BMA Appoints Angela Wheeler as New Chief of External Affairs and Elisabeth Callihan as Chief Education Officer

As the new Chief of External Affairs, Wheeler will develop and oversee the direction and strategy of the advancement and marketing and communications teams. In particular, she will focus on the establishment and expansion of new philanthropic partnerships, community-driven collaborations, and initiatives that engage a broad and diverse public with the BMA’s exhibitions, programs, and events. With the senior leadership team, Wheeler will work with the BMA’s board and staff to create new pathways for engaging both local and national audiences.

Wheeler has more than 20 years of experience in comprehensive and capital campaign fundraising, strategic communications, and arts administration with a special focus on partnering with executive women in the arts. Over the course of her career, she has developed a wide range of campaigns with significant outcomes in annual giving and capital fundraising. She most recently served as the Associate Vice President of Campaign Operations at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where, in 2019, she was integral to achieving a new fundraising high for the organization. While at MICA, she significantly enhanced donor participation, securing essential new funding sources. She has also actively worked as the principal consultant for her firm, A. Wheeler Consulting, helping to empower clients to achieve their goals through thoughtful and strategic communications and fundraising campaigns. Wheeler has additionally served as Director of Development for the Baltimore office of the American Heart Association, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, NorthBay Environmental Education Center, and AIDS Interfaith Residential Services. She also worked as Senior Development Officer for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She holds an MBA from Aspen University and a BA from the University of Delaware.

As Chief Education Officer, Elisabeth Callihan will shape the vision for the BMA’s public engagement, interpretation, public programs, and learning community teams. Her role is essential to creating new educational and public programming experiences that advance the museum’s priorities to both ensure return visitation and growth in its audiences. Callihan will collaborate with senior leadership and staff to conceptualize and implement programs and initiatives that emphasize K-12 and university-level learning, as well as community-centered public programs and events that expand on exhibition themes and emphasize collaboration with cultural leaders, makers, and creatives in the Baltimore region and beyond.

Callihan brings to the BMA 15 years of experience in museum education and engagement. In her work, she has placed particular emphasis on both the importance of creating accessible and dynamic educational experiences within the museum environment and of establishing strong relationships with the communities in which museums live. She comes to the BMA from the Mississippi Museum of Art, where she held the dual roles of Director of Education and Director of Learning and Practice at the museum’s Center of Art and Public Exchange (CAPE). During her tenure, she oversaw an extensive array of educational programming for students, children, families, and adults, as well as efforts to reimagine that museum’s interpretative materials. Previously, Callihan worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Art as Head of Multi-Generational Learning and Program Director of MASS Action, a national collaborative project to embed equitable practices into the museum field. She has held roles at the Brooklyn Museum and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, among other cultural organizations. Callihan earned an MA from Sotheby’s Institute in London and a BA from the University of Evansville in Indiana.

As Senior Director of Advancement, Whitehurst will work closely with the Chief of External Affairs to develop and manage comprehensive fundraising efforts at the BMA. She oversees the strategy and implementation for initiatives related to grants, individual and planned giving, corporate and individual membership, special events, and ongoing stewardship of the museum’s donor base. As philanthropy across the museum field contracts, Whitehurst plays an essential part, along with senior executive and board leadership, to establish new financial sources to ensure the ongoing success of the institution.

Whitehurst joins the BMA with strong executive-level experience and a track record of success in nonprofit fundraising and business development. She came to the museum from the Irvine Nature Center in Baltimore, where she most recently served as Director of Development. During her time at Irvine, she successfully reached critical fundraising benchmarks for the organization’s endowment, operations, and capital campaigns. She has also held senior and management development positions at Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing housing supply and advancing racial equity, and the Smithsonian Institution. She earned a BA from the College of Wooster in Ohio.