Welcome Bill Appleton-Director of Education and Visitor Experience

Bill Appleton-Director of Education and Visitor Experience

It is with great pleasure that the Rubin Museum of Art and the Education Department welcomes its new Director of Education and Visitor Experience, Bill Appleton!

Before arriving to the Rubin Museum of Art, Mr. Appleton served as the Assistant Director and Head of Education for the Saint Louis Art Museum since 2002. He lead a division of 30 employees and 100 volunteer docents and was responsible for helping cultivate support for and sustain sponsorships of educational programs.  Bill is also an Education Committee board member of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and has been a grant reviewer for the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for the past several years.

Previously, Mr. Appleton was the Director of Public Programs and Education at the Morgan Library. He has held earlier positions at Milton Academy, Doubleday Publishing, Herbert Barrett Music Management, and the New York Philharmonic. During most of his earlier years in New York City, Bill also taught history and Latin on evenings and weekends to inner-city public school students.

Bill received BA and MA degrees in Classics, from Wesleyan and Brown Universities, respectively. In 2012, he was awarded a Kress Fellowship for Museum Education at the Clark Art Institute to explore the relationship of scholarship to the public understanding of art, and to develop new avenues and innovations in museum education.

His extracurricular activities include adjunct teaching responsibilities at two universities, serving as a journalist for St. Louis publications, publishing music criticism, performing cello in a community orchestra, and coaching youth sports. He and his wife Jane have two daughters.

Please join us in welcoming Bill Appleton to the Rubin Museum of Art!