Founder and principal of Ideas in Things, Matt Singer has decades of experience as both an on-staff and independent writer, curator, educator, and coordinator and presenter of public-programs exploring and illuminating art, design, and architecture and the ideas and histories they embody and evoke.
He served as Senior Museum Writer and Communications Officer for the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 2001 through 2015. At the PMA and elsewhere, Matt has worked in words to raise public awareness and philanthropic support for the full range of offerings shared by arts and culture organizations–collections, exhibitions, public programs, and more–to communicate and advance their missions and highlight their powerful value as unique resources for communities and individuals.
In conjunction with and as a complement to his work with organizations, Matt is an independent curator of contemporary art and historic interiors and a longstanding, regular contributor of articles and essays to exhibition catalogs, general-readership periodicals, scholarly journals, and online forums such as theartblog.org.
Matt earned an MA and PhD in American Studies from the Pennsylvania State University with concentrations in visual and material culture (including the history of American art, architecture, and decorative arts) and ethnic and religious studies.
Drop me a line
matt.f.singer23@gmail.com
Résumé/Curriculum Vitae
Qualifications
- Art appraiser (AAA CASP graduate) focusing on postwar, contemporary, and emerging art; Outsider/Self-Taught art; and American furniture and decorative arts. Compliant with the Uniform Standards for Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
- Curator, writer-editor, and educator with a proven commitment to exploring, celebrating, and documenting the multifaceted values of art: aesthetic, cognitive, moral, political, social, and economic.
- Decades of hands-on staff and independent experience in conceiving, organizing, and presenting a wide range of arts, culture, and cultural organization initiatives—including exhibitions, permanent collection installations, publications, library and archival projects, original scholarly research, documentation and interpretation, classroom and online teaching, public programs, and digital initiatives.
- Enthusiastic and uplifting collaborative partner and public ambassador.
Employment and Recent Projects
VALUES IN THINGS/MATT SINGER ART SERVICES LLC (formerly Ideas in Things), Philadelphia, PA
Founder and Principal, 2021–present
- Providing services in appraising postwar, contemporary, and emerging art; Outsider/Self-Taught art; and American furniture and decorative arts, along with curating, writing, and teaching about the fine and decorative arts in general.
FLEISHER/OLLMAN GALLERY, Philadelphia, PA
Appraiser (adjunct), 2025
- Prepare Fair Market Value and Retail Replacement Value appraisal reports for contemporary and Outsider/Self-Taught artworks in the gallery’s holdings.
BURLINGTON COUNTY LYCEUM OF HISTORY AND NATURAL SCIENCES, Mount Holly, NJ
Consulting Curator and Content Developer (contract), 2019–present
- Serve as curator of art, architecture, decorative arts, rare books, and archival materials, generally, while conceiving, planning, and realizing the creation of interpretable, historically accurate period interiors and accompanying hardcopy and digital interpretive resources.
- Work with Lyceum staff and contracted exhibition designers to create verbal, visual (hardcopy and digital), and physical content for a permanent exhibition that investigates the history, ecology, agriculture, industrial and commercial growth, culture, and people of Burlington County from pre-Columbian times to today.
BRANDYWINE WORKSHOP AND ARCHIVES & ARTURA.ORG, Philadelphia, PA
Consultant for Content, Communications, and Development (contract), 2019–March 2024
- Note for context: Founded in 1972, Brandywine Workshop and Archives produces, exhibits, and collects printed works of art by regional, national, and international artists from underserved and underrepresented communities. Artura.org—launched in 2020—is a free, interactive digital humanities education resource that provides images of art, artist biographies, artwork descriptions, related archival materials, lesson plans, and both print and online teaching guides for K–12 and college/university educators, students, parents, museum professionals, library professionals, and professionals at cultural and heritage centers.
- Leading contributor to BWA and Artura’s online and hardcopy content creation, communications, development, and publishing activities. Focuses on writing and editing essential texts such as exhibition catalogs, exhibition didactics, additions to the Artura Teacher Guides for Cross-Curricular and Cross-Cultural Learning series, BWA and Artura website content, grant proposals, reports to funders, annual reports, brochures, e-newsletters, press releases, social media posts, etc.
