Museums and the Future of Education - Howard Taylor

Sedona Art Museum Kicks Off Fall Speaker Series

A FAMoS Speaker Series. Presentation by Howard Taylor, Director of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in San Angelo, Texas on Tuesday, October 11, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Sedona Hilton Resort, 90 Ridge Trail Drive in the Village of Oak Creek, Sedona.

Taylor shared his insights on Museums and the Future of Education focusing on the leadership role museums must take to:

• advance creative learning environments
• become instruments of social change and transformation
• provide programming that strengthens critical, creative and collaborative thinking
• promote innovation through technology.

He discussed how his museum has engaged the San Angelo community through various educational and creative programs. He shared his insights into the importance of how museums need to be leaders in community education through advancing creative learning, becoming instruments of social transformation, providing programming that strengthens critical and creative thinking, and promoting innovation through technology.

Howard Taylor has a wealth of experience to share, having served 46 years in museum administration. He spent thirty three years as the first and only director of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and says “his tenure has been one of challenges, excitement and experimentation.”

Previously the Assistant Director of the Philadelphia Maritime Museum for thirteen years and former President of the Museum Council of Philadelphia, Taylor was Co-Chairman of the 1982 American Association of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting, and has served as the President of the National Association of Museum Exhibitions, the largest standing professional committee of AAM. He served three times as Chairman of the Texas Commission on the Arts Visual Arts Panel and has been a juror, consultant and featured speaker for more than one hundred museums and arts venues throughout the country.

Taylor is a past President of the Texas Association of Museums (TAM) and has served as a member of the Board of Director’s of both AAM and the TAM. He is currently serving as the Executive Director for the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA).

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts is the only museum to have received the American Institute of Architects National Service Award, and was the recipient of the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Museum Service Award in a ceremony at the White House in 2003. Taylor received the TAM’s President’s Award in 2004 and the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award in 2005. In 2011, he accepted the John L. Nau III award for Excellence in Museums from the Texas Historical Commission.

This presentation was part of the Fine Art Museum of Sedona's Speaker Series, which was offered to engage the community regarding the benefits of a world-class fine arts museum for Sedona and the Verde Valley.