NEW YORK, NY.- The New Museum today announces the appointment of Alethea Rockwell as the next Keith Haring Director of Education and Public Engagement. She will join the Museum on February 27, 2023.

Rockwell will work collaboratively across departments to expand the education initiatives and dynamic public programs for which the New Museum is known. She will lead the Education and Public Engagement Department to develop and implement programs for families, youth, students, and teachers; collaborate with local nonprofits to host Community Day programs; co-organize an annual artist residency; and convene public programs between artists, curators, writers, and other boundary-pushing creatives. Rockwell will also hold a key leadership role in planning for the New Museum’s OMA-designed expansion.

“We are excited to welcome Alethea to the New Museum at a critical time of renewed need for people to come together to learn, teach, play, and exchange ideas,” said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum. “Education has always been at the center of the New Museum ethos, and we look forward to building on the strong foundation laid by the Museum’s previous education leaders—Susan Cahan, Greg Sholette, Anne Barlow, Eungie Joo, Johanna Burton, and Andrew Westover among them—as we look towards the future of an expanded New Museum.”

“I am thrilled to be joining the New Museum, an institution I have long admired for its experimental work in contemporary art education,” said Alethea Rockwell. “As the Museum expands, now is an exciting time to build on this legacy and deepen its engagement with audiences.”

Rockwell comes to the New Museum after spending seven years with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where she was Associate Educator, Public Engagement and Artist Programs. During her tenure, she organized a range of public programs and managed the Creativity Lab program, a learning space activated by artists, partner organizations, and audiences. She co-organized a participatory artwork by Amanda Williams for MoMA’s Atrium and developed public engagement projects by artists including Chemi Rosado-Seijo, Salome Asega, and Michael Rakowitz. Prior to MoMA, Rockwell was a curatorial assistant at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She holds a master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art and has lectured and published on the intersections of education and contemporary art.