Here’s where you’ll find the Barnes Foundation’s IT director at Philly Tech Week

Name: Steve Brady
Job: Director of Information Technology at the Barnes Foundation
Neighborhood: Parkway Museums District
Project for April: Strategic planning with the Barnes’s new executive director and preparing the arboretum in Merion for its season opening. This includes optimizing online ticketing and producing an audio tour.
Side project: Building out my twins’ playroom, which includes design and carpentering — a collapsible desk, toy cubbies and a Murphy bed that doubles as a whiteboard/chalkboard when stowed.
Here’s what I’ll be up to during Philly Tech Week:

1. TechniCulture presenter

Kicking off the Creative Track Day, I’m joining Lynn Berkowitz and Kevin Gross at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s arts and culture-focused Philly Tech Week event. We’re discussing the Barnes/Drexel partnership on Keys to the Collection, a game-based learning app for iOS devices that lets you explore the galleries with Albert Barnes’ dog Fidèle and literally walk into paintings from the collection. We will discuss the original concept, what changed during development, the final outcomes and future direction of the project. (Friday, April 17, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

2. Innovation Mapped Party

Partnering with other organizations that have the core competencies to bring some of our most ambitious ideas to fruition is the best way to ensure a successful outcome while maximizing cost-efficiency. It will be great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones at the Innovation Mapped party. (Sunday, April 19, 4:30-6:30 p.m.)

3. Philly Tech Week Mayoral Forum on Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation

While I can’t actually vote for the next mayor, I do pay taxes here! The culture that the next administration fosters toward technology and entrepreneurship is very important to my livelihood and to me personally as a Philly-area native. We produce a lot of talent in the STEM fields, and I want a Philadelphia that holds on to that talent to reach its full potential. (Monday, April 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m.)

4. Celebration of Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship at Villanova University

I’ll pay a visit to my alma mater to see some familiar faces and catch up on the research and new projects going on. I am always impressed by both the technical competence of the student projects and the eye toward social responsibility. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get a chance to tour the recently installed CAVE environment with Ed Dougherty and Frank Klassner. (Tuesday, April 21, 5-7 p.m.)

5. Doing Business and Developing in the Cloud

We have had great success deploying Azure products at the Barnes Foundation, including syncing Azure Active Directory with our in-house directory and using Application Insight to monitor and get telemetry on our .Net-based ecommerce solution — and their new nonprofit pricing for Office 365 can’t be beat! We’re looking forward to piloting Azure Media Services with a fully searchable video archive this summer. (Wednesday, April 22, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.)

6. Philly Tech Week Signature Event

I’ll be capping an engaging and informative Philly Tech Week with the Signature Event, reinforcing connections and making some new ones with the help of the MeetingMatch app! (Friday, April 24, 7:30-10:00 p.m.)