SAN ANTONIO, TX.- The Texas Art Education Association's Awards Committee honored Kate Carey, Director of Education, as the 2013 Museum Educator of the Year at their annual conference. TAEA advocates the standard of quality art education throughout the state of Texas, and the award recognizes significant achievements in art education at the local, state, regional, and national level.

Carey joined the McNay staff in 2004 as Museum Educator, Teacher Services. In 2010, she was named Director of Education. A graduate of Austin College, Carey taught world history for four years in Plano, Texas, before moving to San Antonio. She chaired the museum division of Texas Art Educators Association (TAEA) from 2009−2011 and completed her MA in Art History and Criticism at The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2012. Also in 2012, Carey co-chaired the TAEA conference in San Antonio.

During her tenure, participation in education programs has risen and the variety of programs have shifted to meet the interests of college students with Free College Night; high school students with Free Teen Night and the Teen Art Guide Program; and infants and caregivers with ArtStrolls.

"In addition to cultivating new audiences, we're also interested in expanding the dialogue to include voices outside the museum and outside the disciplines of art and art history," Carey said. "In the Mash-Up program, for example, Leonard Moore, Professor of History at the University of Texas Austin, spoke about the NBA dress code and Lisa Weller, owner of Twirl Salon discussed runway hair. The Mash-Up experience encouraged participants to make connections between disparate topics and the costume exhibition on view. It's all about bringing together a variety of voices and experiences."

She and her education colleagues have also cultivated relationships with fellow institutions. Each August, the McNay partners with the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Witte Museum to create Tres Museos: Museum Day for Educators. Art Rounds, a course offered at the McNay through the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Medical Ethic and Humanities is another collaboration with an outside institution that introduces medical students to art concepts helpful in the medical field.

"It's such an honor to receive an award from Texas Art Education Association because I started out as a classroom teacher. My first year I didn't even have my own classroom," Carey said. "Now, I have the best classroom in the world--the galleries of the McNay."

Carey is grateful to work with a great team of staff and volunteers, and on a personal level, she is proud to raise daughters who love and enjoy the McNay and its innovative programs for learners of all ages.