liesl olson, director
she/her
Liesl Olson is a writer, cultural historian, literary scholar, and social justice advocate. She is the author of Modernism and the Ordinary (Oxford, 2009), Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Art in the Midwest Metropolis (Yale, 2017), and forthcoming “Now We See the World Together: Five Midwesterners and the Revolution of Modern Art” (Norton, 2025). Before arriving at Hull-House, she directed the Program in Chicago Studies at the Newberry Library, where in 2021 she curated “Chicago Avant-Garde” and produced its accompanying catalog. With three of her Newberry colleagues, Olson was awarded the 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award from the National Council on Public History for Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots. Liesl holds strong opinions about poetry, and despite her proclivity for impossible shoes, she loves to go camping.
Matthew Randle-bent, associate director
he/him
Matthew Randle-Bent is a historian, artist and educator who has been on the Hull-House staff since fall 2023. At Hull-House, he has overseen the opening of Hull-House Books, the museum’s new bookstore, among numerous other projects. As part of the Radical Craft exhibition catalog, he introduced a series of essays by Ellen Gates Starr, analyzing her contribution to the romantic radical intellectual tradition. A scholar and administrator, he has published essays and articles on global modern/contemporary art, theatre, and performance and worked across the arts and higher education in Chicago. In 2022, he was an artist in residence at The Watermill Center. He attended his local state school in Gloucestershire, rural England, before degrees at the University of Warwick, Queen Mary, University of London, and (after moving to the US in 2016) a PhD from Northwestern University. He is a board member at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Currently, he is leading research and programming around the history of Hull-House Theatre, supported by the Discovery Partners Institute.
Ross Stanton jordan, curatorial manager
he/him
Ross Stanton Jordan is a curator interested in the confluence of politics, history, and visual culture. .At the museum, he has produced a dozen exhibitions and one hundred public programs that connect the social justice issues of the past to the present-day demands for social equity via collaborations with artists, scholars and community-based organizations. Ross has held curatorial fellowships at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and Independent Curators International. In 2022, Newcity Magazine named Ross one of the top 50 Chicago arts administrators working to make a more equitable and sustainable arts world. He holds a studio arts degree from Connecticut College, and dual masters degrees in art history and arts administration and policy from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ross is a loud talker, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Nadia Maragha, Education Manager
she/her
Nadia Maragha has been an Educator at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum since 2020. She holds a master's degree in political science from UIC, with a research background in comparative urban politics and international human rights issues. She has worked in a variety of informal education spaces since then, including the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. Her work and research at Hull-House include writing for the museum blog, leading public tours and programs, and giving presentations on subjects like Hull-House's work in public health, the roles of museums in communities, Chicago folklore, Hull-House's arts history, and social justice organizing in Chicago. In her free time, she is a horror enthusiast, an avid gamer, and loves needlework and hiking.
candace bey, educator
she/her
Candace Bey is an Social Historian, cultural worker and very proud Chicagoan. Her aim is to share and engage with community histories specifically related to Chicago, Labor and Leisure, Women's and African-American stories. Before joining the Hull-House team, she spent time on the education teams at the Chicago History Museum and the Imperial War Museum North. At Hull-House, you can find her running programs, hosting workshops and giving one of the best historical tours in the city. Her favorite pastime is hosting her friends from out of town and designing bespoke experiences for them in an effort to convince them to move to the Second City (second to none!).
katie akerboom, educator
she/they
Katie Akerboom has been a self-proclaimed museum nerd since 2009, when they volunteered at a museum for the first time. As a domestic historian, Katie is often experimenting with historic clothing and cooking techniques. They hold a BA in Theatre Performance and History from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where they received a comprehensive theatre education and explored many historic topics. They also earned an MA from Southern New Hampshire University in Public History, where they studied the cultural and social impact of food scarcity in 20th century America. When not working in history, Katie is a theatre professional, working with local Chicago theatres since 2018. You can see her work with the Bristol Renaissance Faire, The Conspirators, and Forest Park Theatre, among others. She is a proud dog mom to a beagle, Willie Nelson, and is happy to talk about him at any given moment.
Cecilia Rossi, Program Assistant
She/Her
Cecilia Rossi is a recent UIC graduate and earned her BA in History with a specialization in the social history of the U.S. and a minor in Museum Studies. She has research interests in the intersections of labor, gender, and race, as well as the history of radicalism. She feels passionately about making history more accessible and engaging, and she is interested in learning more about Chicago’s communities. She is enthusiastic about Rummy 500 with friends and has an affinity for trinkets and cats.
fabrizzio subia, curatorial assistant
He/Him
Fabrizzio Subia is a Chicago-based performance artist, poet, and museum professional from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Using tools such as video cameras, sand, pen and paper, and fire, he makes art that speaks on experiences of migration, grief, and celebration. Fabrizzio has worked throughout Chicago’s arts and culture institutions, including the International Museum of Surgical Science, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. He is an Artist-in-Residence at Chicago Art Department, a member of radical art collective P.O. Box Collective, and the founder of the anarchist library Bioblioca Popular. He earned his BFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. On any day that’s warm enough, you can find him on particular sidewalks break dancing with his friends.
