A conversation with Tom Campbell, former director of the New York Met.

The American University of Rome

Former Museum Directors Richard Hodges (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and currently President of The American University of Rome) and Tom Campbell (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art) in conversation about the challenges of running a museum in the age of technology & social media.

As Director of the Met, Tom Campbell spent nine years pushing through a modernization campaign, heavily investing in digital technologies and dramatically expanding the institution’s engagement with Modern and contemporary art. He also embarked on an ambitious infrastructure strategy, improving existing spaces while building new ones. While there were many vocal critics of Campbell's approach he staunchly maintains that museums are now "challenged to make ourselves relevant not only to existing audiences but to new audiences." Upon departing the Met, Campbell received a prestigious Getty Rothschild Fellowship to conduct research at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and then England’s Waddesdon Manor, a period he has said he will use to continue his exploration of the digital future of museums.