Director of Smithsonian on Reckoning & Reconciliation, Love & Covid, Trauma & Art

Stephanie Stebich is the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum - that means she is responsible for the nation’s premier collection of American art and major exhibition, research, publication, education and digital-media programs at the museum and its Renwick Gallery. 

Before moving to Washington DC, was the executive director of the Tacoma Art Museum for 13 years. She was the assistant director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from 2001 to 2004, and assistant director at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1995 to 2001. Stephanie studied art history at Columbia University and got her master’s degree with a concentration in modern art from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Stephanie is the daughter of an art historian, and her wife is also an art historian - she is at home in the museum and with art. In this episode Rose talks to Stephanie about reckoning and reconciliation - what should happen to confederate statues? How do we welcome in the new artists and exhibits during a global pandemic? What does the art we choose to showcase say about our values and ourselves? How do you handle death threats after you choose to showcase art about today's most pressing issues?

The Woman is a production of Rose Reid. We will be publishing every two weeks on Thursday. On our next episode, February 25th, Rose speaks to Jessica Nabongo - the first black woman to travel to every country in the world!

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