Cara McCarty is a curator, lecturer, and writer on modern and contemporary design. In January, 2020, she retired as Director of Curatorial at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, where she led the museum’s curatorial vision and exhibition planning. She currently divides her time between Palo Alto, CA, Paris, and New York.

She played a key role in the 2014 renovation and transformation of Cooper Hewitt into a 21st-century museum, from the master plan to the creation of immersive museum spaces and participatory visitor experiences. Previously as head of the Department of Decorative Arts and Design at the Saint Louis Art Museum, she set the vision for collecting modern and contemporary design, often working across disciplines, and was instrumental in the selection of the architect, David Chipperfield, for the museum’s expansion. Prior to that, Cara held several curatorial positions in the Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art.

Exhibition/publication highlights: Reimagining Mobility: The Road Ahead; two groundbreaking exhibitions devoted to designs for people with disabilities, Access+Ability, which was also featured at the 2019 World Economic Forum, and in 1988, Designs for Independent Living: the Diebner award-winning exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach; Tadao Ando: Architect; Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles; and Masks: Faces of Culture.

Cara was a Cultural Leader, World Economic Forum, Davos in 2019; the 2018 International Friend of Habitare, Finland; and has served on numerous juries, including NYC’s Department of Sanitation BetterBin international competition for the redesign of trash cans; the DIA Plaza/Midtown Cultural Connections international competition, Detroit; and the CityArchRiver Redefining a Masterpiece International Competition, St. Louis. She is Vice Chair of the board of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York.
Cara was a Loeb class rep 2005-2022.

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