Sharing LGBTQ+ History & Culture: A conversation with Ben Garcia, Executive Director, the American LGBTQ+ Museum
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In a time when much of LGBTQ+ history is forcibly being removed from textbooks, The American LGBTQ+ museum is especially important. This relatively new organization is dedicated to preserving, investigating, and celebrating the dynamic histories and cultures of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, as well as those of the emergent and adjacent identities among our communities. We are thrilled to chat with Executive Director Ben Garcia about the museum’s mission, their Queer Justice exhibition, plans for a future permanent home and why we are at a crucial point preserving LGBTQ+ history.
Ben Garcia
Ben Garcia (he/him) has worked for 20 years to help museums become places of welcome and belonging for all people. He started as a gallery guide and educator, moved on to exhibition development, and then served in middle- and upper-management administrative roles, before joining the American LGBTQ+ Museum as Executive Director. He has presented and published regularly on creating structural equity in museums through transparency, accountability, fair labor practices, and by adding missing voices and perspectives.
Prior to joining the American LGBTQ+ Museum, Ben worked in various roles as an educator and administrator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, and Hearst Museum of Anthropology. He then served as Deputy Director of the Museum of Us, and as Deputy Executive Director and Chief Learning Officer at the Ohio History Connection. He is versed in museum interpretation, operations, management, and fundraising. Ben led initiatives to return Indigenous ancestral human remains and belongings in San Diego and Ohio. He serves as a board member at Equality Ohio, working to get the Ohio Fairness Act passed.
Ben graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a B.A. in Art and from Bank Street College of Education with an M.S. Ed. In Museum Leadership. He has shared his life since 1999 with his husband, Scott Fabianek, a UX/UI Designer and comic book artist. Ben is the child of a journalist and visual artist. He has six siblings, thirteen nieces and nephews, and a great-niece and nephew (as well as many beloved in-laws). He is a proud fantasy and science fiction nerd.