AFA Director & CEO Pauline Willis was pleased to join Eike Schmidt, Director of the Uffizi Galleries, in conversation to discuss his trailblazing leadership of the Uffizi, the impact of COVID on the arts, and broader issues museums are facing worldwide.

About the Speaker

Eike Schmidt (b. 1968) is a German art historian, since 2015 Director of Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy. He has curated exhibitions by renowned contemporary artists, such as Antony Gormley, Giuseppe Penone and Cai Guo Qiang. He also inaugurated a new cycle of sculpture exhibitions in the Boboli Gardens, with artists including Tony Cragg, Helidon Xhixha, Fritz Koenig. Previously, Schmidt was curator and director of the Sculpture, Applied and Textile Arts Department at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2009 – 2015). Considered an international expert on sculpture, museology, and Italian art, he has authored numerous monographs and essays on the subject.