AAMC & AAMC Foundation Welcomes 2026 Board of Trustees and Leadership Appointments

NEW YORK, NY — The Governance and Nominating Committee of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and AAMC Foundation announced new appointments to its Board of Trustees. Marianne Lamonaca, who served as AAMC Foundation Board President from 2019 through the end of 2022, will assume a one-year appointment as Acting President, and Arabella Bowen, Megan Fontanella, Paul C. Ha, C. Griffith Mann, and Siddhartha V. Shah will join as Trustees-at-Large in January 2026 for a three-year term.  

At a time of field-wide transformation, the one-year appointment of Lamonaca ensures continuity and a smooth transition as AAMC’s new Executive Director Christina Yang begins her tenure. Current Board President Michelle Jacques will continue her impactful service in a new capacity as the new Co-Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee. 

“Our Board’s collective expertise, ranging from curatorial practice, institutional innovation, and executive leadership, strengthens the Foundation’s ability to champion and connect curators across the field,” said Michelle Jacques, President, Board of Trustees. “As I take on my new role, I am honored to welcome Marianne Lamonaca as Acting President of the Board of Trustees and look forward to collaborating with her to further advance our shared vision for a vibrant and connected curatorial community.” 

Alongside the new trustee appointment, current trustees have been elected to the following leadership roles as part of the Board’s Executive Committee:

• Isabella Hutchinson (Director and Founder, Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary) as Vice President of Fundraising

• Michelle Jacques (Director of Exhibitions & Collections / Chief Curator, Remai Modern) as Co-Chair of Governance and Nominating

• Betty Krulik (President, Betty Krulik Fine Art, Ltd) as Co-Chair of Fundraising

• Marianne Lamonaca (Director of The Humanities Edge at Florida International University) as Acting President of the Board of Trustees

• Emily Lenz (Director and Partner, D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc) as Vice President of Finance & Audit

• Tanya Odom (Global Consultant/Advisor and Leadership Coach) as Vice President of Advocacy

“I am delighted to welcome our newly elected members to the Board of Trustees and our new Executive Committee members, whose collective expertise and perspectives will help shape the future of the AAMC Foundation,” said Christina Yang, Executive Director. “I am also proud to highlight the dedication and vision of our current Executive Committee members, whose ongoing leadership has been instrumental in advancing the Foundation’s mission. Together, this extraordinary group of curatorial leaders embodies a shared commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence, and I am deeply grateful for their tireless advocacy and unwavering support.”

These appointments reflect AAMC Foundation’s continued commitment to advancing curatorial leadership, fostering collaboration, championing mentorship, and promoting excellence across the curatorial field.

More information about the newly appointed Trustees follows below:

Arabella Bowen, Digital Strategy Consultant, AB & Co. 

Arabella Bowen is an award-winning strategist, entrepreneur, and writer whose career bridges art, travel, media, and technology. She’s known for shaping digital platforms and editorial initiatives that inspire audiences to experience art, culture, and place in new ways.

Her leadership spans the art world, publishing, and digital innovation. At Christie’s, she helped define coverage of NFTs at a pivotal moment in the art market while also spotlighting artists working sustainably. At AFAR, she launched cross-platform storytelling that elevated the role of art and design in travel. At Fodor’s, she deepened museum and arts coverage for millions of readers and was among the first to forecast Los Angeles’s rise as a global arts hub. More recently, she's contributed behind the scenes at The Winter Show, New York’s leading non-profit art fair.

Megan Fontanella, Curator, Modern Art and Provenance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Megan Fontanella is a strategic leader, art historian, and curator whose research encompasses late 19th- and early 20th-century European and U.S. avant-gardes, with a particular focus on dealer networks and collecting patterns. Since joining the curatorial staff at the Guggenheim in 2005, she has organized or co-organized over thirty exhibitions for the Guggenheim’s extended constellation of museums in Bilbao, New York, Venice, and formerly Berlin, as well as led traveling exhibition projects in Australia, Canada, and Europe. Major exhibitions in New York include 'Gabriele Münter: Contours of a World'; 'Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle'; 'Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim'; and 'Giacometti.' Among her focus presentations are 'Young Picasso in Paris' and 'Away from the Easel: Jackson Pollock’s Mural.' She organized the first European tour and edited a comprehensive publication on the Thannhauser Collection. Fontanella graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in art history modified with history, and received her MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She formerly served on the Board of Advisors for the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, and co-Chaired the Mentorship Program (now Propel Program) for the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Paul C. Ha, Director, MIT List Visual Arts Center

