Campus Gallery, Museum and Public Art Curators and Directors

Recognizing the unique opportunities and challenges of the deans who oversee campus art galleries, museums and public art programs, ICFAD has created an affinity group or thought community for curators and directors who are responsible for fulfilling educational missions through artistic exhibitions. Through the academic year, members will share best practices and be provided with numerous opportunities for professional development.

Art enriches our university and community college campuses, and enhances the meeting places for our communities. As stated so eloquently in a recent issue of The Atlantic, “public or private, rural or urban, college museums are tackling ambitious projects like never before, promoting academic curators . . . to be lead actors on the cultural stage.”

To become a member of this thought community, click here.

Upcoming Opportunities

Our Unique Opportunities and Challenges: a full-day-and-a-half program for ICFAD’s new affinity group for curators, directors and professionals who are responsible for fulfilling educational missions through artistic exhibitions. AgendaOnline registrationPaper registration.

Recordings of Gallery and Museum Directors Online Meetings

Our first meeting in May 2023, A Conversation with Marisa Sage about Contemporary Issues in Curatorial Practice in University-Based Galleries and Museumsfacilitated by Marisa Sage, the Director and Head Curator of the New Mexico State University Art Museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Sage is a curator with a passion for emerging contemporary art and artists. Throughout her 15+-year career, Sage has planned and executed more than 100 international exhibitions, which included more than 200 individual artists globally. Previously, Sage served as the Director of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation in New York, and Galleries Manager for Salisbury University Art Galleries in Salisbury, Maryland. Before that, she established Like the Spice Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which held over 65 exhibitions between 2006 and 2012. At NMSU, Sage has written and received multiple grants including the National Endowment for the Arts, Artwork Grants to support the Fall 2022 exhibition Contemporary Ex-votos: Devotion Beyond Medium, the Mellon Foundation's Art Museum Futures Fund and most recently the Thoma Foundation Grant. Sage is a New York native, who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from Syracuse University and Master of Digital Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art.