The Evolving Role of the Museum

In a tumultuous time when our nation and the art world are confronted with a moral responsibility to advocate for equity and social justice, museums around the country must adapt to serve our communities. Is it enough for them to be places to exhibit thought-provoking artwork, or should museums more vigorously strive to engage the public and take an active stance on social issues?

“The Evolving Role of the Museum” aims to explore these questions and more with Anne Pasternak of Brooklyn Museum, Franklin Sirmans of Pérez Art Museum Miami and Chana Budgazad Sheldon of Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, in conversation with Bahia Ramos of Wallace Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Anne Pasternak, Brooklyn Museum

Since 2015, Anne Pasternak has served as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest fine arts institutions in the nation. For more than thirty years, Anne has devoted her career to engaging broad audiences with the limitless power of art to move, motivate, and inspire. As a staunch advocate for the civic and democratic roles our cultural and educational institutions can play, she is committed to projects that demonstrate the crucial links between art and social justice.

During her time at the Brooklyn Museum, Anne has focused on strengthening the Museum as a center for the visual arts that is courageous, pioneering, and global. Through her leadership, Anne has expanded exhibitions, educational and public programs, and fostered special exhibitions, including The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, David Bowie is, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, and Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving. These initiatives are building the foundations for the Brooklyn Museum’s newStrategic Plan, to further the Museum’s mission to create inspiring encounters with art and engage the audiences the issues of today.

Prior to joining the Brooklyn Museum, Anne served as the President and Artistic Director of Creative Time for two decades, where she initiated projects that gave artists opportunities to respond to political and environmental challenges, while also expanding their practice and work globally. She collaborated with hundreds of artists, including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, and Kara Walker, commissioning and presenting works that ranged from sculptural installations in Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall to skywriting over Manhattan, as well as Tribute in Light, the twin beacons of light that illuminated the sky above the former World Trade Center site, and continue to be presented on the anniversaries of 9/11.

Franklin Sirmans, Pérez Art Museum Miami

Franklin Sirmans has been the director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) since fall 2015. Since coming to PAMM, he has overseen the acquisition of more than a thousand works of art by donation or purchase. At PAMM, Franklin has pursued his vision of PAMM as “the people’s museum,” representing a Miami lens, by strengthening existing affiliate groups such as the PAMM Fund for Black Art and creating the International Women’s Committee and the Latin American and Latinx Art Fund. Franklin has organized Toba Khedoori (2017) and he was co-curator of The World’s Game: Futbol and Contemporary Art (2018).

Prior to his appointment he was the department head and curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from 2010 until 2015. At LACMA, Franklin organized Toba Khedoori; Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada; Variations: Conversations in and around Abstract Painting; Fútbol: The Beautiful Game; and Ends and Exits: Contemporary Art from the Collections of LACMA and The Broad Art Foundation.

From 2006 to 2010 he was curator of modern and contemporary art at The Menil Collection in Houston where he organized several exhibitions including NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith; Maurizio Cattelan: Is Their Life Before Death?; and Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964–1966. From 2005 to 2006 Franklin was a curatorial advisory committee member at MoMA/PS1. He was the artistic director of Prospect.3 New Orleans from 2012 until 2014. He was awarded the 2007 David C. Driskell Prize, administered by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Chana Budgazad Sheldon, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami

Chana Budgazad Sheldon was appointed Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) North Miami in January 2018, and oversees all aspects of the museum, while ensuring the diversity that defines the museum’s dynamic community is reflected in its exhibitions and programming.

Under her leadership, the MOCA-originated exhibition AFRICOBRA: Nation Time was selected as an official Collateral Event of the 2019 Venice Biennale, marking the first time a Florida institution has presented at that prestigious international exposition. During her tenure at the museum, MOCA North Miami has originated exhibitions including Raul de Nieves: Eternal Return & the Obsidian Heart, Alice Rahon: Poetic Invocations, and forthcoming retrospective My Name is Maryan, the first comprehensive retrospective of Polish-born Holocaust survivor Maryan’s life and work.

Chana was previously the Executive Director of Miami’s non-profit exhibition space Locust Projects for eight years, during which time, the organization grew to an internationally recognized exhibition space where groundbreaking multi-disciplinary artists presented career-altering works. Chana began her career at Casey Kaplan gallery in New York where she ultimately became its Director. She served on the City of Miami Beach’s Art in Public Places Committee from 2014-2019, and has participated on numerous panels and juries.

Bahia Ramos, Wallace Foundation (moderator)

Bahia Ramos joined The Wallace Foundation in 2018 as Director of Arts. She leads the team responsible for the strategy and implementation of the foundation’s work in areas including building audiences for the arts and promoting arts education for young people.

Before arriving at Wallace, Bahia served as program director of the arts for the Knight Foundation, where she led the organization’s strategy for a $35 million annual investment in arts funding across the country. In that role, she built national partnerships and initiatives with organizations such as ArtPlace and Sundance, and worked on the local level to bring more high-quality arts experiences to diverse audiences and neighborhoods. Previously at Knight, Bahia had served as director/community foundations, managing a $140 million investment in community foundations in 26 cities supporting local civic innovation and community vibrancy.

Bahia has given presentations on a wide range of topics at forums across the country, including Grantmakers in the Arts, the Arts & Business Council of New York, the Alliance of Artist Communities, and Black Portraitures IV.

Bahia received her undergraduate degree in history from Williams College, and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College’s Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, where she was a member of the Pi Alpha Alpha Honors Society and a National Urban Fellow.

COLLABORATORS

The Evolving Role of the Museum is presented in collaboration with Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau for National Museum Month in May, and in partnership with our dear friends at CULTURED.

Image: Installation view of Teresita Fernández: Elemental at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2019–20. Photo: Oriol Tarridas. Image provided courtesy of PAMM.