The Albany Institute of History and Art is naming a new executive director following a national search. Kayla Carlsen will begin on July 15th. She is currently senior vice president and head of American Art at Sotheby’s New York. Carlsen replaces Kristen Oehlrich, who left in 2023 after one year in the post.
A native of nearby Greene County, Carlsen has degrees from Clark University and Hunter College. Carlsen tells WAMC's Jim Levulis the Institute has been “near and dear to her heart.”
Carlsen: I actually grew up in the region and have known the Institute for many, many years. I visited as a child and as an adult. And it's always been a place that's sort of been near and dear to my heart. You know, the collection very much aligns with my interests as an American art specialist. And so it's always sort of been on my radar. And as a position, I mean it really doesn't get any better than this. When it came up, it was certainly something I wanted to explore and pursue. Really the Institute is, from my perspective, the best museum in the Capital Region. So there's no better place to be.
Levulis: You mentioned there, you're a Capital Region native. You're from Greene County. How do you look at the Institute in terms of its role in the larger region here?
I think the museum itself, being one of the oldest in the country, is already very well positioned as a beacon and an inspiration center within the Capital Region. I think given that it has collections that are so diverse and so vast, there's something really there that will appeal to everyone. My hope is to engage an even broader cross section of the community in the region, and ideally draw attention to those wonderful collections on a national level. But it's already, as I said, very well positioned in its current state, it's just a matter of building upon what's already there, to sort of propel it to new heights.
You come to this position from Sotheby's. What has most of your work at Sotheby's focused on and how do you think it might relate to the Albany Institute here?
At Sotheby's I work with collectors of American art to build their collections and/or make decisions about strategic donations and charitable giving of those collections to museums and foundations nationwide. I think that a lot of this will overlap primarily because the collections at the Institute are already very much within the realm of my knowledge. And a lot of my constituents at Sotheby's and my collectors and clients at Sotheby's are already familiar with the Institute and its collections. I think that in a lot of ways what I do overlaps very directly, in terms of instead of perhaps pushing the museum forward, at Sotheby's, I'm pushing the category forward and the material forward and thinking strategically about how to best to position that within the global market. At the institution, I would expect to be doing the same thing, but on behalf of the institution.
And you noted in a statement announcing your selection as the next executive director, that you are excited to lead this institution into “the next chapter.” I believe you've hinted at it throughout our conversation here, but what do you see for that next chapter?
I think that a lot of institutions across the country are facing challenges with regard to making sure that their community involvement reaches a broader cross section of the community and isn't necessarily narrowly focused to what has traditionally been the case, both in terms of collections, but also in terms of engagement. And that type of inclusion and access will certainly be a focus. But I'm looking to galvanize support to ensure that the museum's constituents’ lives are better for its existence. And I hope to bring exciting programming and initiatives and eventually a strategic vision that will, as I said, propel it to new heights.
