The blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List 2026

Alia AlHammadi is an operations and events professional with expertise in team leadership, strategic planning, programme delivery and stakeholder management.

She has experience coordinating complex projects across departments, working with senior leaders, clients and vendors to deliver programmes efficiently and within defined timelines and budgets.

Her approach combines strategic planning with hands-on project management, overseeing projects from initial planning through to delivery and post-event support.

She has led teams, developed operational processes, managed stakeholder relationships and produced reporting to support informed decision-making. Her experience also includes workforce planning, departmental policy development and continuous process improvement.

AlHammadi is part of the team at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, which opened in November 2025 and is the largest natural history museum in the Middle East. The museum explores the history of life on Earth through immersive galleries and collections, including the Murchison meteorite, which contains amino acids and other organic material.

Working in a major new cultural attraction, AlHammadi brings together operational leadership, event and programme management and cross-departmental collaboration.

Her role involves supporting teams and projects in a complex museum environment, with a focus on creating efficient processes and delivering a consistent experience for visitors, partners and stakeholders.

Defne Ayas was named director of the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands in September 2025, bringing a unique combination of international experience, social engagement, artistic leadership and administrative expertise to the museum.

“The Van Abbemuseum has a strong international reputation, I wish to uphold that status,” Ayas said.

“The museum is located in a city that is enmeshed in global chip infrastructures and complex technological flows. This empire of lasers and optics is fertile ground for us as a museum to connect with. But I do gaze beyond our own city walls. I consider Antwerp, Düsseldorf, Den Bosch, and so on, as local and regional too.”

Before her current role, Ayas worked as a curator, director, educator and editor. Her work spans culture, politics, performance, technology, and spirituality.

Ayas started her career in 2003 at the New Museum in New York, developing education and media programmes focused on art, technology and critical gaming. Over the past two decades, she has shaped some of the world’s most exciting art platforms, biennales, and initiatives.

“Ayas is widely recognised as one of the leading thinkers in contemporary curatorial practice. Rather than viewing museums simply as places to display collections, she argues that they should function as living civic institutions capable of responding to social, political and environmental change,” said one person who nominated Ayas.

“Her leadership at the Van Abbemuseum continues this philosophy, combining an internationally ambitious programme with a commitment to civic participation, experimentation and institutional innovation.”

Louise Bernard was named director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum in 2017, and has led the design and development of the new institution, which opened in 2026. Prior to joining the Obama Foundation, Bernard served as director of exhibitions at the New York Public Library.

Before that, she was a senior content developer for museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, where she worked on the design team that developed the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Obama Presidential Center, a 19.3-acre museum campus in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park, is described as a global hub designed to inspire, empower, and connect people to create change. Spanning four floors, the museum's exhibits explore democracy and the work of the Obama Presidency through unique artefacts and hands-on interactions in immersive exhibits.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Barack Obama said: "The exhibits focus not just on policies, but on the shared values that make democracy possible, a belief in the intrinsic dignity and worth of all people, and that no one is above the law or beneath its protection, a belief in checks and balances in our government and an accountability that comes with an independent judiciary and a robust, free press."

Michelle Obama said: "Hope is a choice. Whether or not we use our voices to speak up is a choice. Voting is a choice. Believing that we still hold the power to build a country that reflects us all is a choice.

"The Obama Presidential Center is a living testament to the power of choice."

Sunghee Cho serves as a curator at the National Asian Culture Center and has more than 18 years’ experience in museums and the cultural sector. She specialises in cultural diplomacy and institutional strategy, leading international exchange and cooperation initiatives focused on arts and culture education.

Her work includes developing capacity-building programmes and online educational projects that leverage the National Asian Culture Center’s content to foster diversity and partnerships in contemporary Asian arts and culture.

Cho is a member of ICOM’s Financial Resources Committee, where she contributes to the strategic oversight and development of global financial resources for cultural sustainability.

She has held leadership positions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), and Daelim Cultural Foundation.

“I bring a comprehensive perspective to connecting exhibitions with audiences, communities, and cultural professionals worldwide. My mission remains to advance education and collaboration across borders, enriching the global arts and culture landscape,” says Cho.

One person who nominated Cho said she “deserves recognition for her international approach to museum education, cultural programming and the promotion of Korean culture and arts”.

“Through her work with the National Asian Culture Center, she has helped position Korean cultural practice within a wider global and regional dialogue, connecting institutions, artists, educators and audiences across borders,” they added.

Xiaobo Chu was appointed director of Shanghai Museum in 2022, having previously overseen cultural relic protection and museum construction for the city.

Under his leadership, the institution is becoming a major international cultural destination, marked by an impressive exhibition programme.

For example, the landmark exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilisation of Ancient Egypt, closed in August 2025 after a year-long run.

Developed in collaboration between Shanghai Museum and the Egyptian government, this marked the largest exhibition of ancient Egyptian antiquities ever staged outside of the country.

With night openings, performances, educational activities, cultural products, and citywide partnerships, the exhibition attracted more than 2.7 million visitors and set a new worldwide record for attendance at a single paid special exhibition in a museum.

More widely, Chu has led the expansion of Shanghai Museum across its People’s Square and East Museum sites while strengthening its digital platforms, international collaborations, and audience reach.

Shanghai Museum is developing a third site, Shanghai Museum North, which is expected to open by 2030.

“Chu’s contribution lies in redefining the museum as both a trusted scholarly institution and an active engine of international exchange, digital innovation and urban tourism,” says one nominator.

“His work offers a compelling model for how major museums can combine academic credibility with ambitious public engagement.”

