COURTESY BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM OF ART
The Birmingham Museum of Art announced today that it has hired Horace D. Ballard, Jr. to be its curator of education, a position he began on August 10. His appointment follows two other relatively recent curatorial additions at the museum: Robert Schindler as curator of European art in 2013 and Wassan Al-Khudhairi as curator of modern and contemporary art last year.
Ballard joins the Birmingham, Alabama museum from RISD’s Museum of Art, where he taught courses, established new programs, and generated community engagement for the Continuing Education Department and School & Teacher Programs division. Ballard simultaneously worked as a graduate lecturer at Brown University and as graduate collections manager at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthopology. Ballard also previously worked at the Monticello/Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
Ballard will receive a Ph.D. in 19-century American photography from Brown at the end of the year. He holds an A.M in American Civilization and Public Humanities from Brown, an M.A. in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and double B.A.s in American Studies and English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia.
In a statement R. Hugh Daniel Director Gail Andrews said:
“We are thrilled to welcome Mr. Ballard to Birmingham as the Museum’s new curator of education. His extensive academic training and broad experience in the cultural sector make him an ideal leader at Birmingham Museum of Art, at a time when we are exploring what it means to be a truly community responsive museum for our city. Horace has a transcendent gift of making meaningful connections between people and art, and I look forward to see his dynamic vision for our education initiatives unfold as he settles into his new role.”