Liz Munsell Named Vice President Of Curatorial At Powerhouse Arts

Powerhouse Arts, the nonprofit creative production center in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood, has appointed curator Liz Munsell as vice president of curatorial and arts programs, positioning her to shape the organization's expanding exhibitions and public-facing agenda.

Munsell succeeds Diya Vij, who was recently named New York City's commissioner of cultural affairs. In her new role, Munsell will focus on broadening Powerhouse's annual exhibition program and public programming, while overseeing its artist residency and subsidy initiatives. She will also supervise the art fairs hosted at Powerhouse, including Conductor, which is set to open its next edition in April.

“Having dedicated my career to traditional museums with extraordinary collections and weighty histories, I was drawn to the opportunity to rethink how institutions support artists,” Munsell said in a statement. She described Powerhouse Arts as offering“deep material, technical, and community resources” that align with her“artist and audience-centered curatorial practice.”

Powerhouse Arts also announced the hiring of Constanza Valenzuela as associate curator, who will work with Munsell on the organization's forthcoming exhibitions. Valenzuela most recently served as assistant curator at High Line Art.

“Building a new exhibitions program at Powerhouse Arts offers an opportunity to reveal the incredible network of production, experimentation, and collaboration unfolding here every day,” Munsell added.

Munsell comes to Powerhouse from the Jewish Museum in New York, where she most recently served as curator of contemporary art. Before that, she spent more than 12 years at the Museum of Fine, Boston, holding a range of curatorial posts and ultimately rising to curator of contemporary art.

Across her career, Munsell has organized exhibitions for artists including Joan Semmel, Joan Jonas, Cecilia Vicuña, Jeffrey Gibson, Pablo Helguera, Bouchra Khalili, and Pedro Reyes. She also co-organized MFA Boston's 2020–21 exhibition“Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation” with Greg Tate.

In 2021, Munsell cofounded Museums Moving Forward, an organization dedicated to producing research on the museum sector with the aim of making it more equitable; it is expected to sunset in 2030.

“I'm excited to help build an institution that embodies the values of diversity, accessibility, and inclusion that many of us have been working toward,” Munsell said.

Powerhouse Arts president Eric Shiner, in a statement, pointed to Munsell's blend of“curatorial rigor, institutional insight, and a deep commitment to artists,” adding that her leadership will help the organization“model what an arts institution can be in the twenty-first century, with a focus on artistic production, collaboration, and community.”

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