Leadership

Anne Pasternak

Since 2015, Anne Pasternak has served as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum. For more than 30 years, Anne has devoted her career to engaging broad audiences with art’s limitless power to move, motivate, and inspire. As a staunch advocate for the civic and democratic roles our cultural and educational institutions can play, she is committed to projects that demonstrate the crucial links between art and social justice.

During her time at the Brooklyn Museum, Anne has focused on strengthening the institution as a center for the visual arts that is courageous, pioneering, and inspirational. With her demonstrated imagination and skill, she envisions new ways to connect the historical collection with contemporary ideas and practices. Anne has also expanded the Museum’s educational and public program offerings, and she has fostered remarkable special exhibitions, including The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America and We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. These initiatives are building the foundations for the new strategic plan: to further the Museum’s mission to create inspiring encounters with art and engage the community around the issues of today.

Previously, Anne served as the director of Creative Time. There she initiated projects that gave artists opportunities to respond to political and environmental challenges while expanding their practice globally. During her tenure, the organization collaborated with hundreds of artists, including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, and Kara Walker, commissioning and presenting works ranging from sculptural installations in Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall to skywriting over Manhattan. Another project, Tribute in Light, twin beacons that illuminate the sky above the former World Trade Center site, continues to be presented on the anniversary of 9/11.