Holly Harmon

Holly Harmon is the Interpretive Specialist for Architecture and Design. Before joining the Denver Art Museum in 2022, Holly worked at the intersection of interpretation and education at the Jewish Museum, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and Detroit Institute of Arts; in all positions she served as a vocal visitor advocate with the goal of developing accessible and engaging museum experiences for diverse audiences.

Holly has also educated visitors at various museums in Washington, DC including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

She received her bachelor’s from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS and her master’s in Art History from Syracuse University.

Holly Harmon will be speaking at the Museums, Health & Well-Being Summit 2025:

Awe-Struck: Exhibitions that Inspire, Engage, and Transform

In the age of the experience economy, museums are just competing not with other cultural institutions for visitors’ time and attention; museums must compete with all types of leisure experiences, including sports, events, and even Netflix. How can we offer experiences that captivate our visitors and encourage wellbeing? By inspiring awe. Museums are uniquely positioned to create the conditions for awe and engage visitors more deeply through the transformational moments that this emotion inspires. Explore how the design and interpretation of Biophilia: Nature Reimagined at the Denver Art Museum encouraged visitors to find awe and how this emotion supports wellbeing.