- Organized and delivered in-person and online public programs, including artist interviews, panel discussions, teaching workshops, and tours of BWA’s special exhibitions, permanent collections, and its home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Leading contributor in securing major grants from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION
Senior Writer and Editor, 2018
- Produced and edited written content while collecting and organizing graphic materials for Off the Shelf magazine, the Annual Report, and other publications that promote the Free Library and the Rosenbach Museum and Library, including their exhibitions, collections, educational and public programs, fundraising initiatives, and capital projects such as facilities renovations and expansions.
- Managed project teams comprising executive staff, librarians, curators, consulting scholars, and graphic and exhibition designers; coordinated team review of text and design.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY/TYLER SCHOOL OF ART, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer: “Race, Identity, and Experience in American Art” 2016–2017
- Developed a syllabus, organized a variety of multimedia teaching materials, and taught both in-class and online sections of a popular art history and general education course that promoted and enriched understanding and appreciation of diverse individual and communal identities and intersectionality through the visual arts.
Previous teaching experience: Pennsylvania State University-Abington, lecturer, “Introduction to American Studies/Assimilating, Maintaining, Adapting, Morphing: How We Create the American Mosaic,” 2016; Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg, lecturer, “Art in Philadelphia from the Colonial Era to Today” (study tour), 2010.
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
Senior Museum Writer and Communications Officer, Development/Editorial and Graphic Design, 2001–2015
- Wrote and edited verbal content and gathered and organized graphic content for Developments magazine, Annual Report, and other print and online publications that promote public engagement, donor cultivation, and stewardship.
- Led project teams comprising museum staff across various levels and functions. Collaborated with executive staff, curators, librarians, archivists, educators, conservators, visiting scholars, artists, collectors, and trustees.
- Served as the lead writer, contributing curatorial coordinator, and developer of the in-gallery interpretive and educational approach utilized by visitor services staff and volunteer docents for the exhibition Making a Classic Modern: Frank Gehry’s Master Plan for the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2014).
Previous positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Associate Manager for Media Relations and Staff Writer, Marketing and Public Relations (1994–2000); Curatorial Assistant, 20th-Century Art (1992–1994).
Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Congregation Rodeph Shalom
Curator (pro bono), 1999–2014
- Conceived, organized, and presented special exhibitions and permanent collection installations of contemporary art by artists from diverse backgrounds and working in various media, highlighting the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Jewish life and culture.
- Initiated, organized, and led public programs, including tours of the PMJA’s special exhibitions, its permanent collections, and its home at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Managed and maintained project budgets. Created an organizational archive.
- Collaborated with freelance designers, artists, and contributing scholars to create and produce catalogs, brochures, in-gallery interpretive components (hardcopy and audiovisual), and promotional materials for special exhibitions, acquisitions, reinstallations of the permanent collection, and public programs.
Professional Development (selected)
Appraisers Association of America, Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program, 2024–2025
Winterthur Museum & Gardens, Winterthur Institute connoisseurship and collections-care program), 2025
Certificate in Jewish Ceremonial Art, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City, 2015
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, American Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 2016
Subfields: visual and material culture; ethnic and religious studies. Dissertation: “Building Liberal Religion: Jews and Unitarians Reform Faith and Architecture in 19th-Century Philadelphia.” Honors: Sue Samuelson Award for Academic Excellence in American Studies; Dunn Family Award for Jewish Studies.
Master of Arts, American Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 1992. Concentration: history of American art, architecture, decorative arts, and material culture. Thesis: “The Art and Craft of the Machine: Photography in The Craftsman, 1901–1916”
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Communication Studies, Pennsylvania State University/Schreyer Honors College, 1985, with certificate in European Mass-Communications, University of Manchester, England, 1984. Thesis: “’Punks’ in an American College Town: Testing David Matza’s Subcultural Theory”