Politics
How a Children’s Museum Director Spends Her Sundays
Kate Mirand Calleri, the director of education at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, braves tarantulas and crowded subways before relaxing with “Antiques Roadshow.”
Working at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum is, happily, child’s play for Kate Mirand Calleri.
As education director of the world’s first museum dedicated to children (it was established in 1899), Ms. Calleri not only gets to plan programming but also watch and work with the youngsters as they are introduced to the beauty of the arts and sciences in all their forms.
“I love the interdisciplinary nature of the space,” she said. “It’s an art, science and history museum all in one.”
Ms. Calleri, 33, has bachelor’s degrees in photography and in English literature and art history from Ithaca College and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois Chicago.
Although she didn’t set out to work in the museum world — she applied for a mid-managerial position eight years ago, fell in love with the place and took on her executive-level role in 2022 — she sees her work “as part of a larger art education practice I have.”
Calleri, who grew up in Buffalo, lives in a fourth-floor walk-up in West Harlem with her partner, Ian Carlino, who works in licensing at The New York Times.
IT’S GET UP, GRAB AND GO Although I really am tempted to hit the snooze button when the alarm rings at 6:30, I usually don’t because the museum is in Crown Heights, so I have a long commute to get to work. Ian gets up at the same time, and he usually makes the coffee while I take a quick shower. Breakfast is a smoothie — Greek yogurt, frozen blackberries, hempseed powder, cocoa powder and cinnamon — or Greek yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, cinnamon, turmeric and a handful of oats that I throw in. I usually pack my lunch — it’s whatever we have left over from Saturday — but on Sundays I sometimes treat myself and go out.
