Workplace Culture

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an audience-centered, equitable, and inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome. Mia is mission-driven, generous, agile, emotionally aware, and positive, and endeavors to create a workplace culture where staff are responsible to one another, to our visitors, and to themselves to do the best work possible.

Vision and Mission

Inspiring wonder through the power of art.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art enriches the community by collecting, preserving, and making accessible outstanding works of art from the world’s diverse cultures.

Leadership Team

Katie Luber is Mia’s Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director & President. She oversees the museum’s collections, facilities, and annual operating budget. She is the twelfth director & president of the museum and began her tenure at Mia on January 2, 2020. She previously served for eight years as the Kelso Director at the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Julianne Amendola is Chief Advancement Officer. During more than 12 years at Mia, she has created and implemented strategies to raise funds from a variety of constituents to support the museum’s mission. She leads the advancement team to successfully raise contributed revenue from individual donors, corporations, and foundations, oversees donor stewardship and fundraising events, and has launched Mia’s innovative membership model.

Lynn Farmer is Mia’s Chief Audience & Engagement Officer joining the leadership team in September 2023. Farmer oversees Mia’s marketing, communication, and learning efforts and brings over 30 years of experience and deep knowledge of marketing and communications across industries. Before joining Mia, she was the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Twin Cities PBS and led the organization through a nationally recognized digital transformation. Along with her previous leadership roles at Hamline University and Target Corporation, Farmer has served the Minneapolis community through board membership and strategic planning leadership for organizations including Minnehaha Academy, the Northside Economic Opportunity Network, and Phillips West Neighborhood Association. In 2022, Farmer was recognized as a Notable Leader in Marketing by Twin Cities Business Journal.

Patricia Grazzini is Senior Deputy Director. She has been with the museum since 1992 and served as both COO and CFO managing the museum business – both front of house and back of house – with a focus on enhancing the visitor experience. Her current responsibilities include strategic projects and campus planning.

Michelle Klein is Chief of Staff and serves as the primary support person regarding leadership team initiatives in service of institutional priorities, managing key planning and implementation processes for the Director, and oversees Board relations for the museum. She has been at Mia since 2016 and in the non-profit arts sector for over three decades.

Benjamin Murray is Mia’s C. Curtis Dunnavan Chief Financial Officer. He joined the leadership team in November 2023 and leads the areas of Finance and Data Strategy. Murray brings over 25 years of experience in non-profit finance and operations leadership and is a licensed CPA. Before joining Mia, he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Michael Sanders, Chief Operating Officer, oversees Mia’s Operations division including Facilities, Security, Information Systems, Retail, Events, Visitor Experience, and Janitorial Services. Michael joined Mia in March of 2022 and brings more than twenty years of experience in the museum field.

Virajita Singh is Mia’s inaugural Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. Since March 2022, she leads the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Division overseeing Mia’s HR Department and the DEI Department that advances DEI, access and belonging in the museum’s internal and external work. Before joining Mia, Virajita was a professor and researcher in the College of Design and Associate Vice Provost in the Office for Equity & Diversity, both at the University of Minnesota.

Matthew Welch serves as the Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Deputy Director & Chief Curator and plays a key role in charting the museum’s strategic vision. He administers five curatorial departments, registration, and the museum’s research library. He is committed to advancing the museum’s national and international reputation through scholarship, exhibitions, and important acquisitions. A specialist in Japanese art, he joined the museum in 1990. Under his stewardship, the museum’s collection of Japanese and Korean art grew 173% to over 8,500 works. For his work in the field, he was awarded the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Commendation in 2016.

Get in touch: museum phone directory or e-mail

Museum Support

The Minneapolis Institute of Art is a free museum operated for the benefit of the general public. Operation of Mia and its programs is supported by the citizens of Hennepin County through the Park Museum Fund and by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. Major annual support for museum operations and programs is provided by individuals, families, and organizations who support the museum annually through memberships and contributions. The Minneapolis Institute of Art thanks these funders for their generous support of the museum.

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History

In 1883, twenty-five citizens of Minneapolis founded the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, committing them to bringing the arts into the life of their community. More than a century later, the museum they created, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, stands as a monument to a remarkable history of civic involvement and cultural achievement.

Designed by the preeminent New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, the original building opened its doors in 1915. A neoclassical landmark in the Twin Cities, the museum expanded in 1974 with an addition designed by the late Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. In June 2006, the museum unveiled a new wing designed by architect Michael Graves.

The Target Wing was the result of a major renovation and expansion that included thirty-four new galleries, increasing exhibition space by 40 percent. The expansion included a new Lecture Hall, Photographs Study Room, Print Study Room, and an Art Research Library in a more visible location. The Graves design respectfully combined the neoclassical elegance of the original McKim, Mead & White 1915 building with the minimalism of Tange’s 1974 addition.

Mia’s permanent collection has grown from 800 works of art to more than 89,000 objects. The collection includes world-famous works that embody the highest levels of artistic achievement, spanning about 20,000 years and representing the world’s diverse cultures across six continents. The museum has seven curatorial areas: Arts of Africa & the Americas; Contemporary Art; Decorative Arts, Textiles & Sculpture; Asian Art; Paintings; Photography and New Media; and Prints and Drawings.

Mia is one of the largest arts educators in Minnesota. More than a half-million people visit the museum each year, and a hundred thousand more are reached through the museum’s Art Adventure program for elementary schoolchildren. The museum’s free general admission policy, public programs, classes for children and adults, and award-winning interactive media programs have helped to broaden and deepen this museum’s roots in the communities it serves.