Alicia Valencia is graduating this spring 2019 from Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), with an MDes in Art, Design, and the Public Domain. She completed her undergraduate education as a Brown | RISD Dual Degree student, earning a Sc.B in Psychology from Brown University and a BFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Previous museum experience includes work as an Early Childhood Interpretation Intern for the Boston Museum of Science; as an Exhibit Design Intern at the Providence Children’s Museum; and as an Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Intern for the Decorative Arts and Design Department at the RISD Museum. The combination of her academic and studio-based interests informs Alicia’s current practice in researching and designing public interventions, such as playgrounds or informal multigenerational educational spaces, that support mental health for marginalized low-income youth and elderly populations. Alicia’s studies have centered on exploring designs for potential human conditions, and in her current practice, she investigates contemporary and future therapeutic intervention strategies for memory-care nursing homes that cater to dementia.

This summer, as the Catherine Hannah Behrend ArtTable Diversity Fellow at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Alicia will be working with Greg Stuart, Museum Educator, Adult Learning, Emily Schreiner, The Zoë and Dean Pappas Curator of Education, Public Programs,and Jenni Drozdek, Assistant Director for Interpretation to plan and prepare a series of public programs with interactive learning components for Beyond the Horizon: Designs for Different Futures (Fall 2019), an exhibition that will showcase artists, architects, and designers at the vanguard of thinking about our individual and collective human futures.