Elisabeth Callihan

As Chief Education Officer, Elisabeth Callihan will shape the vision for the BMA’s public engagement, interpretation, public programs, and learning community teams. Her role is essential to creating new educational and public programming experiences that advance the museum’s priorities to both ensure return visitation and growth in its audiences. Callihan will collaborate with senior leadership and staff to conceptualize and implement programs and initiatives that emphasize K-12 and university-level learning, as well as community-centered public programs and events that expand on exhibition themes and emphasize collaboration with cultural leaders, makers, and creatives in the Baltimore region and beyond.

Callihan brings to the BMA 15 years of experience in museum education and engagement. In her work, she has placed particular emphasis on both the importance of creating accessible and dynamic educational experiences within the museum environment and of establishing strong relationships with the communities in which museums live. She comes to the BMA from the Mississippi Museum of Art, where she held the dual roles of Director of Education and Director of Learning and Practice at the museum’s Center of Art and Public Exchange (CAPE). During her tenure, she oversaw an extensive array of educational programming for students, children, families, and adults, as well as efforts to reimagine that museum’s interpretative materials. Previously, Callihan worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Art as Head of Multi-Generational Learning and Program Director of MASS Action, a national collaborative project to embed equitable practices into the museum field. She has held roles at the Brooklyn Museum and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, among other cultural organizations. Callihan earned an MA from Sotheby’s Institute in London and a BA from the University of Evansville in Indiana.