She left the Smithsonian following the mid-1990s failure of a project to establish a National Museum of African American History as a result of political opposition led by Jesse Helms.[7][8][9]

Between her posts at the Smithsonian, Ms. Brown held the office of Director of the Arts and Culture Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation.[10] The foundation's President, Lance Lindblom wrote that her work as a grantmaker particularly involved the relationship between art and social justice.[6]

At the Smithsonian, Brown served as the first Director for Education, with the formal title of Assistant Secretary for Education and Access. In her previous tenure at the Smithsonian during the 1990s, Ms. Brown had worked at the Smithsonian as director of the National African-American Museum Project, which was to become the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and became the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Arts and Humanities for the Institution.[11]

Brown shared her career perspective in a 2011 panel session entitled "Access and Inclusivity in the Museum".[12]

Education

Brown was an artist, museum educator, and lawyer, being an alumna of the Pratt Institute (Bachelor of Arts), Bank Street Graduate School of Education (Master of Science in Education) and Brooklyn Law School (Juris Doctor).[13][14]

Brown extended her professional work to mentor others in various capacities, teaching, advising and serving on boards of many organizations. She taught in the Leadership in Museum Education Program at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. She served on the boards of American Association of Museums, Bank Street College of Education, the National Park Service Fund, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Open Society Foundations.[13]

She continued to mentor artists and those in the humanities, to help artists and educators connect to constituent communities and policy makers.[15][16]

References
  1. Claudine K. Brown ’85, Leader in Arts and Education, Dies at 67
  2. "Bank Street Alumni Twitter post". Twitter. Bank Street College Alumni. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  3. Lynn, Kellye. "Word Expeditions program encourages young learners to improve vocabulary". WJLA. Retrieved 19 March 2016. We're really trying to build a strong foundation where they have vocabulary but also understand the concepts underpinning the vocabulary.
  4. "Claudine Brown Named Director of Education for Smithsonian Institution". Smithsonian Institution Newsdesk. June 21, 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  5. Behind the scenes: Science and education at the Smithsonian. Hearing before the subcommittee on research and science education. Committee on Science and Technology, House of Representatives, One hundred and eleventh Congress, Second session. U.S. Government Printing Office. July 21, 2010. pp. 20–27. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  6. Lindblom, Lance. "Claudine Brown Named Director of Education for the Smithsonian Institution". Nathan Cummings Foundation. GrantMakers in the Arts. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  7. Bey, Dawoud. "In Remembrance of Patron and Protector of the Arts, Claudine K. Brown". Black Art in America. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  8. Marho Staff Rhr Collective (4 June 1998). Radical History Review. Cambridge University Press. pp. 82–95. ISBN 978-0-521-63761-9.
  9. Trescott, Jacqueline (June 10, 1994). "Project Passes Key Hurdle". The Washington Post. p. D2; Trescott, Jacqueline (September 29, 1994). "Helms Stalls New Museum". The Washington Post. p. D1; Trescott, Jacqueline (October 1, 1994). "Black Museum Loses Again". The Washington Post. p. H2.
  10. Taylor, Kate (April 13, 2010). "Smithsonian Names Director of Education". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  11. "Report from the 2012 AAAM Conference in Baltimore". Engaging Places. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  12. Brown, Claudine; Connecting the Dots: Virtuality, Technology and Feminism in the Museum Sept 23-24, 2011; International Network on Feminism and Curating (September 23, 2011). "Access and Inclusivity". Feminism and Curating Wiki.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. "Claudine Brown". Open Society Foundations. Archived from the original on 2016-03-31.
  14. "In Memoriam: Claudine K. Brown". E-Torch. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  15. Reena Tiwari; Marina Lommerse; Dianne Smith (10 March 2014). M2 Models and Methodologies for Community Engagement. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-981-4585-11-8.
  16. Angie Wojak; Stacy Miller (13 December 2013). Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide for Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, and Other Visual Artists. Allworth Press. pp. 43–. ISBN 978-1-58115-854-0.
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