Ayofemi
Kirby

Founder & cultural strategist.

I am the founder of ElevenThirtySix, a cultural strategy and advisory practice that works with museums, libraries, cultural organizations, foundations, public agencies, and artists to strengthen the institutions that hold our shared cultural heritage and civic life. I am also the founder and director of Galerie36, an intimate contemporary art house rooted in Dakar and open to the world.

My work rests on more than two decades inside the institutions that shape public life: service as communications director for the Congressional Black Caucus and for Congressman Adam Smith, public engagement leadership at the New York Public Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, corporate communications at Wachovia through the financial crisis and its acquisition, and advisory work with more than thirty institutions, cultural organizations, and artists. The throughline across all of it is helping public-serving institutions earn trust, tell their story clearly, and deepen cultural engagement with the communities they serve.