MONTEREY, CA.- Following a year of successful recovery from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Monterey Museum of Art has named its interim leader as Executive Director. Corey Madden, who has led and advised arts organizations across California and the country, was chosen unanimously by the Museum’s 11-member board.

Ms. Madden has served as Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Founding Artistic Director of L’Atelier Arts in Los Angeles, and Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group at the Music Center of Los Angeles.

She has taught at UCLA, California Institute of the Arts, and other leading universities and colleges, and has developed programming and consulted with the Getty Museum and Villa, North Carolina Museum of Art, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) and other arts institutions.

As the Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, Madden curated and produced premieres of more than 300 plays, including Angels in America, Twilight Los Angeles: 1992, and Jelly’s Last Jam, and helped plan the renovation of the Mark Taper Forum and the construction of the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Madden was hired as a consultant to the Monterey Museum of Art in August 2020 and accepted a full-time position as Interim Executive Director in November. Under her leadership over the last 11 months, and with staff working remotely, the Museum has been able to:

• Hang all scheduled shows including Francis McComas, Califas, Color Duets and Will Giles Transformations.

• Acquire important new works for its permanent collection, including “El Teatro de la Moda” by Amalia Mesa Bains, one of the most important living artists of this region.

• Launch a new “digital wing,” which includes free access to the Museum’s entire permanent collection, online lectures, workshops, and exhibition walk-throughs, as well as timed, touchless ticketing. The Museum is producing more than 100 videos this year.

• Re-open the Pacific Street location of the Museum after the installation of a state-of-the-art air filtration and monitoring system, supported by a generous grant from the Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Family Foundation.

• Raise critical operating funds from hundreds of donors.

• Receive a clean audit for 2020 and complete the 2021 fiscal year with a surplus.

• Restore the Museum’s annual budget to pre-pandemic levels and rehire critical staff.

“We’ve been so impressed by Corey’s ability to lead the institution during the pandemic,” said Museum Board Director Adriana Hayward. “She works beautifully with all of our stakeholders, including artists and organizers, board and donors, staff, and volunteers. We’re thrilled to have hired a leader with her experience and vision to help the Museum move into the future.




Working with the Museum’s board and staff, Madden has identified six priorities for the year ahead, the first and most important of which she summarizes with the word “belonging.”

“Museums are a shared community resource and we want to ensure that diverse artists and members of the community feel that they belong at MMA, that they can see themselves in our exhibitions and programming,” said Madden. “Monterey County has extraordinary cultural history and even more creative potential, and I’m excited and honored to help realize it.”

The priorities are:

• Deepen MMA’s capacity to foster community belonging.

• Optimize digital tools, platforms, and programming to increase access and participation.

• Activate equity, diversity and inclusion through training, policy and practice.

• Improve organizational efficacy and support staff development.

• Ensure financial sustainability by aligning revenue and programming goals.

• Prepare for the future through a comprehensive planning process.

To support planning, the Museum has selected Lord Cultural Resources, one of the world’s leading consultancies for cultural institutions, to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study, including site evaluations, capital expense projections, and operational and financial plans. During that study, the Museum will engage its diverse stakeholders; consider economic, environmental, and community concerns; and share regular updates with the artist community and public.

Corey Madden has been an innovative arts leader working across the performing and visual arts as well as in higher education for more than 30 years. Madden has been Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNC School of the Arts, Founding Artistic Director of L’Atelier Arts, and Associate Artistic Director of the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group Los Angeles. In addition, Madden has taught at UCLA, UCSD, Cal Arts, Occidental College, University of Washington and at UNC School of the Arts.

As Executive Director of the Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNC School of the Arts from 2013-2020, Madden led the organization through two strategic plans, Building Creative Community (2013-2017) and Creative Catalyst Initiative (2018-2022), raising and directing more than $15 million dollars towards artist-led projects, cultural partnerships and regional initiatives that integrated arts, arts enterprise and social innovation practices to positively impact faculty, students, local artists and community members across the Southeast.

As Associate Artistic Director of the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group for 14 years Madden led artistic planning and supervision working closely with artistic teams on the world premieres of more than 300 plays including Angels in America, Jelly’s Last Jam, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, all of which transferred to Broadway. Madden was active in the architectural and capital planning resulting in the renovation of the Mark Taper Forum and the construction of the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

For more than 20 years Madden has been a consultant to arts organizations including Monterey Museum of Art, Autry Museum of the American West, NC Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Santa Monica Arts Commission, Fulcrum Arts and the Getty Museum, where she consulted on the renovation of the Getty Villa.