Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Berger. He shares his story with us below:
Aaron Berger became executive director of The Neon Museum in July 2021. He relocated to Las Vegas for the position because of the unique opportunity it presented – shepherding the growth of the museum in support of its mission of collecting, preserving, studying, and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. Aaron was especially drawn to The Neon Museum for its extensive repository of iconic neon signs that represents an unparalleled convergence of art and history in one of the country’s most unique and dynamic cities.
Within weeks of joining The Neon Museum, Aaron oversaw the launch of Spanish-speaking tours with plans to enlarge the museum’s programming for special interest groups and populations, including K-12 educational offerings. Aaron’s arrival at The Neon Museum is well timed given the museum’s expansion plans that Aaron is now directing and reshaping to ensure the museum grows to best accommodate the city’s vibrant tourism industry while meeting the community’s needs as an educational institution.
Aaron began his career as the curator for the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art and was ultimately named director after staging exhibitions of Winslow Homer, Robert Indiana and founding the annual juried exhibition Metro Montage, which continues today.
He went on to become director of the Albany Museum of Art, making him one of the youngest in the country to lead a nationally accredited museum. There, he developed the celebrated Local Color exhibitions, Full Blown Blues music series, and ARTiculate educational program for gifted high school students. As a result, the museum experienced a 104 percent growth in membership, was named Institution of the Year for 2005 by the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries and was recognized by the state legislature for its positive impact on the community.
Aaron also served as executive director of the Breman Museum, presenting celebrated exhibitions and landmark programs that led to increasing annual attendance by 32 percent and the annual operating budget by approximately 67 percent.
During his career, Aaron has worked with a leading Atlanta-based nonprofit fundraising consulting firm and with cultural organizations around the country in the areas of operational fundraising, nonprofit management, board development and large-scale capital campaigns for cultural venues from Honolulu to Boston. Just prior to taking the helm of The Neon Museum, Aaron was a managing partner at ABC, a consulting agency focused on strategic planning, funding plans, leadership development, and effective messaging in Atlanta, Georgia.
Aaron earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from the College of Charleston in South Carolina and a Master of Business Administration from South University in Savannah, Georgia. He is a graduate of Leadership Albany (2003), the Getty Museum Leadership Institute (2004), and Leadership Atlanta (2017). He also served as faculty for the Jekyll Island Management Institute, teaching fundraising to rising museum professionals from across the country.
Aaron resides in downtown Las Vegas with his partner, Dr. Jarred Lightner, and their dog, Linus.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say that my first year in Las Vegas as the executive director of The Neon Museum has been very productive and full of wonderful opportunities. Las Vegas is like no other city in the world, and so, our programs at The Neon Museum need to be just as innovative and exciting as the city itself. That means we can create almost anything to engage our audiences and tell amazing stories about the city’s history. After having spent much of my career in fine art and more traditional museum experiences, I have learned that we have the opportunity to be more creative in our programming and exhibits at The Neon Museum. We can work completely outside of the box and even outside of the museum’s footprint to educate our audience on the history of Las Vegas, including its art, architecture, and culture. For example, this summer, we debuted a 4-day event called Duck Duck Shed that offered more than three dozen individual programs throughout the city to celebrate Las Vegas’ iconic architecture from past to the present, including walking tours, aerial tours, sessions with industry experts, and once-in-a-lifetime tours of Jungle Palace, the historic estate of Siegfried & Roy, a private home that has never been granted public access. I have also learned that Las Vegas offers a wealth of opportunities to create partnerships, which are integral to developing such creative and diverse programs. We are excited to build on the success of the event next year and continue to innovate new ways to share the amazing stories that Las Vegas has to tell.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As executive director, I seek to foster a greater appreciation of Las Vegas history from different perspectives. For example, I hope our visitors will gain a better understanding of the Black experience, as well as the Latin, and the LGBTQ+ communities when they visit. There are so many under-told stories in Las Vegas, and I hope we can amplify them.
Speaking of appreciation, I hope to launch a fabrication studio where visitors can see neon being made so they can better appreciate the complexities of this craft. In time, perhaps we can offer classes or a mobile studio where people can bend neon themselves and make small signs or large artistic pieces of their own. People know how a painting is made, but they don’t know how neon is bent, blown, gassed, and electrified to create its unique shapes and colors. Let’s not only show them – but also let’s them do it themselves. This would build on what we have begun with our “STEAM Saturdays” program that debuted earlier this summer and became an instantly popular all-ages program for its entertaining hands-on activities, presentations, and demonstrations designed to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math to encourage inquiry, creative thinking, discussion and problem-solving.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
First, this is truly my dream job. I am fortunate enough to work in a field that provides fun and educational opportunities for people every day. We attract families and rock stars. That’s pretty cool.
Besides work, I also enjoy eating out – any cuisine and anytime. You can learn so much about different cultures from their flavors and food preparations. And sharing a meal with your loved ones is an experience that can’t be beat and makes me happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.neonmuseum.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonmuseumlasvegas/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeonMuseum/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/neonmuseum
- Youtube: http://youtube.com/theneonmuseum
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@neonmuseumlasvegas?lang=en
Image Credits
The Neon Museum
