TOLEDO, OH.- With the support of a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Toledo Museum of Art has named Adero Kauffmann-Okoko as a Kress Interpretive Fellow. The fellowship is a 12-month position designed to foster career development in museum education by providing an early career professional a range of practical, firsthand experiences in a dynamic, supportive environment.

“We sought an innovative, community- and diversity-minded, aspiring museum professional for this fellowship in interpretation,” said Adam Levine, the Toledo Museum of Art’s Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey director. “Kauffmann-Okoko is an excellent fit for this position and will have a key role as part of our agile, dedicated cross-departmental team.”

“Working towards a goal to broaden the narrative of art history, TMA is in the planning stages of a full reinstallation and reinterpretation of its world-class collections for the first time in 40 years. Guided by the Museum’s values of diversity, community, innovation and trust, TMA aims to blend scholarship with equity and inclusion in paradigm-shifting ways to become the model museum in the country for its commitment to quality and culture of belonging. Under the mentorship of the manager of gallery interpretation and learning, Kauffman-Okoko will support this robust initiative through collaboration with the Museum’s curators and staff in the departments of learning and interpretation, collections, and belonging and engagement.

“Adero Kauffmann-Okoko, a graduate of Swarthmore College, comes to TMA from the Dallas Museum of Art where she served as a verbal description writer and the McDermott intern. At Swarthmore she was the recipient of the Margaret Mccain Ford ’43 Scholarship, the Jane Hausman and Geoffrey M. B.’75 Troy Scholarship and the Charles F. Barber Scholarship.

“I look forward to contributing my knowledge and experience to TMA’s transformative project while continuing to develop my understanding of how the concepts of inclusivity and accessibility can be practically applied within the art world and utilized to broaden the narrative of art history,” said Kauffmann-Okoko.