Learn how the nation’s leading storytellers are using creativity and innovation to inspire action on climate change! Join us for an evening with keynote speaker and renowned designer Jake Barton, who has created award-winning experiences for museums, brands, and public spaces. The keynote will be followed by a panel featuring storytellers who are redefining what it means to inspire climate action.
Jake Barton
Founder, Local Projects
Climate Fellow, Emerson Collective Head of Media Design,
National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
Jake Barton is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Local Projects, an experience and exhibit design firm that has won numerous awards, including National Design Awards and Cannes Lions. Barton’s credits include landmark projects such as the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, and he is currently focused on creating immersive experiences that spark action around climate change. His TED Talk on the design of the 9/11 Memorial has over one million views, and he is on Fast Company’s list of Top 50 designers.
Johanna Burton
Director, The Museum of Contemporary Art
Art Historian
Johanna Burton is the Maurice Marciano Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, since 2021. Burton has been active in the contemporary art field for more than 20 years, including more than a decade of leadership experience in major museums and prominent arts and education institutions. An art historian, curator, writer, and educator, Burton’s past posts include her tenures as Executive Director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Keith Haring Director & Curator of Education and Public Engagement at the New Museum, New York; Director of the Graduate Program at Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), New York; and Associate Director & Senior Faculty Member at the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program (ISP), New York. She was a 2019 Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) Fellow.
Billy Zane
Film and TV Actor and Producer
Science Storytelling Consultant
With more than 170 titles to his credit, actor Billy Zane is best known for starring in some of the most popular films and television shows of all time, including Titanic, Twin Peaks, and the Back to the Future and Sniper franchises. Most recently, he produced and starred in the feature film Waltzing With Brando, which focuses on film legend Marlon Brando’s work as an environmental activist. Zane is also a celebrated painter and photographer and is active with the Caltech Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships and The Caltech Fund, where he assists researchers with storytelling as they seek to commercialize their discoveries.
Named in memory of the sustainable planning advocate, longtime Wrigley Institute board member, and former mayor of Whittier, CA, the Delta Murphy Lecture Series highlights socially connected topics such as environmental justice, interactions between humans and the natural world, and diversity in scientific fields.