Center for German and European Studies

Miranda Massie is the founder and director of New York City’s Climate Museum, the first climate-dedicated museum in the US. The Museum mobilizes the power of arts and cultural programming to invite visitors into climate engagement and to transform our public culture for action at scale. Massie is active within several coalitions focused on climate-oriented work within the cultural sector, serves on numerous international design juries, and speaks frequently on the need to integrate programming on climate across the cultural sector. She is a Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

"Only by imagining a sustainable world can we begin to create it." – Laura van Rutten, Founder and Director of the Klimaatmuseum.

Born in 1984 in the Netherlands, Laura van Rutten studied history at the University of Amsterdam. During her master’s in Public History, she interned at the prestigious Rijksmuseum. She later worked as a communications officer at the Amsterdam Museum, Greenpeace, and Friends of the Earth, gaining valuable experience in both the cultural and environmental sectors.

In 2018, Laura founded the Klimaatmuseum, a pop-up museum that bridges the gap between the art world and the climate movement. She believes these two spheres have much to learn from each other. The Klimaatmuseum focuses on addressing the climate crisis, often collaborating with artists to create exhibitions, workshops, and interactive installations. The projects are always positive, innovative, accessible, and participatory, offering creative ways to engage with the most pressing issue of our time.