Timothy anne burnside

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With more than twenty years at the Smithsonian Institution, I am a curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. My work critically engages the intersections of history, culture, music, and the performing arts. My research and curatorial practice focus on the acquisition, study, and interpretation of material culture, with a sustained commitment to developing collections that reflect the diversity and significance of music and the broader performing arts. I develop exhibitions, public programs, publications, and digital media that interpret history and creative expression with both innovation and scholarly rigor. Central to my approach is cultivating collaborative relationships with artists, families, estates, and communities to ensure their experiences are authentically represented.

My scholarship and public history work aim to foreground the achievements and influence of artists, performers, and creative leaders within broader historical frameworks. I strive to ensure their contributions are recognized in national memory and to advance understanding of the performing arts and music as forces that construct identity, foster community, and deepen engagement with cultural history.

My museum career began at the National Museum of American History in 2003, where I interned with the Archives Center, served as a Curatorial Assistant in the Division of Cultural History, and served as a Project Assistant/Co-Producer for Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). In 2006, I launched the Smithsonian’s first hip-hop initiative and its foundational collection. Since 2009, I have worked with the curatorial team at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to develop the museum’s collections and exhibitions. I currently co-lead Musical Crossroads and Taking the Stage, and have contributed to several other exhibitions, including Cultural Expressions, Sports: Leveling the Playing Field, Power of Place, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment, Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture, and Represent: Hip-Hop Photography.

My portfolio encompasses a range of nationally recognized projects, including the NMAAHC’s grand opening festival, Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration, The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, and the podcast All Music is Black Music. Recent projects include the NMAAHC Hip-Hop Block Party, the exhibition Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, which received the Smithsonian Award for Excellence in Exhibitions (2024), and the publication Musical Crossroads: Stories Behind the Objects of African American Music, honored with the Secretary’s Research Prize (2025).

My work is grounded in the conviction that material culture possesses transformative potential to illuminate and critically analyze history. I regularly present research at national and international conferences, deliver guest lectures in academic settings from high school through graduate education, and mentor students interested in music, the performing arts, and cultural history across educational levels. For me, museum practice is vital—not only for preserving artifacts but also for safeguarding artistic heritage, fostering creative innovation, and providing interpretive frameworks that help us understand the evolution of cultural expression. Through exploring new methodologies of museum practice within contemporary cultural narratives, I seek to reinforce the critical role that museums play in fostering cultural understanding and shaping collective historical consciousness.