Tara Young
Tara Young is an Independent Museum Professional who has worked in the museum field for nearly 20 years. For eight years, she served as the Deputy Director at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, where in she led the successful process of applying for accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). As part of the founding staff team assembled just after the Museum opened, Tara played a key role in establishing and growing the operations of the internationally-recognized museum and its Journal of Icon Studies. Her prior positions were Director of Education and Public Programs at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA; Associate Curator of Education at Tacoma Art Museum; and Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Seattle Art Museum.
Tara has taught Museum Education for K-12 Audiences in the Tufts University Museum Studies program since 2010. She received a faculty fellowship for the 2018-2019 academic year from the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Tufts. Tara has a BA from Harvard and an MA from the University of Pittsburgh, both in History of Art & Architecture, and a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University.
In addition to her museum administration and teaching backgrounds, Tara has worked as a writer and editor for art and art education publishers including Davis Publications and Pearson Prentice-Hall. She is a contributor to the book published in honor of the New England Museum Association’s (NEMA) 100th anniversary The State of Museums, author of So You Want to Work in a Museum (2019), and editor of Creating Meaningful Museum Experiences for K-12 Audiences: How to Connect with Teachers and Engage Students (2021). Previous consulting clients have included The Getty, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Fruitlands Museum.