Biography
Marilyn JS Goodman is an arts and museum education specialist with extensive experience in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
As the first Director of Education for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Goodman launched extensive educational initiatives including the establishment of new departments both in New York City and at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain. At the Museum, she developed and had oversight of all exhibition- and non-exhibition-related educational programs and materials for schools, families, students, educators, scholars and the general public,
Even before her tenure at the Guggenheim, Goodman served as a longtime curriculum and evaluation consultant to Learning Through Art/The Guggenheim Museum Children’s Program (LTA) and Learning to Read Through the Arts, Inc. Founded by the late Natalie Lieberman, both award-winning programs sought to enhance the learning and communication skills of underserved elementary public school children while exposing them to art. While at the Museum, Goodman curated A Year With Children, the Museum’s annual exhibition of art works and writings by participating students, and she expanded LTA outreach programs to include international arts-in-education partnerships with sites in Mexico, Ecuador, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Prior to her work at the Guggenheim, Goodman was the Founding Executive Director of the first Children’s Museum of Cincinnati where she developed the museum’s unique identity and formulated the core exhibitions and educational programs. Previously, she served as Director for Programs and Education at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and Director of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, an historic multidisciplinary arts institution on Rittenhouse Square.
Goodman has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels including at City College (CUNY), Moore College of Art & Design, the Boston Architectural Center and Rutgers University. In addition, she formerly administered the Clark University School at the Worcester Art Museum, was Supervisor of Youth Programs at the Worcester Art Museum, and Director of K-12 Art for the Worcester, Massachusetts Public Schools.
Marilyn JS Goodman now serves as an Arts & Museum Education Writer/Consultant, approved by and listed with the Museum Association of New York State. Some of her projects include teacher training workshops in the US and abroad; strategic planning and exhibitions development for a new arts and science museum in Panama, RP; developing a 100-page educational worksbook for Galeria ActivART Fundacion Angel Ramos at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; and serving as the Lead Content Advisior for a children’s art-themed TV series and the Content Developer/Writer for Art Through Time: A Global View, developed by Thirteen/WNET (New York).
A long-standing member of the Association of International Critics of Art, Goodman has been a contributing writer for various publications in the United States and abroad. She is the author or co-author of three books, including her most recent 2018 publication, Children Draw: A Guide to Why, When and How Children Make Art (Reaktion Books Ltd, London and distributed by the University of Chicago Press).
A native of New York City, Goodman received her doctoral degree in instructional leadership from the University of Massachusetts. She holds masters degrees in both teaching fine arts and counseling psychology, and a bachelor of fine arts degree from Hunter College (CUNY).