How to Pull Off an Art Heist

How to Pull Off an Art Heist

Speaker -  Kiley Holloway, Writer, Performer & Former Museum Guide

Location - Urban Roots Brewery & Smokehouse, 1322 V St, Sacramento, CA 95818

Stealing a priceless masterpiece is difficult, but how do you sell something the entire world is looking for? Who decides what stolen art is worth? And what if some of history's greatest art thieves weren't criminals at all, but the very museums entrusted with protecting our cultural treasures?

From the still-unsolved Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery to the infamous thefts of the Mona Lisa and The Scream, art history is filled with audacious schemes, astonishing disappearances, and mysteries that refuse to be solved. But behind these headline-grabbing heists lies a much more fascinating story about money, power, ownership, and the strange economics of priceless art.

Join performer, writer, and former museum guide Kylie Holloway as she explores how to pull off an art heist, at least in theory! What motivates someone to steal a masterpiece? What separates a brilliant plan from a spectacular failure? And how do thieves profit from artwork that's too famous to sell?

Then we'll turn the spotlight on the museums themselves. From the Getty to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we'll examine the complicated histories of how great collections were assembled, the controversies surrounding stolen cultural treasures, and an uncomfortable question: When does collecting become stealing?

Come for the daring robberies, missing masterpieces, and criminal intrigue. Leave questioning something much bigger: Who gets to decide what art is worth, who owns it, and who the real thieves are?

About the Lecturer

Kylie Holloway is a performer, producer, and writer whose work blends history, storytelling, and cultural curiosity. She is the co-creator of Slick and Ideas at Ford and her writing has appeared in McSweeney's, The Cut, and Vox Media's Polygon. She has produced for NPR, Vox Media, and New York Magazine, and performed in the New York Times-recommended Brooklyn variety show Bear Hug.

Kylie also spent five years as a museum tour guide and consultant, working with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Atlas Obscura, and museums nationwide. Her passion for overlooked histories inspired Nevertheless She Existed, a comedy storytelling show celebrating forgotten women and queer figures from history.

This event is 21+

Schedule:

6:00pm - Doors Open: grab a drink and mingle. We'll have trivia questions on the screen and some surprises

6:45pm - Program begins with an intro & prize giveaway

7:00pm - Lecture begins

7:45pm - Q&A

8:00pm - Mingle, discuss the lecture, meet the speaker

9:00pm - You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here

What to Expect:

Common Knowledge is Sacramento's premiere bar lecture series.

At Common Knowledge we believe that learning something new is the most rewarding and fun thing you can do. We're about bringing diverse people and ideas together to have a great time.

This event is open seating so come when doors open to grab a drink and a seat. Before the lecture we'll have music and trivia questions on the screen. We'll also have a fun, low pressure “side quest” so you can win a prize.

The lecture will last for 45 minutes and is made for an intelligent, general audience so you don't need any specialized background to have a great time. After the lecture, there will be 15 minutes for Q&A and then the bar will be open to hang out, meet the speaker, and discuss the ideas you just heard.

 Parking:  Street parking is available around Urban Roots.

Policies: 

This event is 21+

No hidden ticket fees. The price you see is the price you pay. Period.

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