Cities, Museums and Soft Power - Contributors

The book features a preface by Richard Florida and essays from the following contributors:

An Laishun holds a Ph.D. in Chinese History and master of arts degree in museology. He has served as executive editor-in-chief of Chinese Museum Magazine since 2003. He is a prominent thinker and innovator in the use of the "new museology" and ecomuseology for safeguarding the heritage of ethnic minority groups in China and Asia. He has played a role in founding four community museums in China and helped in developing exhibitions on the culture of different communities in China. He is the vice president and secretary general, Chinese Museums Association, deputy director of Luxun Museum, China, and a member of the Executive Council of ICOM.

Ngaire Blankenberg is a principal consultant at Lord Cultural Resources. She has been a youth worker, jazz poet, cartoonist, documentary-maker and television producer. She directed the award-winning documentary Morris Fynn Goes Native (SABC), was co-director of Nkosi's Mission (SABC/BBC) and is co-founder of the Museum of AIDS in Africa. She has advised museum and cultural clients in Washington D.C., Patna, India, Dharhan, Dubai, Beijing and Sydney. Ngaire grew up in Winnipeg, Harare and Christchurch, and has lived and worked in Johannesburg, Toronto, Paris and Barcelona.

Joy Bailey Bryant is managing director, U.S., for Lord Cultural Resources. A cultural planning specialist, Joy led public engagement for the Chicago Cultural Plan 2013 and Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, reaching thousands of stakeholders. She unearthed untold stories of the Southwest Georgia Civil Rights Movement for the Albany (Ga.) Civil Rights Institute. Joy is a frequent speaker at museum conferences and is the author of "Planning for Community Needs" in the Manual of Museum Planning. Joy formerly worked at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). She received her MA in arts management from American University and her bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University.

Baillie Card is a researcher, writer and editor based in London. She holds a first class undergraduate degree in history of art from the University of Edinburgh and a master’s in history of art and visual culture from the University of Oxford. She has organized auctions in the contemporary art department of Sotheby's London and worked on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project in New York City. Her current research projects focus on artists in urban development and how impact studies are reshaping arts advocacy.

Gegê Leme Joseph is an architect and urbanist, production designer and holds an M.A. in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. Gegê develops exhibitions and experiences for heritage and culture, strategies for the dissemination of heritage beyond museum walls, and works with museum planning. After ten years in South Africa, she has returned to Brazil in February 2013, where she runs a museums and heritage consultancy firm and researches the current state of Brazilian museums and heritage sector.

Lourdes Fernández is the general manager of AlhóndigaBilbao, a leading art and culture center in the Basque Country, and serves as a board member of the Reina Sofía Museum Foundation in Madrid. She has managed various international contemporary art projects, biennials and fairs, including Madrid’s contemporary art fair, ARCOmadrid, and Manifesta 5, the European biennale of contemporary art, San Sebastián, 2004. Most recently she contributed to the catalogue on art and fashion for the Givenchy exhibition at the Thyssen Museum, Madrid.

Mohamed Gamal is a curator and exhibition specialist with a Ph.D. in Egyptology, and post-doctoral study in museology. He serves as a curator and director of museum exhibition and archeological research at the Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo. He is a lecturer in Egyptology and in the master of museum studies program at Helwan University, Egypt, and has published several articles on Egyptology and museology. Most recently he created the new permanent exhibition at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo entitled: "Life, Prosperity and Health for Tutankhamun," which opened in December, 2014.

Guido Guerzoni has been involved in the economics and management of cultural institutions and their assets for 20 years. He has taught at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan since 1996, where he is in charge of courses in cultural heritage and art markets for degrees in economics and management in arts, culture, media and entertainment. He has written for approximately 100 publications in Italy and abroad while working with national and international institutions. He has supervised the Fondazione di Venezia's M9 museum project since 2006.

Javier Jimenez is a senior consultant at the museum planning firm Lord Cultural Resources. Javier has worked on a wide range of projects with museums, cultural organizations and local governments in Europe, North America and Asia, including the Strategic Plan 2008-2012 for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, project management for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culcture in Saudi Arabia and the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan. He holds a master's degree in cultural management and is currently based in Barcelona.

Gail Dexter Lord is co-founder and co-president of Lord Cultural Resources. With Barry Lord, she is co-editor of The Manual of Museum Planning (1991, 1999, 2012), co-author of The Manual of Museum Management (1997 and 2009) and Artists, Patrons and the Public: Why Culture Changes (2010). She is co-author with Kate Markert of The Manual of Strategic Planning for Museums (2007). Gail has led cultural and tourism plans for cities as well as planning, management and exhibition assignments for museums, galleries and cities throughout Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, North America and Asia. In 2014, Gail was appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Minister of Culture of France.

Hayfa Matar is currently the deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Bahrain in London. Her previous positions include advisor to the foreign minister and counselor to the president of the 61st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. She holds a bachelor's degree in physics and economics from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in politics of the world economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Batul Raaj Mehta is a museum planner and has studied architecture and heritage management. Over the past 15 years, she has enjoyed an enriching experience working with private and public enterprises in developed and emerging markets in sharply different macro landscapes. She leads the Lord Cultural Resources team in developing the Bihar Museum in Patna, India, which seeks to introduce a new sensibility and audience engagement in one of the world's oldest civilizations.

Federica Olivares has designed a series of international public diplomacy projects, including the "United Nations World Television Forum" and "Italy in the U.S. 2013: Year of the Italian Culture in the United States." She participated in the European Capitals of Culture 2019 program, selecting the Italian city of Matera. She teaches "Concept Design of Cultural Events" at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, where she is also director of the Masters Program in cultural planning and founder of City Innovation Lab. She is a board member of the Council for the Arts at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., Piccolo Teatro Theatre of Europe, Milan, Italy Fulbright Commission and the Scientific Council UNESCO, Venice.

Robert Punkenhofer is founding director of ART&IDEA and is currently Austria's trade commissioner in Barcelona, Spain. In his work, he transcends the boundaries of art, architecture, design and international business and diplomacy. He has been responsible for more than 100 exhibitions and special projects on three continents, including the visionary Mur Island with Vito Acconci for Graz European Capital of Culture and Vienna Art Week, Austria's participation at the World Fairs in Aichi, Japan, Zaragossa, Spain and Shanghai, China. He served as director of the Austrian Design Foundation and the Creative Industry Office at Austria´s Foreign Trade Organization. He is a member of the International Advisory Council at Princeton University/PLAS and visiting professor at New York University. For further information, visit www.art-idea.com.