ROCHESTER, MN.- Rochester Art Center continues to move in an inspiring new direction with a quest of unprecedented public engagement, with a broader reach into the communities it serves. Today, Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Rochester Art Center announced the appointment of Susannah Magers in a new position created specifically to enhance and expand the Art Center’s curatorial programming and how the center's exhibitions and work with artists engage the community.

Rochester Art Center created this new role to enhance curatorial and public engagement initiatives that are not separate, but united to best serve the center's mission and current museum practices. She states: “I am delighted to welcome Susannah, who brings with her an intelligent curiosity, an inspiring commitment to artists and bringing their work and vision into the public in exciting ways. I look forward to her innovative exhibition making and programming.”

Magers relocated from Oakland, CA, and joined us on June 2, 2015. She has a background in independent curatorial practice, writing, exhibition interpretation and management, and public engagement with the arts. Her most recent experience includes working as the Interpretation Manager for the site-specific exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, the unprecedented contemporary public art collaboration between the FOR-SITE Foundation, The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the National Parks Service. Magers also co-directed the North Oakland, CA alternative arts and project space, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, which supports emerging and mid-career artists in the Bay Area with an emphasis on experiential and experimental programming. In 2012, she managed visitor engagement for the FOR-SITE Foundation’s International Orange, a site-specific group exhibition featuring artists such as Allison Smith, Stephanie Syjuco, Mark Dion, Doug Hall, and Courtney Lain at Fort Point National Park, in San Francisco, CA.

Magers states: “I am thrilled to contribute my passion for contemporary art, supporting artists and facilitating community engagement to the dynamic programming at the Rochester Art Center. I’m excited to hit the ground running, and I look forward to collaborating with and exploring all that the Rochester community has to offer.”

Magers earned a BA in History and a BA in Photography from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the California College of the Arts, in San Francisco, CA.