Mariia Dubrova heads the Department of Scientific and Educational Exhibitions at the Junior Academy of Sciences (JAS) of Ukraine.

This UNESCO Centre for Science Education seeks to develop the next generation of scientists and boost the country’s intellectual capital.

Each year, JAS engages hundreds of thousands of students, fostering their interest in science, encouraging experimentation, and engaging them in research.

The organisation is part of the Copernicus Academy, a network of scientists from 37 countries that promotes the Earth Observation Programme, as well as Ecsite, ASTC, ASPAC, IFIA, and WCGTC.

In 2020, it opened the national Science Museum in Kyiv, which welcomed more than 250,000 visitors and included 150 interactive exhibits. Building on this success, JAS embarked on a second museum development in Mariupol.

However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kyiv museum was evacuated, and the exhibits delivered to the Mariupol site were lost.

This led the team to create new science centres in the regions, taking educational services to cities and communities hosting internally displaced people.

The first temporary space opened in summer 2022 and welcomed 10,000 visitors in five months; a regional science centre followed in December that year. Also that December, the Science Museum in Kyiv reopened.

Since then, the organisation has launched numerous interactive regional experiences, including science museums in Chernivtsi and Poltava, with projects including Ukraine's first-ever mathematics museum, 'Cuboid', and the touring ‘Science Bus’.

“Mariia Dubrova is an inspiring museum leader whose work in Ukraine demonstrates extraordinary resilience, curiosity, and purpose,” says a nominator.

“She continues to learn, question, and challenge conventional thinking, making her leadership and the projects she delivers stronger and more impactful.”

Dr Melissa L. Gustin is an art historian, curator and research scholar specialising in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art, neoclassicism, sculpture and classical reception.

She has served as curator of British Art at National Museums Liverpool since August 2023, overseeing the British art collections at the Walker Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley Art Gallery.

Gustin’s academic career has included roles at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Henry Moore Institute, and Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, alongside teaching positions at the University of Essex and the University of York.

She holds a PhD in History of Art from the University of York, where her research examined nineteenth-century American women sculptors working in Rome and changing interpretations of classical art.

Her research interests also encompass Victorian painting and sculpture, the Pre-Raphaelites, and feminist and queer approaches to art history. She has published in journals including The Burlington Magazine, British Art Studies and Art History, and is developing a monograph on painter-sculptor George Frederic Watts.

In 2025–26, Gustin curated Turner: Always Contemporary at the Walker Art Gallery, bringing together around 120 works to mark 250 years since J.M.W. Turner’s birth and explore his continuing influence on artists and contemporary issues.

Honor Harger describes herself as a curator of possible worlds, working at the intersection of art, science and technological, environmental, and societal change. She currently works as director and chief curator of Futures Imagined, a consultancy and studio that helps organisations to develop experiences from exhibitions, festivals and public programmes to strategic initiatives, institutional design, and research-led commissions.

Between 2014 and 2026, Harger was director of Singapore’s ArtScience Museum, overseeing its artistic vision, institutional strategy and interdisciplinary programme across contemporary art, science, technology and culture. Over more than 20 years, she has directed cultural organisations and created programmes at institutions such as Tate Modern in London, transmediale in Berlin, and Artspace Aotearoa in New Zealand.

“My work is driven by a commitment to make the world a better place through culture and science, expanding how we imagine, understand, and act within possible futures. My practice is grounded in the conviction that artists working at the edge of technology offer an early signal of where society is heading,” says Harger.

“I collaborate with cultural organisations, technology companies, and environmental initiatives to develop projects that move audiences emotionally while producing measurable environmental and social impact.”

Harger has worked with leading scientific organisations including CERN, the American Museum of Natural History and OceanX, museums and galleries such as the Getty, Mori Art Museum and the Barbican, technology companies including Apple and Google, and sustainability organisations such as WWF.

Brett Renfer is an experience designer and maker whose work explores how narrative, technology and physical space can come together to create meaningful visitor experiences.

With more than 15 years of experience, he specialises in narrative-rich, architectural-scale responsive environments, with the past decade focused largely on cultural-sector projects.

Renfer’s portfolio spans museums, cultural institutions and technology organisations. His past clients include The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), the Museum of the Moving Image, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Google, Intel and NASA.

His approach centres on creating experiences that foster connections between people while remaining authentic to the content, institution and audience they serve.

Alongside his project work, Renfer regularly speaks at conferences and leads workshops, sharing insights into experience design, interactive environments, and audience engagement. He is also an adjunct faculty member at The New School and New York University, bringing his professional experience into the classroom.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Renfer combines creative practice with teaching and industry engagement, with a particular interest in designing experiences that become a meaningful part of a visitor’s journey.

His work considers not only how audiences interact with environments, but also how those interactions can support curiosity, discovery and shared experiences.

Kelley Szany is senior vice president of education & exhibitions at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, where she has worked for more than 25 years. She is an internationally recognised leader in Holocaust, genocide and museum education, with expertise spanning education, exhibitions, public programming and professional development.

Szany has played a key role in developing the museum’s approach to using personal testimony, immersive experiences and innovative technologies to engage audiences with Holocaust and genocide history.

She has served as an executive producer on a number of the museum’s documentary and virtual reality films, including The Journey Back, a series of VR experiences that uses immersive cinematography to share the stories of Holocaust survivors.

Her work also extends to genocide education and human rights. Szany serves as co-chair of the Illinois Holocaust & Genocide Commission and sits on the boards of the Association of Holocaust Organizations and the Educators Institute for Human Rights.

Szany has received several awards for her educational and human rights work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Canisius College and a master’s degree in public history from Loyola University Chicago.