A native New Yorker with family ties to the Twin Cities, Aidan relocated to Minneapolis from Brooklyn in 2019 and has worked locally as an art advisor. The GMD appointment marks her return to museums, which have provided the foundation of her career in arts and culture since her first internship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2001).

In Architecture & Design at MoMA, Aidan co-organized 14 exhibitions including regular installations of the permanent galleries and special exhibitions, notably Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen (2010) and Century of the Child: Growing by Design 1900-2000 (2012). All drew on the design collections (approx. 30,000 works) as well as those of MoMA’s other curatorial departments, while Century of the Child also encompassed hundreds of global loans.

Following MoMA, she guest curated a major regional survey of Nordic design for children for Vandalorum Museum för Konst och Design in Värnamo, Sweden with director Elna Svenle. This traveled from Sweden to venues in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Berlin, and London from 2014–2018.

At AIGA (2013-16), she remained involved with exhibitions while managing the gallery at the National Design Center, including Dan Friedman: Radical Modernist (curated by Chris Pullman) and Century: 100 Years of Type in Design (curated by Monotype and produced by Pentagram). As Director of Strategic Initiatives, her primary responsibility was supporting national programs for Diversity & Inclusion, Women’s Leadership, and Get Out the Vote.

Photo credit: Clarke Sanders

As an independent curator, she worked on exhibition projects for Hyundai, Prada, and Procter & Gamble in collaboration with design studio 2x4. During this period she taught graduate-level design history courses at Pratt and SVA. She recently contributed essays to exhibition catalogues for Designing Motherhood (MIT Press, 2021) and E. McKnight Kauffer: The Artist in Advertising (Cooper Hewitt, 2021).

Aidan also brings experience in grants and awards programs. As a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts (2016-2018), she evaluated hundreds of project and institutional grant applications to the Architecture & Design and Museums programs according to the council’s primary criteria of artistic/programmatic excellence, managerial competence, and service to the public. Prior to NYSCA, she managed AIGA’s annual awards program and helped secure an NEA grant for its Diversity & Inclusion Initiative (2016). And at the National Design Awards, she assisted with submissions, jury process, communications, and events (2007).

She has organized, moderated, and presented at public programs and conferences on behalf of Chicago Women in Architecture/Docomomo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Nordic House in Reykjavik, AIGA, Bard Graduate Center, MoMA, Parsons, AIA New York, and the College Art Association.