Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko

Working in museums for more than twenty years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko believes they have the power to change lives, inspire movements, and challenge authority. And, she believes small museums are the mightiest of museums because they are dynamic work places and are nimble decision-makers.

A museum director since 2001, Cinnamon is a frequent presenter at national museum meetings and is often asked to comment on national museum issues. As the President/CEO of the Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor) from 2009 to 2019, she was the driving force behind the museum’s decolonization initiative, working with the Native communities in Maine to develop policies and protocols to ensure collaboration and cooperation with Wabanaki people. Prior to joining the Abbe in 2009, Cinnamon was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008. In 2019, Cinnamon became the director of the Illinois State Museum.

In 2016 Cinnamon gave her first TEDx talk, We Must Decolonize Our Museums (www.tedxdirigo.com) and she's been featured on the Museopunks podcast series. She’s the author of Museum Administration 2.0 (2016), The Art of Healing: The Wishard Art Collection (2004), and co-editor of the Small Museum Toolkit (2012).

Cinnamon holds a BA in anthropology and art history from Purdue University, and is a graduate of the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) MA program in anthropology with a specialization in museum studies. She is a graduate of the Seminar for Historical Administration (now the History Leadership Institute) and joined as a faculty member in 2014. She lives Springfield, Illinois.