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Alyssa Machida
Interpretive Specialist
Detroit Institute of Arts
Class of 2016
Learning is at the heart of what I do because...
it is what connects me to other people, helping me find my sincere and earnest way on this cognizant journey as I seek to understand and transform the world.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Learn more about Alyssa
Before HGSE
EDUCATION
B.A., History of Art
University of California, Berkeley
Thesis: “Image-Making and Problem-Solving: Exploring Optics, Cognition, and Temporality in The Spinners and Las Meninas”
Supervisor: Dr. Todd Olson
HONORS AND AWARDS
2015, Leadership in Education Award
2013, High Honors from the Department of History of Art, and Highest Distinction in General Scholarship
Maybelle Toombs Award for excellence in the field of Art History
EXPERIENCE
Kress Interpretive Fellow
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Boston, MA
Education Intern, School and Teacher Programs
de Young Museum - San Francisco, CA
Curatorial Intern
Berkeley Art Museum - Berkeley, CA
After HGSE
EDUCATION
Ed.M., Arts in Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, MA
EXPERIENCE
Interpretive Specialist
Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit, MI
- Collaborating with curators and designers from concept development through installation to execute the DIA’s reinstallation of their permanent Asian galleries.
- Implementing gallery projects and initiatives to increase presence of underrepresented voices in the museum.
- Hosting a reading and discussion group, Rad Catalysts, aimed at providing, time, space, tools and resources for staff to collectively unpack how systemic oppression relates to their own work, and how to build capacity around one’s own practice.