LOS ANGELES, CA.- Los Angeles-based public art non-profit organization LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) announced the appointment of Laura Hyatt as its new Executive Director.

After an extended search, Hyatt, who was a founding staff member of LAND in 2010, and later Associate Director, was ultimately chosen for the Executive Director post. She returns to LAND in this new role after 3 successful and innovative years at the Hammer Museum where she oversaw the museum’s membership program as well as other fundraising initiatives including the Hammer Circle, the patron group which provides funding for the Made in L.A. biennial. She additionally conceived of and launched the Hammer Collective, a young patrons group which supports the Hammer Project exhibition series and organized the museum’s annual family fundraiser K.A.M.P. (Kids’ Art Museum Project).

In her years with LAND, Hyatt worked closely with its founding Director and Curator, Shamim Momin, on a number of its most groundbreaking and ambitious exhibitions including the Manifest Destiny Billboard Project, Painting in Place, and Fritz Haeg’s Wildflowering LA. Under Hyatt’s direction, LAND’s programming will continue to reflect the needs and interests of artists and the communities that it serves, such as Oscar Tuazon’s ongoing project, Los Angeles Water School, as well as longer-term institutional collaborations and more immediate and ephemeral programming that can be a laboratory for artistic experimentation and community engagement.

Hyatt states, “I am thrilled to be returning to LAND, an organization that is very close to my heart. In times that are increasingly divisive, art can bridge critical gaps between ingrained personal beliefs and lived experiences.” She continues, “Public art especially has a profound ability to break down barriers and change the way that we see and engage with the world around us, hopefully expanding ways of thinking and opportunities for creative expression, public engagement, and conversation.”

In it’s 10th anniversary year, LAND’s incredible legacy of programming will continue to evolve with a focus in and around it’s home city of Los Angeles, keeping with its roots of a collaborative and flexible structure. Hyatt will be bringing in different curatorial voices to reflect the multiplicity of Los Angeles and continue to partner with community-based organizations, facilitating a platform for artists and curators to explore projects that otherwise might not make sense in a more traditional setting.

LAND’s Board President Kelsey Lee Offield comments,”Laura has an incredible amount of knowledge about the organization and its mission, and coupled with her experience at the Hammer Museum, she is the ideal person to be at the helm of LAND as it enters an exciting new era of growth.”

Laura Hyatt holds a BA in Art History and Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an MA in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York where she wrote her dissertation on the history of the Los Angeles art market and the city’s evolution as a cultural capital.