BRONX, NEW YORK.- The Bronx Museum of the Arts announced the appointment of Holly Block as its new Executive Director. Ms. Block, who served as a curator at the museum from 1985 to 1988, will begin her post full-time on September 5, 2006. The Museum’s Board of Trustees welcomes Ms Block back to the Bronx.

Board Chairman, Robert J. Perez said: “It is with great pleasure that I and the Board of Trustees announce the appointment of Ms. Holly Block as the new Executive Director of the Bronx Museum of the Arts. While Holly is no stranger to the museum, having worked as a curator here from 1985 to 1988, she now returns as an accomplished administrator prepared to lead the museum in its continued growth and success. She will start on September 5th and one of her first priorities will be the coordination and oversight of the opening of the museum's newly constructed building which is a recipient of the NYC Arts Commission Excellence in Design Award.”

Ms. Block brings to The Bronx Museum over twenty-five years of professional experience with an international reputation as a director, curator and arts administrator. Before joining the Museum staff, Ms. Block served for the past 18 years as the executive director of Art in General, a leading nonprofit arts organization in lower Manhattan dedicated to commissioning and presenting contemporary art. She also served as a co-commissioner for the Department of State for the 2003 Cairo Biennial with the selection of the artist Paul Pfeiffer; she is the author of Art Cuba: The New Generation, a comprehensive survey on contemporary art from Cuba; most recently she organized todo clandestino, todo popular, the first solo exhibition of Alberto Casado, an artist who lives and works in Cuba.

During her eighteen years at Art in General, Ms. Block exhibited and presented the work of over 4,000 artists including Polly Apfelbaum; Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla; Emma Amos; Sam Easterson; Rob Fischer; Carlos Garaicoa; Maria Elena Gonzalez; Los Carpinteros; Yong Soon Min; Muntadas; Paul Pfeiffer; and Cecilia Vicuna are among only a few that she has worked with over the years. Known for having initiated new evolving contemporary arts programming, such as Art in General’s international Artists Residency Program and most recently its New Commission Program, she has been a dynamic force in the contemporary art world, having traveled widely and worked closely with artists, she is a firm believer in the arts and its impact on today’s society.

In her new role as executive director, Ms. Block takes on the task of becoming a public representative for the Museum throughout the community, and Borough President Adolfo Carrión personally welcomed Ms. Block: “On behalf of the 1.4 million residents of the Bronx, I would like to welcome Holly Block, as she starts her position as executive director of the Bronx Museum, one of our most important cultural institutions. Holly joins a growing and impressive group of art experts, art lovers and artists in our borough. I look forward to working with her to nurture and grow the Museum into one of our nation’s premier exhibition venues. It is truly a great time to be in the Bronx and I am sure that Holly’s impressive experience will contribute to the ongoing renaissance of our great borough. “

“I am thrilled to return to the Bronx at this particular juncture,” Ms. Block states: “The Bronx Museum of the Arts is an important institution with a distinguished programmatic history, and uniquely positioned to play a major role in the ongoing resurgence of the South Bronx. The opening of its North Building with a new art gallery, program and events space, and state-of-the-art education facilities designed by Arquitectonica will brand the Museum as a destination to the arts and architecture community.”

In addition, the opening of Tropicália: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture, an exhibition organized by Carlos Basualdo and produced in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, is sure to promote a serious debate around this little known but important moment in Brazilian art and culture.

The borough’s landscape has certainly changed since I worked here, and the museum’s future role as an innovator in re-envisioning contemporary society is to be further recognized both here in the borough, as well as nationally and internationally.