Amanda Brinkman received her B.A. in Art History from the University of California, San Diego (magna cum laude) and her M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (highest honors), and she has ten years of professional experience in the contemporary visual arts. She was the director of the arts education nonprofit International House of Blues Foundation San Diego, the symposium manager at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has worked in the curatorial departments of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, and the Sullivan Galleries.