BAAC announces Executive Director
The Bloomington Area Arts Council is pleased to announce the addition of Pamela Keech as Executive Director. Pamela has most recently been serving as the curator of Manhattan's Lower East Side Tenement Museum, a position that she has held since 1993. In addition to her administrative efforts to support the arts, she is an active artist with awards in the fields of sculpture and costume design.
We are very pleased to have Pamela joining the team. Pamela will officially begin her duties on September 4th.
New Yorker Named New BAAC Executive Director
By Andy Graham
August 14, 2007
Herald Times
used with permission
Pamela Keech, curator of Manhattan’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum since 1993, and an award-winning artist, was announced Monday as the Bloomington Area Arts Council’s new executive director, effective Sept. 1.
“We got lucky. We got an absolute superstar,” said Ed Vande Sande, who has been serving as BAAC interim director since early July, when Miah Michaelsen departed to become Bloomington’s assistant director of economic development for the arts. “Pamela Keech is just the perfect person to be here as we’re trying to brand Bloomington as a cultural and tourist destination, as we’re getting the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District off the ground.
“She has family, two sisters, living here, and after many years in New York City is relocating to Bloomington. She brings a wealth of experience and connections and is absolutely passionate about the arts. It’s not just the BAAC but the whole community that is fortunate she’s coming here.”
Keech has received several prestigious awards as a sculptor and costume designer, including the Rome Prize in Sculpture and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also president emerita of the Society of Fellows at the American Academy in Rome. As curator for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, she helped create a living museum replicating scenes that greeted people coming into the area from Ellis Island in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1997, Keech was awarded a Creative Artists and Writers Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society for research on a new history-based installation depicting the lives of New York City children during the Civil War.
Keech, 58, has a master of fine arts degree from Ohio State, where she studied installation art, and her bachelor’s degree is from the same school in sculpture, costume history and stage design.
BAAC board president Gerry Sousa, in the press release announcing Keech’s appointment, said, “Pamela brings to the BAAC a rare blend of artistic talent and business acumen. She has demonstrated success in building nonprofit organizations by fostering collaboration, garnering support and inspiring others with her vision. She is passionate about the role of the arts in local communities, and about our region in particular.”
Attempts to contact Keech were unsuccessful Monday, but she is scheduled to speak at the BAAC annual meeting, which is set for 5 p.m., Sept. 11, in the John Waldron Arts Center auditorium.
The annual meeting, which is open to the public, also will feature announcement of 2007-08 Regional Arts Partnership grants, the awarding of the BAAC’s Volunteer of the Year honor, election of new trustees and officers and remarks from Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan.
The BAAC supports public participation in the arts in Monroe, Brown, Greene, Lawrence and Owen counties.