NEW YORK, NY.- Public Art Fund announced that Allison Glenn will join the organization as Senior Curator on May 16, 2022. A curator and writer with a strong background in public art, Glenn works closely with artists, colleagues, and communities to develop thoughtful, curatorially rigorous exhibitions that respond to and transform our understanding of the world. Over the past two years, the value of public art as essential to the life and vitality of our cities has been underscored by the epochal changes to the ways people live and work. Bringing a broad range of experience to the position, Glenn will join the senior staff team and play a vital role in shaping Public Art Fund’s future artistic program through new exhibitions that engage with public spaces across New York City’s five boroughs and beyond.
“Among her generation, Allison Glenn has emerged as a leading curatorial voice,” said Artistic & Executive Director Nicholas Baume. “Allison brings the creative and critical thinking of a visionary curator together with a powerful perspective on our artistic moment that is also grounded in scholarship. She’s a champion of artists–and of public art–with deep relationships and a wealth of experience. Her contribution to Public Art Fund and to the field of public art promises to be extraordinary.”
Glenn is one of the curators of Counterpublic 2023, a St. Louis-based triennial, and garnered critical acclaim for Promise, Witness, Remembrance (2021) at the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, an exhibition that brought together 23 artists including Nick Cave, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Amy Sherald, and Lorna Simpson to honor the memory of Breonna Taylor. Previous curatorial roles include Senior Curator and Director of Public Art at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Associate Curator, Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where she was a leader in developing their outdoor sculpture program, organizing the 2019 outdoor sculpture presentation Color Field and co-curating State of the Art 2020, and worked with artists including Sam Falls, Rashid Johnson, Odili Donald Odita, and Hank Willis Thomas, among others; Curatorial Associate and Publications Manager for Prospect New Orleans international art triennial Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp; and a curatorial fellowship with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
"Public Art Fund has been at the forefront of commissioning artists to create dynamic public art for New York City for over four decades,” said Allison Glenn. “The history and legacy is immense and impactful. With recent projects, like Global Positioning, Public Art Fund is charting a new path toward deeper engagements with artists, colleagues, and audiences. It's an absolute honor to join such an incredible team at this remarkably pivotal moment."
Allison Glenn’s curatorial work focuses on the intersection of art and publics, through public art, biennials, special projects, and major new commissions by leading contemporary artists. Recognition includes the 2022 ARTNews Deciders list and the 2021 Observer Arts Power 50 List.
Her writing has been featured in catalogs published by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Prospect New Orleans, Princeton Architectural Press, California African American Museum, Kemper Art Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, and she has contributed to Artforum, ART PAPERS, Hyperallergic, Fresh Art International, ART21 Magazine, Gulf Coast Quarterly, and Pelican Bomb, amongst others.
Glenn is a member of Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Public Art Consortium Collaboration Committee, and sits on the Board of Directors for ARCAthens, a curatorial and artist residency program based in Athens, Greece and the Bronx, New York. She received dual master’s degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy, and a Bachelor of Fine Art Photography with a co-major in Urban Studies from Wayne State University in Detroit.
