Le vital corps Salon
#0074: Susie Thornberry on creating space, curiously meandering + exploring the human impact of conflict through art
Meet Susie Thornberry. She is the Assistant Director at Imperial War Museums where she leads public engagement for adults, young people, schools, and families across the five museums. Her extensive experience in arts, museums, festivals, and heritage includes roles with Historic Royal Palaces, Artichoke, and Battersea Arts Centre. In 2016, she was producer of London’s Burning, a festival to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, including London 1666 a 120-metre-long sculpture created by hundreds of young Londoners which was spectacularly set alight on the River Thames. In 2018, Susie became a Commissioner of Historic England. Today, Susie and I talk about creating space and exploring the human impact of conflict through art. The irony of touching that last topic today on September 11th is not lost on me. It hits me in the feels and takes me back to a very sad, but life-changing, time in NYC for me. We also dive into Susie’s role at Imperial War Museums, because seriously, it’s an incredibly rad role and not entirely shocking that Susie's in it when you learn more about her zigs and zags. We also discuss the role of museums in the public space and as perspective builders. After all, we could all use a change in perspective sometimes, don’t you think? Of course, we touch on topics related to burnout and living life on your own terms, like how to courageously say I don't know, mitigating over-stimulation by innate curiosity, and curiously meanadering. You’ll find out what all of that means when you listen to this episode. Please don't forget to share this episode with the one human you think will really dig it, and subscribe to Le vital corps Salon wherever you listen to podcasts. Selected link love + resources from the episode can be found here: https://www.vitalcorpswellness.com/blog/lvcs-0074-susie-thornberry