Anna Marie Tutera, Director & Chief Executive Officer
Anna Marie has more than 25 years of experience working in the museum field as well the nonprofit and public sectors. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Anna Marie is second generation Italian and Croatian with maternal and paternal grandparents immigrating to the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area (settling in the Historic Northeast in Kansas City, Missouri and Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, Kansas) in the early 1900s. From 1990-2012, she lived in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Anna Marie moved back to Kansas City in 2012 with her husband Caleb, an artist, designer, and builder, and two sons to support Kansas City’s arts and culture economy. She became the Executive Director of the Kansas City Museum in 2014. Prior to the Kansas City Museum, Anna Marie worked at the Chicago Children’s Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Foundation, Drawbridge: An Expressive Arts Program for Homeless Children, Habitot Children’s Museum, Fine Arts for Children and Teens, Santa Fe Children’s Museum, and The Wornall/Majors House Museums.
Anna Marie holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Northwestern University (1995) and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies (focus on Education and Social Responsibility) from John F. Kennedy University (2004). Anna Marie’s MA thesis explored the groundbreaking exhibit Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage (2000) as a case study for integrating hip-hop (as an artform and cultural and social movement) into the development of museum programs and initiatives for youth. Today, as she nears 50 years-old (and so does Hip-Hop), Anna Marie still considers museums and hip-hop a powerful combination for a multidisciplinary approach to engaging youth in learning about history, arts, culture, and design.
Areas of specialty for museums and public projects: Organizational Development & Transition Management, Strategic & Business Planning, Fundraising, Community Engagement, Multicultural & Multidisciplinary Program Development, Exhibit Design & Content Development, Architectural Design & Construction Management, Public Art Curation, Creative Placemaking, Integration of Contemporary Visual Art and Performing Arts in Historic Places/Spaces, and Restorative Practices.