RALEIGH, NC.- The North Carolina Museum of Art announces that Silvia Filippini Fantoni has joined the Museum as director of programs and audience engagement. In this role Filippini Fantoni will support the Museum in developing innovative experiences and methods that facilitate public engagement with the Museum’s rich collections, programs, and Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park.

“We welcome Dr. Filippini Fantoni as an exceptional leader in program creation and community engagement,” says Lawrence J. Wheeler, director of the NCMA. “She takes on this role at an important moment in the evolution of art museums to even greater relevance in society.”

As director of programs and audience engagement, Filippini Fantoni will lead the Museum’s efforts to provide creative, meaningful experiences with art to diverse audiences onsite, online, and in the larger community. She will work with the Museum’s education, performing arts, and public programs departments to initiate new strategies for programming, engagement, and learning and will support the Museum’s expanded mission of connecting art, nature, and people.

Filippini Fantoni brings more than 15 years of international experience in academia and museums. Before joining the NCMA, Filippini Fantoni served as director of interpretation, media, and evaluation at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where she led the museum’s efforts in developing temporary exhibitions, interpretive experiences, and audience research. She has also worked at the British Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum and has collaborated on award-winning projects with Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additionally, Filippini Fantoni has taught courses in museum studies and new media, and research and evaluation at Sorbonne University in Paris since 2008.

Filippini Fantoni received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in contemporary history at the Università degli Studi di Milano. She also attended Université Paris 1−Sorbonne in Paris, France, where she earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in aesthetics and art sciences with a focus on museums.