Movers & Shakers

As a citizen of the Kiowa Tribe and descendant of the Seminole and Mvskoke Nations, Tahnee Ahtone brings a deep well of Indigenous knowledge as curator of Native American art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Past appointments include tribal-nations liaison and curator of the American Indian and textile collections at Oklahoma History Research Center.

With the goal of expanding exhibition programming and collection growth through targeted acquisitions, Angelica Arbelaez was brought on as the new assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Arbelaez previously served as the Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is gearing up for an expansion in 2030 with the Oscar L. and H. M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing, a new home for twentieth- and twenty-first-century art. In September 2025, curator Maria Castro began as the Jacques & Natasha Gelman Associate Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. “I look forward to reimagining the presentation of modern and contemporary art in this context and within the broader context of the Met’s incredible collection,” Castro said in a statement.

With a background ranging from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits, Heather Li has more than twenty years of experience that she brings to American Ballet Theatre as the organization’s CFO. She served in a similar capacity at the Brooklyn Museum, and the transition marks a full-circle moment: Li started with ABT as an intern in 2017. “Returning to the organization feels both inspiring and deeply meaningful,” she says.

After more than two decades of public service in the Mile High City, Andrea Albo was recently appointed executive director of Denver’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. The University of Colorado graduate was named one of the 2025 Outstanding Women in Business by the Denver Business Journal and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Trailblazer of the Year by Airport Experience News.

Argentina-born curator Carlos Basualdo took the reins as director of the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas, last spring. His decades-long career has included appointments as deputy director and chief curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as a fellowship at the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York. “I look forward to working with the team in Dallas to build on its remarkable legacy and shape a bold, dynamic future for the museum,” Basualdo said in a press release.

Following stints as curator at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and curatorial fellow at the textile art and fashion department at the Denver Art Museum, Jane Burke brings more than two decades of experience in nonprofit arts administration as the first chief curator and art director at the RedLine Contemporary Arts Center in Denver, Colorado. She hopes the new position will help “expand and elevate our impact through experimentation, innovation, and collaboration.”

After serving for nearly nine years at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Jeremiah Matthew Davis joined the San José Museum of Art in San José, California, as its new Oshman director and CEO. “His energy, leadership experience, and knowledge of contemporary art are impressive,” says San Jose Museum of Art board co-president Wanda Kownacki. “We look forward to partnering with him to advance our mission of driving connections through socially relevant contemporary art.”

Following her instrumental work in major philanthropic campaigns at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Shannon Gilbert was named president and CEO of the Oklahoma Arts Institute in June 2025. The appointment was announced in the run-up to the organization’s forty-ninth annual Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain, a two-week interdisciplinary arts academy for high school students.

Previously a performer on the Alvin Ailey stage, celebrated dancer and educator Alicia Graf Mack stepped into her new role as artistic director of the famed New York City–based dance company in July 2025. After launching her career with Dance Theatre of Harlem at age seventeen, Mack carved a name for herself with Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

Dana McCrory was named the John Kirkpatrick executive director of Oklahoma City Ballet in July 2025, but her roots stretch beyond the dance world. Previous posts include executive director of university initiatives for the University of Oklahoma Foundation and president and CEO of the Oklahoma Humane Society.

Celebrated author and critic Dan Nadel joined the team of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art in August 2025, taking up the mantle of the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints. The announcement came in the lead-up to the opening of Sixties Surreal, a group exhibition that explored the influence of the surrealism movement on American art from 1958 to 1972.

With an MFA in theater management and producing from Columbia University and years of experience as a producer, general manager, and fundraiser, Emily Comisar brings an impressive skill set as artistic director at the OKC Rep Theater. “Oklahoma City has a vibrant and growing arts community,” Comisar says. “I look forward to deepening the many partnerships and relationships that have been core to OKC Rep’s success since its reboot in 2022.”

