News from the Visual Arts Administration Program
Curatorial PraxisCuratorial Praxis is a new course offered by the Visual Arts Administration Program in partnership with the Studio Art Department. The class is part an historical/cultural exploration about the role of the curator within the field of contemporary art. After exploring a variety of cuatorial practices, the class begins the second part of the course, a 6 week lab in which students curate projects in a variety of NYU buildings. The projects are drawn from art work each student has seen as part of their visits to a number of artist studios, visits students make independently.
This year student curatorial projects appeared at the Kimmel Student Center (the window spaces and in the Stovall Gallery on the 8th floor), and in the Washington Square Windows and the Broadway Windows. The artists featured this year are: Michael Barletta, Julia Goodman (BFA, NYU), and Bettina Johae (MA, NYU) in the Kimmel Windows; Adam Parker Smith in the Broadway Windows, and Gustabo Velazquez (MFA, NYU) and Max Razdow (MFA, NYU) in Washington Square Windows.
This link provides information on the Adam Parker Smith project, Bold As Love.
Faculty News
The Visual Arts Administration master’s program at New York University has announced the appointment of Melissa Rachleff Burtt as clinical associate professor effective January 1, 2009. Rachleff Burtt previously served as program officer at the New York State Council on the Arts’ Museum Program and taught in the art, design history, and theory department and communication design technology programs at Parsons The New School for Design.
“Melissa Rachleff Burtt will bring to the Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program extensive knowledge of non-profit management, strategic planning, and governance in the visual arts, as well as programmatic and curatorial experience. Adding her to our full time faculty will enhance the strengths of the program and enable us to continue to offer an in-depth layered curriculum,” said Sandra Lang, director and clinical associate professor of the Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program.
Rachleff Burtt was a scholar-in-residence at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem through a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities where she researched photojournalism in black newspapers in New York in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Her research was published in the Smithsonian Institution Press book Visual Journal. Rachleff Burtt began her career as a curator at Exit Art and also worked as manager of adult programs at The Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of the City of New York.
“Our students support and nurture art and artists, working as fundraisers, marketers, curators, museum directors, educators, and cultural entrepreneurs all over the world,” said Carlo Lamagna, senior faculty in the Visual Arts Administration master’s program. “They are the future leaders and agents of change who will advocate for art as a public good and as an essential element of global citizenship and understanding.”
The Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program focuses specifically on leadership opportunities in the visual arts in both traditional and alternative venues. It is recognized worldwide for its success in preparing those who will shape the future of visual arts institutions. The program stresses the balance between understanding the ideas and forces that intersect with the visual arts and the development of keen management, marketing, and financial skills.
Current adjunct faculty in the Visual Arts Administration M.A. Program include Arthur Cohen, CEO of LaPlaca Cohen; Charlotte Cohen, fine arts officer for the US General Services Administration and former director of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program; Alan Fausel, director of the Fine Art Department at Bonhams Auctioneers and Appraisers NYC; Shelley Sanders Kehl, partner in Kehl Katzive and Simon; Susana Torruella Leval, former director of El Museo del Barrio; Elizabeth Marcus, associate director of Galerie St. Etienne; and Koven Smith, associate manager of Interpretive Technology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.