Laura McManus has more than 20 years of experience as an educator and administrator in museum, gallery, studio, and school environments and is passionate about making art and museums accessible to diverse audiences. Since 2016 she has served as the Curator of Education at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia. In this role, she works with faculty to develop connections with the permanent collection and special exhibitions to the undergraduate curriculum, including coursework development and related assignments, practicum, and exhibitions. She oversees and trains college interns and work study students, develops/coordinates public programs and interpretive materials, develops/ coordinates tour programs for PK-12 students and community groups, directs the volunteer and docent program, and collaborates with local community organizations on outreach programs. McManus also teaches courses in the Museum and Heritage Studies major at Randolph College. Prior to joining the Maier, McManus was the Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC where she managed and developed curricula for eight educational programs for families and children (ages 2 to 14), curated large-scale family and community days, and trained docents on best practices in museum teaching. For six years, she was the Curator of Education at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City where she spearheaded the educational strategy for the young institution. She oversaw the college internship program and initiated innovative interpretive programs that included audio tours for adults and children, a concert and lecture series, and youth workshops that connected art and literacy. A native of the Pittsburgh area, McManus spent nine years at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) in Pittsburgh, PA, serving first as an Art Studio Instructor in drawing, painting, design, and printmaking, and then the Director of Curriculum for the prominent arts and learning center that serves 2000+ urban youth, educators, and artists through innovative, studio and gallery-based programs. Her work in developing standards-based, arts-integrated programs and gallery initiatives for middle and high school students and teachers was instrumental in MCG being recognized with the Coming Up Taller Award from the President’s Council on the Arts & Humanities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Exemplary Youth Programming Award. She is the author of fifteen student and family museum gallery guides, including publications that focus on American artists, M.C. Escher, Louis C. Tiffany, Hildreth Meière, Faith Ringgold, Jerry Uelsmann, and Nick Cave.  McManus has curated numerous youth art exhibitions, including Making Faces: A Portrait of NCMA’s Youth Artists, Artists [in the] Making: Workshops @ MOBIA, and ArtWorks from Art Explorers. McManus has been an invited juror for several contemporary art exhibitions, including for Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and the Academy Center of the Arts. She was a teaching artist at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Everson Museum of Art, and the Noguchi Museum, and a classroom art teacher in the south hills of Pittsburgh.  McManus earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Fine Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science in Art Education from Syracuse University, where she also received her teaching certification in Art, K-12.  Her graduate research focused on arts-integrated curriculum development, an area she continues to explore. McManus is the Museum Division Chair for the Virginia Art Education Association, and serves on the Exhibitions Committee of Riverviews Artspace in Lynchburg.