Trent Riley was named executive director of the Oklahoma City–based nonprofit arts center in 2024. With more than a decade of experience in leadership and development positions at museums and nonprofit cultural organizations, Riley helped generate more than $30 million in revenue in less than a decade at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Following “an extensive national search,” the board of trustees at the Philbrook Museum of Art promoted Megan Whittaker Nesbit to be its next president and CEO. Since joining the team at the iconic Tulsa, Oklahoma, museum and historical site in 2017, Nesbit paved the way for the construction of a new programming building through a $50 million integrated capital campaign overseen in her previous position as deputy director of external affairs.

Susan Peacock draws from more than two decades of experience in fundraising and government relations in her new role as chief impact officer at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas. Her appointment was announced last summer ahead of the museum’s planned expansion by Safdie Architects, which will add 114,000 square feet of galleries, studios, dining options, event spaces, and more.

Pivoting from her title as head of communications for SCOPE Art Show, Hayley River Smith serves as the first appointed director of the international contemporary art fair founded in 2002 by gallerist Alexis Hubshman. In an interview with Sotheby’s Institute, where Smith earned an MA in art business, she said her journey “has been about pushing the boundaries of traditional art platforms, enhancing accessibility for collectors, and supporting emerging artists and galleries.”

AnnaVittoria Pickett brings a wealth of experience in exhibition management and nonprofit leadership to her new position as director of exhibitions at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City. Pickett’s work includes mentoring emerging artists, with a focus on programs for at-risk youth. The German-born artist previously served as director of education and development at Oklahoma City’s ARTSPACE at Untitled.

After cutting her teeth in the concert halls of Finland and Paris, Chloé Dufresne made waves Stateside in 2025 when she became the first woman director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in the orchestra’s nearly century-long history. The French-born musician, who studied voice at the Paris Opera, said in a press release that reaching new audiences is “the most important and fulfilling part of my work.”

The Frick Collection appointed Dr. Aimee Ng as its next Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator in October 2025. Ng has been an instrumental member of the curatorial department since 2015. “Aimee is a remarkable colleague and scholar,” said Axel Rüger, the Frick’s Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen director, in a press release. “Her curatorial work is informed by her depth of knowledge, rigor, and exceptional ability to engage a wide range of audiences.”

Former resident producing director at New York City’s Center for Jewish History, and a literary associate at Abingdon Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theatre, Max Shulman now serves as artistic director of Theatreworks in Colorado Springs. With the organization marking its fiftieth year in 2025, Shulman says the landmark season at the Ent Center for the Arts will “continue its legacy of artistic excellence and producing plays that challenge and inspire.”

Opera Colorado, in Englewood, Colorado, welcomed Barbara Lynne Jamison as its new director and CEO in August 2025. Jamison took the post after seven years with Kentucky Opera, where she previously served as director and CEO. Jamison also served on the executive leadership teams at Seattle Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and is an accomplished soprano, conductor, and educator. She aims to nurture the next generation of leaders as a mentor, and is an active speaker and panelist at local and national conventions and forums.

Following leadership appointments at the acclaimed Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Axel Rüger was appointed by the board of trustees of the Frick Collection as the museum’s next Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director in spring 2025. His prior curatorial positions have included one at London’s National Gallery, where he was responsible for the collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch paintings.

Los Angeles–based curator Michael Slenske served as the director of the first edition of Untitled Art in Houston in September 2025. The inaugural event was conceived as a boutique, invitation-only art fair designed to spotlight Houston’s vibrant art scene and culture. “Untitled Art is here to grow with Houston,” Slenske says. “Not just as a fair but as a long-term partner in a city full of momentum and vision.”

Globally recognized arts leader Christine Vendredi was named as the JoAnn McGrath Executive Director of the Palm Springs Art Museum after serving as interim director of the museum for about six months. The board of trustees cited the curatorial expertise and global experience of Vendredi, who joined the institution as chief curator in April 2024, bringing more than twenty years of experience in curatorial leadership, cultural strategy, and museum operations. “I am honored to be leading such a unique institution that champions architecture, design, and the visual arts as essential parts of everyday life in the Coachella Valley and beyond,” Vendredi said in a press release.