Paul C. Ha is the Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) List Visual Arts Center. The List Visual Arts Center is the contemporary art museum at MIT. Artists exhibited during Ha’s tenure include Edgar Arceneaux, Rosa Barba, Thea Djordjadze, Joan Jonas, Kapwani Kiwanga, Tala Madani, Kambui Olujimi, Hans Op de Beeck, Amalia Pica, Katrin Sigurdardottir, Adam Pendleton, Anicka Yi, and Heimo Zobernig. Ha was the commissioner and co-curator of the United States Pavilion at the La Biennale di Venezia 56th International Art Exhibition in 2015, presenting artist Joan Jonas. 

Previous to the List, Ha was the inaugural director of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM), 2001-2011. Prior to joining the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Ha was the Deputy Director of Programs and External Affairs at the Yale University Art Gallery and Executive Director of White Columns in New York. At CAM, Ha raised more than $40 million for the institution and established a $5 million endowment. In 2007 Ha completed a $20 million capital campaign leaving the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis debt free. While Executive Director of White Columns, Ha curated more than 50 solo and group exhibitions and exhibited artists such as Sarah Sze, Christoph Büchel, Rachel Feinstein, Michael Rakowitz, and Aïda Ruilova early in their careers, often presenting their first solo exhibition.

C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge, Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dr. C. Griffith Mann was appointed The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and the Met Cloisters in September 2013. In this role, he is responsible for the medieval collections and curatorial staff in the Met’s main building, and for directing the staff and operations of The Met Cloisters. Dr. Mann received his B.A. in art history and history from Williams College, and his Ph.D. in medieval art from The Johns Hopkins University. A specialist in the arts of late medieval Italy, he has published on civic patronage, painting, and devotion in Tuscany. As a curator, Dr. Mann has worked on exhibitions on the medieval cult of relics, the art and archaeology of medieval Novgorod, and French manuscript illumination of the 13th century. Permanent collection installations, like "Crossroads: Power and Piety" at The Met, have also been a focus of his work. Dr. Mann formerly served as the Chief Curator and Deputy Director at The Cleveland Museum of Art, where he helped to lead the museum’s reinstallation, acquisition, and exhibition programs, and as medieval curator and Director of the Curatorial Division at The Walters Art Museum, where he worked on exhibitions and the permanent collection. 

Siddhartha V. Shah, John Wieland 1958 Director, Mead Art Museum at Amherst College

Siddhartha V. Shah is the John Wieland 1958 Director of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College where he oversees the museum’s creative vision and operations, as well as initiatives aimed at deepening connections within and between the campus and local community. Fostering intersectional learning and cross-cultural understanding through the arts has long been a guiding principle of Shah’s life and career. That approach has shaped his curatorial and academic work, as well as his commitment to thoughtful and intentional community engagement. 

Before joining Amherst College, Shah served as Curator of South Asian Art, and Director of Education and Civic Engagement, at the Peabody Essex Museum. He received a BA in art history from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Hindu philosophy and Jungian psychoanalysis from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a Ph.D. in art history and archaeology from Columbia University. His academic and curatorial projects have been featured in publications ranging from The Times of India and India Today, to The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Psychology Today.

About AAMC & AAMC Foundation

The AAMC & AAMC Foundation supports, values, and advances the work of nonprofit art curators at all stages of their careers through leadership and connectivity. The organization seeks to recognize the full breadth of a person’s lived experience, self-identification, and socio-economic background. We are a compelling leader and resource for those who care about the role of curators as agents of change, social impact, and multicultural understanding.

CONTACT

Christina Yang, Executive Director

director@artcurators.org

Alexis Gostelow, Interim Senior Development Manager 

development@artcurators.org

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