The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Bay Area Art Museums, and Tech Companies to Host International Museum Leaders for the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable (MTR) 2025

Media Artist Refik Anadol on AI and Art in “Future-Proofing the Museum”—a Public Program at the de Young Museum on May 13, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO, April 22, 2025—The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (“Fine Arts Museums”) today announced the 2025 convening of the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable (MTR), a gathering of international and local museum leaders in the Bay Area for dialogue on the complex challenges and opportunities museums face in our era of rapid technological advancement and change. Organized and hosted by the Fine Arts Museums in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—and in partnership with cultural strategist András Szántó—MTR is rooted in the Bay Area’s legacy of cultural and technological innovation. The initiative seeks to foster and amplify cross-sector dialogue between the museum and technology communities while cultivating a lasting peer network.

“In many ways, international relationships, and intercultural exchange are defining features of the art museum industry. While we’re all rooted in the needs of our local communities, many of us in the museum field are also regularly working across geographic boundaries in an effort to deepen our visitors’ engagement with, and understanding of, artistic achievements and perspectives from around the world,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “Simultaneously, as our audiences, and available technologies continue to evolve, it’s critical that we continue to upgrade our capabilities and infrastructure. As a forum for international, cross-industry exchange, the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable remains a vital undertaking for the museum field, and we are grateful to MTR’s many partners and supporters for their collaboration.” 

Building on its successful debut in 2023, MTR 2025 will bring a cohort of 14 dynamic leaders from institutions across Asia, Africa, Latin America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and New Zealand—each playing a vital role in the global museum ecosystem—to the San Francisco Bay Area for dialogue with local peers. Participating in focused discussions and workshops with some of the region’s leading art institutions and participating technology companies, including Adobe, Anthropic, Bloomberg, and Salesforce, from May 11 - 17 the group will explore how AI and other technologies can be leveraged to enhance museum operations and the visitor experience. Over the course of the week, the group will also explore how institutions can better support artists working at the intersection of art and technology.

MTR 2025 will include a free public program held on Tuesday, May 13 at the de Young museum, where museum directors from two different regions of the world will explore how institutions–individually and collectively–can adapt their programming and operations to meet current and future challenges. The program will include a special conversation between world-renowned media artist Refik Anadol and cultural strategist András Szántó.

“Facilitating dialogue among international museum leaders is essential, because global collaboration relies on trust. No less important is aligning on the norms and processes that should guide museum work” noted cultural strategist András Szántó “Nowhere is this more urgent than in the domain of technology, where museums are adjusting to new forms of creativity and new tools. The MTR provides time and space to consider this fast-moving area, to help institutions chart a prudent path forward.“

Museums of Tomorrow Public Program: Future-Proofing the Museum 
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 1.30 pm–4:00 pm Pacific Time 
Koret Auditorium, de Young museum, San Francisco

1:30 pm: Museum Directors Presentations and Panel Discussion
Museums are facing pressures from digital-first generations, competition for leisure time, outdated business models, and the climate crisis. Join us for an in-depth discussion on how museums can adapt to the rapidly changing cultural and technological landscape. Global disruptions and demographic shifts are reshaping the museum experience. However, these challenges also present significant opportunities for museums to innovate and rethink their approach to engaging audiences. MTR participating directors Phillip Ihenacho, Executive Director of the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, Nigeria, and Ingrid Røynesdal, Director, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway will share their insights on how institutions can evolve to meet new challenges. 

3 pm: A Conversation with Refik Anadol on AI and Art
The second half of the session will feature a conversation led by András Szántó, Cultural Strategist, with Refik Anadol, media artist, Director of Refik Anadol Studio, and co-founder of Dataland. Together they will discuss Anadol’s AI art practice, collaborations with art institutions, and his soon-to-open AI art museum in Los Angeles, Dataland.

Future-Proofing the Museum will be presented in the Koret Auditorium and will be live streamed via our YouTube channel. Free program, no purchase of admission ticket necessary. Tickets are first come, first served and distributed an hour before the start time of the program. Seating is limited and unassigned. Doors open 30 minutes before the start of the program.

If you need a disability-related accommodation like ASL, please contact publicprograms@famsf.org.

Museums of Tomorrow 2025 Participants

International Directors, Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable
Marion Ackermann, Director, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany
Stéphane Aquin, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada
Teesa Bahana, 32 Degrees East, Kampala, Uganda
Joselina Cruz, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, the Philippines
Miguel Fernández Félix, Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico
Phillip Ihenacho, MOWAA, Benin City, Nigeria
Courtney Johnston, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Mami Kataoka, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Sharon Lerner, Lima Art Museum (MALI), Peru
Carol Yinghua Lu, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, China
Stephanie Rosenthal, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Ingrid Røynesdal, Nasjonalmuseet, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
Eike Schmidt, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
Marie-Cécile Zinsou, Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah, Benin

Bay Area Museum Directors
Thomas P. Campbell (Organizer and Host), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco
Sayre Batton, San Jose Museum of Art
Christopher Bedford, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Ali Gass, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco
Soyoung Lee, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Veronica Roberts, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
Monetta White, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco 

András Szántó, Cultural Strategist and Consulting Director of MTR

Refik Anadol, Media artist, Director of Refik Anadol Studio, and co-founder of Dataland, Los Angeles

More information about participating artist and directors, and hosting institutions can be found here.

Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable Support
Sponsors
Adobe
John Pritzker Family Fund
David Hooker Spencer
Zenni

We extend our gratitude to Adobe, Anthropic, Bloomberg and Salesforce for their collaboration.

We also extend our gratitude to 181 Fremont residences, The Donum Estate, Filoli Historic House & Garden, and Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg for their hospitality to the group.

Media Contact
Helena Nordstrom, Director of Communications, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
hnordstrom@famsf.org, or 415-465-3531