Photography by Konrad Odhiambo
Kayla Carlsen wasn’t planning on leaving New York City. After working her way up from an administrative role at Christie’s to senior vice president and head of the American Art department at Sotheby’s, the Greene County native felt like she had made it in the art world.
Still, she always said she might consider a move Upstate—if the right opportunity came along. So when her parents passed along an inside tip about an executive director position opening at the Albany Institute of History and Art last year, Carlsen looked into it.
“It was a very ‘seize the moment’ kind of thing,” she says. “I felt like if I didn’t apply for it, it wasn’t guaranteed that another position like this would ever come up again.”
Also playing into her decision was the fact that, at the start of her career, she had actually intended to go into museum work. Plus, she was familiar with the Institute—she visited growing up, and frequented it during her undergraduate art history studies at Clark University to admire the extensive Hudson River School collection.
With all this in mind, she applied—and got the position. Once she and her husband packed up their things and moved to Albany, she hit the ground running in her new role. Her first order of business? To listen.
“I sat down with staff and board members one-on-one; I talked with the membership community; I gathered insight from people who attended events and cultural leaders in the community,” she says. “I just tried to gather as much information as possible before moving things around.”
From there, she set goals: boost community engagement, increase visitorship, revitalize educational programs, and build out a full staff. Now, a year later, she’s made significant strides towards each of them, reinstating the museum as a core participant in Albany’s First Friday events; building and nurturing partnerships with local leaders, organizations, and schools; beefing up the event calendar with “something for everyone;” hiring a director of communications and director of education; and planning out the show schedule for the next three years based on what exhibitions, topics, and formats people have responded well to.
With so much momentum behind her already, Carlsen seems poised to accomplish even more in the years to come. And due to the warm welcome she’s received, she knows the community is cheering her on. “I’ve been met with nothing but kindness and collaboration since I got here,” she says. “I guess it’s just the spirit of Upstate.”
