Creating and overseeing collaborations with organizations outside Lincoln Arts is the main focus in Robert Goldberg’s role as our Arts Access Director. Through his work, Lincoln Arts partners with schools, social service organizations and public venues to enhance the lives of everyone in the Lincoln community through a comprehensive spectrum of arts projects, from drawing and painting to music, poetry, dance, photography, and theatre. For five years, Robert has shared with us his abilities to collaborate and create change through the arts. But his appreciation for the arts began long before his time with Lincoln Arts, and far away from Nebraska–and the U.S.

Born and raised in South Africa, Robert was struck by wanderlust in his early life. After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, Robert worked at Columbia Artists Management and as assistant to the Artistic Director at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where he met his wife–a Nebraska native–and then in Paris, where he headed international distribution for the classical record label Opus 111. The two eventually settled in Chicago, where he was Assistant Director of Community Outreach at the Ravinia Festival, America’s largest and oldest music festival, and the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, Robert and his family moved to Lincoln where he worked for a number of organizations, including Nebraska Public Radio and the Sheldon Museum of Art, and earned a Master of Science in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before finding a home with Lincoln Arts in 2018. He has been actively involved in the community, serving on numerous boards including Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, Family Service, the Meadowlark Music Festival, and the Lincoln Youth Symphony.

Not only does Robert enjoy bringing the arts to the Lincoln community for his work, but also for his personal life. In his spare time, Robert enjoys astrophotography, classical music, and accompanying his musical children on the piano.