Lunchtime Speaker Series - Eastern State Penitentiary

Advanced Theory/Case Studies Lunchtime Speaker Series
'Interpreting Negative Heritage/Dark History'
Sean Kelley, Senior Vice President, Director of Public Programming
Eastern State Penitentiary

Sometimes the greatest resistance to engaging contemporary or painful subjects comes from inside our organizations themselves. Our front line staffs, our management teams, even our board members face real and justified fears. Why are we doing this?  What are the risks?  How do we know we’re ready?  Eastern State Penitentiary's Sean Kelley discusses the organization's successes and failures in bringing "dark history" and complex contemporary issues to a broad audience. 

Sean Kelley has run all public programming at Eastern State Penitentiary since 1995. He is currently focused on exhibits and programming to address the enormous growth in the US prison population. He visits active prisons, writes critically about prison museums/sites of detention, and speaks on the responsibility of museums to address painful subjects. He also oversees all of Eastern State’s events, including the haunted house which generates the majority of the organizational budget.