Mikka Gee Conway ’11 has been surrounded by art her entire life. She grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where Conway’s father was an art professor and painter. Immersed in a culture of “inquiry,” she recalls gallery openings, museum visits, and hosting artists as part of everyday life.
“There was art everywhere,” says Conway, now secretary and general counsel at Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. “My dad was always putting paper and colored pencils in front of me and my brother.”
While she didn’t follow in his path as a fine artist, she never abandoned her roots. As an undergraduate, she studied art history at Stanford University. After graduation, she worked at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and then at the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation in New Mexico, before earning her master’s degree at Williams College. A curatorial internship at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles launched a nearly decade-long tenure, culminating in the role of assistant director.
At the Getty, she began collaborating with museum attorneys, sparking a shift in her career path.
“It was the first time that I got an in-depth look at how lawyers analyze issues and solve problems,” she says. “I thought it was super interesting, and I wished I had known more about law earlier.”
Studying the Law
In 2007, Conway moved to the Minneapolis Institute of Art as assistant director for collections and exhibitions. But soon after she arrived in Minnesota, she decided to apply to the University of Minnesota Law School.
“When I left the museum world, I had no plans to return,” she says. “I was going to law school because I thought this was what my brain was meant to do. There are many ways to be a lawyer, and I was eager to explore what that might look like. I did well in law school, and I was able to get a federal clerkship, which was a wonderful learning experience. During both my summers, I worked at law firms.”
It seemed Conway might be headed for a legal career at a law firm. But the pull of the art world was too strong. A rare opportunity opened at the Getty, this time as counsel focusing on intellectual property and compliance issues.
“The Getty was at the forefront of open access—making its collection images and some of its intellectual property freely available,” she says. “There were also areas where new legal developments around things like trade sanctions and privacy required the Getty to level up its compliance efforts.”
After nearly seven years at the Getty, she transitioned to the DEI space as Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging officer and Equal Employment Opportunity director at the National Gallery of Art. She left in April 2024, before the current administration effectively ended DEI programs in federal agencies. Conway says she’s proud of the work she did to shift the conversation within the National Gallery and to build a community of diversity officers from museums around the country.
“It was unlike any other job I've ever had in terms of the emotional toll of the work,” she says. “You’re learning about these macro-level inequities—how they came to be and might be addressed. At the same time, it’s deeply personal, especially as a woman and a person of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent. My history has largely been one of assimilation, but I really believe people shouldn’t have to assimilate to thrive.”
A Perfect Blend
Today, as general counsel at the Norton Simon Museum, Conway handles the full range of issues facing small nonprofits.
For those pursuing careers as in-house counsel at a nonprofit or art museum, she suggests courses in copyright, employment, and tax law. It is also essential to get to know your professors, says Conway, who recalls Professor Kristin Hickman and Dean William McGeveran fondly.
One of the most valuable lessons she has learned is that she’s not in control of everything, and that’s okay.
“Sometimes things happened that I didn't plan for or want,” she says. “But knowing I can pivot and still survive was an incredibly valuable lesson. There are many ways to do purposeful work. For me, I’m the happiest serving in a more traditional legal capacity.”
One thing that has remained a constant: a love of art. She’s particularly drawn to the Getty’s Still Life with Fish, Vegetables, Gougères, Pots, and Cruets on a Table, an 18th-century painting by artist Jean-Siméon Chardin.
“I was involved with its acquisition at the Getty before I was a lawyer,” she says. “It’s one of those pictures I just can’t get over. It looks so modern; the brushwork is very loose. With just a few brushstrokes, Chardin created the shimmering scales of the fish. I love that painting. I always go back to it.”