PHOENIX, AZ.- Phoenix Art Museum has selected Giovana Aviles to serve as the Museum’s inaugural Men’s Arts Council Curator of Engagement. The position is endowed by the Men’s Arts Council, a non-profit member organization of Valley philanthropists dedicated to supporting the Museum’s community-outreach programs through annual giving. Aviles officially begins in the role today, March 6, 2023.
“We are thrilled to welcome Giovana Aviles to the education and engagement team at Phoenix Art Museum,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Giovana has the passion, creativity, and innovative mindset to not only build engagement through our current programming roster but expand our efforts to connect with our community in authentic and meaningful ways. We are deeply grateful to the Men’s Arts Council for their support of this new position, which will help ensure the Museum’s service to our community remains at the forefront of our efforts now and into the future.”
As the Museum’s MAC Curator of Engagement, Aviles will lead dynamic and non- traditional projects and programs designed to engage wider Valley audiences, including PhxArt AfterHours, artist celebrations, film programming, small-group culinary and cocktail experiences, and Amplified, the Museum’s live-music and visual-art weekend festival. She will also develop new community-wide programs designed to deepen engagement with the Museum and historically marginalized populations, as part of the institution’s larger diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion initiatives. Her portfolio of responsibilities additionally includes working in collaboration with the assistant curator of contemporary and community art initiatives to curate the Museum’s community-art exhibition space; oversight of special engagement initiatives, including public mural projects; and participation in local and national panels and conferences as a PhxArt representative.
Aviles comes to PhxArt from CALA Alliance, where she served as the community engagement and education manager since 2017. Prior to her time at CALA, she served as the First Friday program coordinator at PhxArt and the project manager of the Palo Bloom Festival. She has also worked with Valley institutions such as the ASU Art Museum, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. She will bring this extensive experience working in the arts and culture sector, with a particular emphasis on fostering inclusivity and accessibility, to the role of MAC Curator of Engagement, the first of its kind at PhxArt.
“Our goal in supporting this vital position within the Museum is to help the community engage with PhxArt on a multitude on new levels,” said Joel Coen, president of the Men’s Arts Council. “Giovana clearly has the talent and capabilities to help this vision become a reality. Our group continues to be excited about the future of the Museum.”
“I am delighted to have been chosen as the inaugural Men's Arts Council (MAC) Curator of Engagement at Phoenix Art Museum,” said Aviles. “I am thrilled to lead exciting initiatives such as PhxArt AfterHours and Amplified, while actively promoting and supporting local artists, engaging audiences, and advocating for inclusivity and accessibility in the arts.”
Aviles is the newest addition to the Museum’s education and engagement team, which is led by Paul Rogers, PhD, the Gerry Grout Director of Education and Engagement, and includes Tiffany Lippincott, curator of education; Jesse Lopez, librarian; Peyton Trvdy, project archivist; Dawn Berg, program specialist; Jessica Jacobson, education outreach manager; and Carolyn Van Horn, school programs assistant.
