WATER MILL, NY.- Parrish Art Museum Executive Director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Ph.D., announced the appointment of Corinne Erni as the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator of Art and Education, effective April 15, 2023. Since joining the Museum in 2016, Erni has been organizing major, critically acclaimed group and solo exhibitions, off-site exhibitions, and special commissions with contemporary artists—as well as overseeing the Museum’s robust public program schedule. Erni is the first new Chief Curator at the Museum in nearly four decades, taking up the mantle held by Alicia G. Longwell, who retired in October, 2022 after 38 years.

“I am thrilled to step into this new role at the Parrish to advance the Museum's artistic vision, continuing and renewing the dialogue between the East End's rich artistic life and the global art scene,” said Erni. “Over the past six years, I have developed a deep love and appreciation for this unique and complex place, and all that the Parrish stands for—the rich variety of artists who are making their mark beyond the East End, the breathtaking architecture and landscape, and the many wonderful communities we serve and partner with. I am grateful to my mentors at the Parrish, from Terrie Sultan, who hired me, to my predecessor Alicia G. Longwell. Now, as the Museum enters its 125th year, I look forward to taking the Parrish to new heights with our recently appointed leader Mónica Ramírez-Montagut.”

“I am delighted to see Corinne continue and heighten her curatorial acumen in this institution and community, both of which she has served with utmost integrity and commitment for six years,” said Ramírez-Montagut. “I am particularly fond of her dedication to socially engaged exhibitions that further civic dialogue, contributing to the better understanding of our communities while simultaneously furthering the field of art. I look forward to her vision and passion as we work to take the Parrish to the next level.”

Erni came to the Parrish as Curator of Special Projects in 2016, was appointed Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects in 2018 and promoted to Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects in 2022. She will remain Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs. She is currently organizing Artists Choose Parrish, a yearlong landmark exhibition series celebrating the Museum’s 125th Anniversary, featuring 41 internationally renowned artists with deep roots on the East End of Long Island who are presenting their work alongside their selections from the Museum’s collection. Last year, Erni organized group exhibitions of contemporary artists in Set It Off by Deux Femmes Noires; Another Justice: Us Is Them | Hank Willis Thomas and For Freedoms with the related exhibition Shinnecock Monuments; and the Parrish presentation of Mel Kendrick: Seeing Things in Things. Erni continued the Museum’s initiative to utilize the south-facing façade as a significant location for art installations with the neon works MARTIN CREED: Work No. 2210: EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, 2021; Remember Me by Hank Willis Thomas, 2022; and the upcoming installation of JR’s Les Enfants d’Ouranos.

Earlier exhibitions to Erni’s credit include the solo exhibition and catalogue for Tomashi Jackson: The Land Claim (2021); Barthélémy Toguo: The Beauty of Our Voice (2018); Artists Choose Artists (2016, 2019)—the Parrish juried exhibition series with a focus on mentorship among renowned and emerging East End artists; and OptoSonic Tea (2019), an immersive sound and projections performance. She initiated new film, music, and conversation series in collaboration with regional partners, and has led the overall strategy for the Dorothy Lichtenstein ArtsReach Fund established by Agnes Gund—the Museum’s initiative on art and social change. Erni was essential in securing an ongoing partnership with The Watermill Center for its Inga Maren Otto Fellowship, a month-long residency hosting artists who show at the Parrish, including Barthélémy Toguo (2018), Lucien Smith (2019), Tomashi Jackson (2021), and Hank Willis Thomas and For Freedoms (2022).

Prior to the Parrish, Erni led the Ideas City initiative at the New Museum—a collaborative, civic, and creative platform exploring the future of cities with arts and culture as driving forces—and co-founded ARTPORT_making waves, an international curatorial platform on art and climate change, where she organized the exhibition (Re-) Cycles of Paradise for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009.