As NIU and the world around us deals with a global pandemic, artists continue to find ways to express themselves. In the College of Visual and Performing arts the learning and teaching hasn’t stopped, it’s simply evolved to meet the needs and limitations of the situation. Over the coming days, we’ll be featuring how NIU students, alumni and faculty in the arts are continuing to do what they love.
Patrick Gallagher
Major: Visual Communication
Year: 1979
Hometown: Freeport, Ill., currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland
Over the past 30 years, Patrick has built a strong reputation globally as a leader in the field of Museum Planning and Design. He has worked with every kind of collection from microscopic stardust, to hundreds of vintage military tanks and aircraft, in institutions ranging from cultural history and natural science to sports, music and the arts. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Patrick is a past president of the SEGD and has served on the board of numerous professional design organizations.
Gallagher & Associates (G&A) is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary design studio with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Portland and Singapore. For over 20 years, we bring transformative experiences to life.
“Being the principal of a design firm whose focus is Museum Planning and Design, I am busy spending my days supporting my now 132 tiny offices (designers homes) around the country and around the world,” Patrick said. “Working with clients to establish new protocols for input and review of the creative process but all also managing construction on four major new museum buildings when you cannot physically go to the site.
“We are also working with our team that does financial feasibility planning, operational planning and business modeling for none profits and they are assisting museums in thinking about re-opening, new staffing models and new operational modeling. It will be a different world for museums when this is over.
“Lastly, we are beginning to work with many museums on their virtual presence. Not their web site but their virtual museums so that visitors can stay more engaged and connected without actually being in the museum itself. In the future museums will count visitors not just who pass through the doors but who enter their virtual gateways.”
For a more in-depth look at their projects, visit the Gallagher & Associates website.
Are you a student, alumni or faculty member in the NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts with video of yourself performing or creating, or photos of a finished product? Use this form to share it with us.