Susan Shifrin

Susan Shifrin is the founder and director of ARTZ Philadelphia. She founded ARTZ Philadelphia in 2013.

She is an art historian, curator, educator and arts accessibility advocate.  She received her PhD from Bryn Mawr College and has worked on the staffs of a number of large and small museums up and down the East coast. Susan says: “I was inspired to start ARTZ Philadelphia after having hosted a series of workshops and programs for visitors with dementia at the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, where I was the Museum’s educator for a number of years. I was profoundly affected as I watched visitors, many in the later stages of dementia, come to life in the Museum as they looked at and talked about art with each other, with me, their caregivers, and the college students who worked at the Museum. It was so moving to watch this transformation in people who, in some cases, had rarely spoken about or shared their lives with others. Art was their vehicle for expression, interaction, creativity, and mutual respect. And for laughter – plenty of laughter.”