Brett Littman / Shakkei Consulting
Bio

30+ years of experience leading and financially strengthening museums, cultural institutions and galleries with a proven track record driving fundraising, capital projects, entrepreneurial initiatives, board evolution, and exhibitions and programs that engage diverse artists, patrons and audiences.

Brett Littman is the Director of Shakkei Consulting (“borrowed landscape” in Japanese) a consulting firm that develops organizational specific strategy and solutions to complex curatorial, management, programmatic, operational, entrepreneurial and legacy issues.

He was the Senior Director, US of Carpenters Workshop Gallery from 2024 - 2025, Director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in Long Island City, New York from 2018 – 2023; Executive Director of The Drawing Center from 2007–2018; Deputy Director of MoMA PS1 from 2003–2007; Co-Director of Dieu Donné Papermill from 2001–2003 and Associate Director of Urban Glass from 1996–2001.

Littman’s interests are multi-disciplinary and he has personally curated more than thirty-five exhibitions focusing on visual art, outsider art, craft, design, architecture, poetry, music, science, and literature. He was named the curator of Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center for 2019 and 2020. He is also an art critic, lecturer, active essayist for museum and gallery catalogues and writes for a wide range of U.S. and international art, fashion, and design magazines.

A native New Yorker, Brett Littman received a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from France in 2017 and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego.



ShakkeiCV CuratorialWriting
Lectures
Press 
Awards and Grants 
Professional Memberships, Juries, Teaching, Boards
Blog


