Have you heard about AAM 2024 in Baltimore this month? (We hope so—we’re doing our best!) If so, you might have seen one of our ads for this year’s edition, featuring a lovely cast of smiling faces. But just whose faces are those? Local museum people’s!
This year, for the first time, we decided to use our promotional campaign as a showcase for the museum community of our wonderful host city, beloved for everything from blue crabs to John Waters to Black history. Staff from several of the city’s exceptional museums graciously agreed to pose for photos and show us why they call it Charm City.
As we gear up for the meeting in just a few short weeks, we thought we’d share some of these subjects’ stories by having them answer a few questions. This week we’re spotlighting Gage Branda, a Curatorial and Development Coordinator at American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM). You can see Gage speak at the meeting during the May 18 session “50 Creative Ways to Engineer Thriving Museums and Happy Healthy Communities.”
First, tell us about yourself! How did you come into the museum field, and what is your role like now?
I am a Filipino-American from South Florida. I studied at a public arts magnet school from middle school until college where I studied Interdisciplinary Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I fell in love with Baltimore City, and after graduating I stuck around working arts-adjacent jobs doing after-school and summer programs with K-12 students in the city, and working at a Fine Arts Bronze Foundry as a Patineur. When the foundry shut down, I saw a part-time opening at the AVAM, a museum I had loved and first discovered while working a wedding at AVAM for a catering company. I never imagined I would work at a museum, and did not originally plan to become so involved in the field.
When I first started here I was the Director’s assistant to the museum’s founder, and my mentor, Rebecca Hoffberger. I quickly acclimated and applied skills I had gained outside of museum work, while learning more about how a museum operates through firsthand experience and help from our stellar staff. I think I share the same passions that drive the AVAM’s mission of championing intuition, creativity, and compassion.
Now I have a hand in both development and curation. In development I am mainly committed to grant-writing, as well as helping with appeals and campaigns. In curatorial I have been the primary curator of one of the museum’s mega exhibitions, as well as assisted with, and co-curated others during my time here. Being part of a small but mighty staff, we all wear many hats.
Do you have a proudest or most joyful moment from your career?
I don’t have a proudest moment; I am just proud to have a duty that allows me to contribute—even if in a small way—to a more compassionate and joy-filled future.
What impact do you hope your work has on the world?
I hope that my museum work can help affirm the value of the museum beyond being a repository for artifacts and objects. I believe the museum’s role is one of service to a living community, and we have a duty to be both thoughtful in our stewardship of art and culture and a place of healing and opportunity for community engagement.
What guidance or advice would you give someone new to the field?
People like to touch things. Keep that in mind.
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