Art museum administrator connecting people to art and to each other.
Charlie Garling is the inaugural Delaware North Director of Learning & Creativity at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. He is a senior leadership team member responsible for strategy and oversight of education, interpretation, programs, and community engagement, leading teams that help visitors be inspired, create, share, and connect.
As a part of the museum’s 2019-2023 groundbreaking transformation, Charlie dramatically expanded and redesigned audience experiences with a community-centric, co-creation approach, providing platforms for underrepresented voices and avenues for community authorship of programs and events.
During this time, he led a pioneering partnership with the LEGO Foundation to design and build Creative Commons, a dedicated space for learning through play at the heart of the museum’s campus; over 60% of museum visitors now engage with this unique space each year. He led the development and realization of the AKG’s education wing, including three artmaking studios, a digital media studio, a community gallery, and the museum’s first Family Room for young children and their caregivers. He guided the development and implementation of the museum’s first comprehensive interpretive plan, along with an innovative audio guide featuring diverse voices and unexpected pairings.
Before this, Charlie served as the inaugural Director of Studio Programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He set the vision for the museum’s creative practices and oversaw and expanded a robust array of artmaking programs developed with and for audiences of all ages and abilities. He created the museum’s first public art program, partnering with communities and municipalities in the co-development of public murals and sculptures. Through this program, presentations to government bodies, and other efforts, he worked across southeast Michigan to help secure the passing of a tri-county millage that covers approximately 70% of the museum’s operating budget.
Charlie’s work has been recognized in ArtDaily, ArtNet, The Art Newspaper, Buffalo-Toronto Public Media, Business Journals, MuseumNext, The New York Times, and USA Art News, among other publications.
Before museum leadership, he served as a public school art teacher for over a decade and was a member of the College for Creative Studies Art Education Advisory Council.
Charlie is currently earning his doctorate at the University at Buffalo. He earned a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Art Education from Michigan State University.
Recently, he co-curated the exhibition Made at the Museum, featuring a vibrant collection of artwork created at the museum by people with disabilities, along with archival materials that tell the museum’s half-century story of accessibility programs.
Photo: Jeff Mace, 2022.