People Make a Museum
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Although a museum’s programming and physical building often garners the most attention, it is the people behind the scenes who make any museum possible. The ongoing series People Make a Museum celebrates the staff, volunteers, artists, and others whose work forms the life and character of the Walker Art Center.

Visual Arts
By Walker Art Center

How Do You Care for an Artwork that Has No Physical Form? A Conversation on Media and Time-Based Works in the Walker’s Collections

How do museums collect and care for works of art that lack traditional physical forms, like VR, video, and works made of light? Joe King, the director of Collections and Exhibition Management at the Walker, discusses the unique and joyful challenges registrars have in the preservation and presentation of digital and durational artworks.

A group of adults pose in a photo studio and look at the viewer
Design
By Walker Art Center

A Design Studio within a Museum

Since its earliest days as a public art center, the Walker Art Center included a radical concept—a working design studio embedded within a museum. We asked the eclectic team of the Walker’s Design Studio to reflect on some of their favorite projects and aspects of working at the Walker.

A group of adults sit and stand amongst shelfes of books in a library and smile while looking at the viewer.
Walker News
By Walker Art Center

The Other Walker Library

Did you know that the Walker Art Center has a library and archive that is free and open to the public? The amazing team of librarians, archivists, and dedicated volunteers who steward this treasure trove share their favorite items found in the Walker’s library.

Two adults sit on a pink carpet and talk.
Performing Arts
By Walker Art Center

25 Years Curating Performing Arts at the Walker: An Interview with Philip Bither

What led a rock-’n’-roll–loving teenager from the suburbs of Chicago to head the Walker’s Department of Performing Arts for over a quarter century? On the eve of his 26th performing arts season, Philip Bither sat down to reflect on his unorthodox journey to becoming a professional curator, the unique power of the live experience, and what lies on the horizon for performing arts.

A group of a dults smile and laugh while sitting at children's art making tables in a classroom.
Learning
By Walker Art Center

Here to Help: The Walker’s Educators

Whether public, private, or for a school group, all tours at the Walker are led by a professional museum Educator. This amazing and energetic group of Walker staff are always here to help translate the sometimes, shall we say complex, artwork jargon into language anyone can understand.

Visual Arts
By Sho Nikiado

A Moment in Time at the Walker

In the fall of 2022, as the Walker’s staff worked to return the museum’s activities to pre-pandemic levels, local artist Sho Niakdo was let loose among the offices, library, fabrication shops, and other spaces of the museum to craft a photographic time capsule of the people who make the Walker a reality.

A group of adults in work clothes stand, some seated, smiling, facing the viewer in a large workshop space.
Visual Arts
By Walker Art Center

Exhibitions: They Build the Impossible

Move an elephant? Frame 200 drawings? Construct an indoor orchard? Nothing is impossible for the incredible exhibitions team at the Walker. Taking time out from their busy schedules, this talented team shares stories of their favorite projects and exhibitions.