Lectures

  • Lecture, Jeff Zimmerman: Glass Light Nature, Manitoga, NY, Sept 27, 2025 
  • Lecture, Origins of Brazilian Modernist Design, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, LA, March 14, 2025
  • Panelist with Tony Ingrao and Zesty Meyers, Jeff Zimmerman: Glass Light Space, R & Company, NY, March 11, 2025
  • Lecture, Italian 15th Bronzes to Ingrid Donat, Save Venice, January 22, 2025
  • Panelist, Breaking Ceramics, Instituto Cervantes, NY, September 14, 2023 
  • Lecture, Noguchi: Tools, Takeda Tools Museum, Kobe, Japan,  April 22, 2023
  • Lecture, The In-Between: Isamu Noguchi for Kyoto University of the Arts, Kyoto, Japan, April 18, 2023
  • Panelist, Tradition and Possibilities: Inma Barrero, Kyotographie, Kyoto, Japan, April 15, 2023 
  • Lecture, The In-Between Isamu Noguchi for New York Studio School, NY, March 29, 2023
  • Lecture, Art in Public Spaces, Art Students League, March 2, 2023
  • Lecture, The In-Between: Isamu Noguchi for NYIT, NY, February 15, 2023
  • Interview with Andy Goldworthy, Red Flags Project for Frieze Sculpture, Gallerie LeLong, April 30, 2022 
  • Lecture on Isamu Noguchi for MET volunteers, January 18, 2022
  • Lecture on Isamu Noguchi for UCSD Osher Institute,, May 14, 2021
  • Annual lecture on Isamu Noguchi for Pratt, NY, April 2021, 2022
  • Talk with Sam Moyer, Tone, Sean Kelley Gallery, March 31, 2021
  • Interview with Meredith Monk and John Hollenbeck, Duet Behavior, Noguchi Museum, October 28, 2020
  • Panelist, AXA Prize, New York Academy of Art, October 7, 2020
  • Panelist, Paradise Lost, Talk with Thad Mosley, Andy Goldsworthy and Ghada Amer, Frieze Sculpture, April 2020
  • Talk with John Currin, New York Studio School, December 10, 2019
  • Lecture on Isamu Noguchi, Arts Student League, October 2019
  • Panelist, Time in Public Sculpture, Hirshorn Musuem, DC, July 19, 2019
  • Panelist, Talk about Piero Manzoni, Hauser & Wirth, June 5, 2019
  • Talk with Gabriel de la Mora, Perrotin New York, March 19, 2019
  • Panelist, Testing the Limits: Arakawa x Isamu Noguchi, Asia Week, Christie’s NY, March 17, 2019
  • Talk with Pedro Reyes and Meg Webster, Frieze, May 2019
  • Panelist, Crain’s and Arts and Culture Breakfast, April 3, 2019
  • Talk with Neo Rauch and Jeff Fleming, Des Moines Arts Center, IA, September 26, 2018
  • Lecture on Walter De Maria, DIA Beacon, June 9, 2018
  • Moderator, Drawing the World: Exploring the Unfamiliar, TEFAF, NY, May 4, 2018
  • Moderator, Dioscuri: Ryan and Trevor Oakes, CIMA, NY March 29, 2018
  • Lectures for DrawingNow!, Paris, Paris, Frances, March 2018
  • Lecture for Drawing Room Fair at ABC Museo, Madrid, Spain, February 22, 2018
  • Lecture on Art and Literature, Art Basel Cities, Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 4, 2017
  • Panelist at Kohler Center for the Arts, Sheboygan, WI, October 27, 2017
  • Talk with Anthony Huberman on Philippe Vandenberg, Hauser & Wirth, July 18, 2017
  • Lecture at CAFA Museum, Beijing, China, June 2, 2017
  • Panelist, Minding the Time: New Dialogues with Old Master Drawings, Morgan Library, May 9, 2017
  • Talks with Daniel Senise and Daniel Burren, Nara Roesler Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 4, 2017
  • Talk with Olaf Bruening on Olaf Bruening: Drawings, The Drawing Center, January 31, 2017
  • Lecture at Kirin Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi, India, December 6, 2016
  • Talk with Ghada Amer and Reza Farkondeh, E/AB Fair, New York, November 5, 2016
  • Keynote, Gudmund Vigtel Works on Paper, High Museum, Atlanta, GA, February 17, 2016
  • Participant in Tyler School of Art’s Critical Dialogue Series, October 21, 2015
  • Lecture, “Ferran Adria: Notes on Creativity”, Mia, Minneapolis, September 17, 2015
  • Talk with Duane Zaloudek, American Academy in Rome, March 30, 2015
  • Moderator, “Limits of Contemporary Drawing”, with Elsy Lahner (Albertina), Kate McFarland (Drawing Room) and Agnes Callou (critic), DrawingNow!, Paris, March 25, 2015
  • Lecture, “Ferran Adria: Notes on Creativity”, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 5, 2015
  • Lecture, “Ferran Adria: Notes on Creativity,”  Bronx River Arts Center, January 22, 2015
  • Talk with Daniel Libeskind, Cocktails and Conversation, AIA, NY, October 17, 2014
  • Lecture “Notes on Creativity,” MOCA Cleveland, September 26, 2014
  • Keynote lecture at SCAD, Savannah GA, February 28, 2014
  • Keynote lecture, From Lascaux Caves to Autocad, at Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit MI, February 9, 2014
  • Talk with Ferran Adriá, Ecole des Beaux-Arts Paris, France, December 10, 2013
  • Moderator,  Alexis Rockman and Jean Christoph-Castelli, Life of Pi, Pratt, NY, October 29, 2013  
  • Keynote speech, “Drawing=Painting”, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO, October 10, 2013
  • Visiting Critic, Parsons MFA program, October 2013
  • Panelist, “Performing Representations”, Storefront for Art & Architecture, NY, July 24, 2012
  • Lecture on Contemporary Drawing, Menil Collection, Houston TX, April 16, 2012,
  • Lecture, DrawingNow! Fair, Paris, France, March 30, 2012
  • Talk with Lawrence Weiner, MiMA, Middlesbrough, UK, November 26, 2010
  • Talk with Marco Breuer, School of Visual Art, New York, November 16, 2010
  • Lecture, Carpe Diem Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal, June 20, 2010,
  • Lecture, Is This a Drawing?, Parsons / The New School for Design, New York, March 9, 2010
  • Talk with Susan Collis, The Armory Show, New York, March 4, 2010
  • Lecture, Soka University, Laguna Beach, CA, September 24, 2009
  • Panelist, After the Deluge: Perspectives on Challenging Times in the Art World, X Initiative, New York, March 19, 2009
  • Panelist with TJ Clarke, Richard Shiff, Joaquim Pissarro, and John Ederfield, “Division of Labor”, MoMA, New York, November 19, 2008
  • Talk with Paolo Canevari, MICA, Baltimore, MD, November 17, 2008
  • Lecture, “From Lascaux Caves to AutoCAD,” Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Esteban Lisa Foundation, Argentine and Parque Lage, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April/May 2008
  • Lecture, “Alternative Art Movement,” Sciences Po, Paris, France, January 17, 2008
  • Organizer, Art Series at Riverhouse lecture series, March–April 2007, New York
  • Lecture, “Documentation and Contemporary Languages,” Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples, Italy, December 14–15, 2006
  • Panel leader, American Craft Council, Craft Leadership Conference, October 21, 2006, Houston, TX
  • Lecturer, Museum Leadership Institute, Sagamore, NY, September 27–29, 2006, 
  • Panelist, “Mobile Living,” SoHo Grand Hotel, New York, April 19, 2006, 
  • Lecture, “Collaboration in Contemporary Art,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 10, 2005 
  • Host, Radiodays, De Appel Curatorial Program, Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 19, 2005 
  • Hosted 20+ radio shows, “Material Culture”  wps1.org, PS1’s internet radio station, 2005–2009
  • Lecture, “Collaborations: A Process for Art and Design,” Iaspis, Stockholm, Sweden, June 17, 2004, 
  • Lecture, “Capturing the Spirit of Finnish Design,” Bard Graduate Center, New York, April 29, 2003, 
  • Panelist, “Collecting Works on Paper” The Armory Show, New York, March 9, 2003 
  • Lecture, “Dieu Donne: How we do it,” Cooper Hewitt Graduate Program, NY, November 10, 2002, 
  • Grant Writing Seminar for Artists, October 9, 2002, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
  • Lecture, “New Trends in Glass Art,” Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT, June 29, 2002, 
  • Lecture, “Transitions in Contemporary Scandinavian Design,” Bard Graduate Center, New York, May 10, 2002, 
  • Seminar on Non-Profit Governance, Arts and Business Council, Whitney Museum of American Art, April 5, 2002, New York
  • Lecture, “Untraditional Uses of Glass,” AusGlass Conference, Melbourne, Australia, January 2001, 
  • Lecture, “Trends in Glass: SOFA Chicago,” Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, November 1, 2000, 
  • Grant Writing Seminar for Artists, Glass Art Society Conference, New York, June 10, 2000, 
  • Lecture, “New Directions in Glass,” Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, April 27, 2000, 
  • Lectures at over 20 museums and educational institutions in Sweden, “Glass and Postmodernism” lectures series, October 1999, 
  • Lecture, “Drip, Burn, Blow,” Hudson River Museum, Upper Nyack, NY, April 1999 
  • Lecture, “Glass and Postmodernism,” University of Denver, Denver, CO, April 1999
  E:brett.littman@gmail.comCell/WhatsApp +1.917.570.6733

IG @blittman