Since being appointed the Susan Sollins Executive Director and Chief Curator of Art21 in 2016, Tina Kukielski has spearheaded the strategic expansion of the organization’s mission, curatorial vision, and program.

Prior to Art21, Kukielski worked for over 13 years as a curator of contemporary art. She was co-curator of the 2013 Carnegie International, organizing a global exhibition of 35 artists from 19 countries and was lead curator of the Hillman Photography Initiative at the Carnegie Museum of Art from 2013-2015, launching a range of experimental digital projects and short films. Kukielski served as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art from 2002–2010, where she helped organize exhibitions and acquisitions for leading contemporary artists.

An active voice in the field, Kukielski has delivered talks and participated in panels across the globe, including in Beirut, Chicago, Dubai, Miami, and Prague, as well as at Art Basel Miami and Frieze. She has contributed essays and reviews to arts publications as well as the anthology Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the Twenty-First Century (2015). Recent essays include the foreword to Artists & the Unknown (Art21, 2025) and the introduction to Being an Artist: Art21 Interviews with Artists (Art21, 2018).

Kukielski has been a visiting critic at Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and Carnegie Mellon, and has taught at the MFA programs at Parsons School of Design and the University of Hartford. She received her B.A. in Art History from Boston University and pursued graduate coursework in modern and contemporary art at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Makda Amdetsyon is an educator, researcher, and maker. She joined Art21 as the Education Coordinator in June 2024. Makda comes to this role with a background in facilitating reflective and inquiry driven museum visits and artmaking classes for K-12 students and teachers at the Brooklyn Museum. In addition to her work as an educator, Makda is experienced in artist engagement and communication. During her time at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, she interviewed artisans and co-produced public programs for the annual Folklife Festival. Makda’s work as a researcher focuses on craft, bridging her art practice and academic studies on American craft and material culture. 

Makda is also a textile artist and sewist. She has spent the past several years honing her craft in weaving, dyeing, and sewing at craft schools across the country. She holds a BA in Communications from University of Maryland, College Park and an MA in Art, Education and Community Practice from New York University.

Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung joins Art21 following a stint as a co-producer on artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’ multifaceted art project, When We Gather. A nonfiction filmmaker from Taiwan, Andrea has lived and produced films across four continents, telling stories of people who are in between places and those who strive to understand and transcend differences. Andrea’s documentary shorts have screened at festivals around the world, such as London International Documentary Festival, Sharjah Film Platform, and Cinequest Film Festival. Outside of her personal projects, she has worked as a producer and editor on projects with organizations including VICE World News, Reel Works, and This Is Good. Profiles of Purpose: Flowers in the River, a short film Andrea directed and filmed for Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, won Best Film and Audience Choice awards at ESG Film Festival, co-hosted by the United Nations Office for Partnerships and Investment News. Andrea holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University.

Hannah DeGarmo is the Associate Director of Communications at Art21, where she leads digital strategy, social media, and audience engagement for one of the most influential platforms in contemporary art storytelling. Since joining Art21 in 2021, she has played a key role in expanding the organization’s reach, shaping its public voice, and connecting global audiences with groundbreaking artists.

Before Art21, Hannah worked across arts nonprofit administration, operations, and marketing, including as a social media consultant and independent filmmaker. Her filmmaking credits include directing, filming, and editing three mini-documentary series on arts and culture in upstate New York, produced by the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library: From the Archives, Lake George on the Water (created as the local component of a Smithsonian Institution exhibition), and Battenkill Inspired (supported by the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership). Her contributions to these projects helped the Folklife Center earn the 2024 Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Director’s Award.

Hannah’s writing on arts and documentary filmmaking has been published in Voices, the journal of New York Folklore. She holds a B.A. in Art and Art History from Colgate University and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lolita Fierro is the Director of Development at Art21, where she leads fundraising for the organization’s annual operating budget and multifaceted strategies to expand and diversify its donor community. Since joining Art21 in 2016, she has strengthened its fundraising, launching its biennial gala, cultivating corporate partnerships, and establishing patron groups and travel initiatives that connect supporters with artists and cultural communities worldwide. She works closely with staff and board on Art21 for Everyone, a $10 million capacity-building campaign designed to strengthen operations and expand programs that bring contemporary art to a wider audience.

Prior to Art21, Lolita worked at ArtTable and the Chinati Foundation. She holds B.A.s in Art History, Graphic Design, and Marketing from the University of Texas at El Paso and is an alum of Seth Godin’s altMBA and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Leadership Accelerator.

As a producer and director, Ian Forster creates documentary content for Art21’s various digital and broadcast programs. Since joining the organization in 2009, he has worked on seven seasons of Art in the Twenty-First Century, most recently directing and producing “Everyday Icons” from Season 11,  “London” from Season 10, and “Johannesburg” from Season 9. Additionally, he worked on the Peabody Award-winning film William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible and has overseen the digital series Extended Play since 2012, producing over 100 short artist portraits. Forster created the online video series Artist to Artist in 2013, which featured artists in conversation with their peers at international biennials.

His films have screened at festivals internationally, including DC Shorts, DOC NYC, and Artecinema, and have been honored with a Vimeo Staff Pick and as a Webby Award Honoree. He graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University with a B.S. in Television, Radio, and Film.

Grace LeCates joined Art21 in March 2024 as the Development Assistant. She is a creative, analytical problem-solver deeply motivated by Art21’s mission to educate and expand access to contemporary art. Prior to joining Art21, Grace worked on the growth marketing team at Loeb.nyc, an early-stage VC firm and startup incubator. She managed affiliate partnerships and implemented customer retention strategies for startups in the Loeb.nyc portfolio.

Grace graduated Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College with a B.A. in Mathematics and Fine Arts. She completed a senior sculpture thesis and was the two-time recipient of the Athanasios Demetrios Skouras Prize, awarded annually by the Amherst College Department of Art & the History of Art for excellence in studio art.

Jurrell Lewis is an artist and curator, who joined Art21 in November 2020 and is currently the Associate Curator. Prior to joining Art21, Jurrell completed his Master of Fine Arts from Northwestern University’s Art, Theory, Practice Department and worked as an artist, administrator, and writer in Chicago, IL. Jurrell is the editor of the publication Artists & the Unknown: Art21 Interviews with artists, an editor of the Art21 digital publication READ, and director of Art21 documentary shorts “Arthur Jafa: Sequencing the Notes” and “Wong Ping: The Freedom of Animation.”

Jurrell holds B.A.s in Fundamentals: Issues and Texts and Visual Arts from the University of Chicago and an M.F.A. from Northwestern University.

Madeleine is an archivist and researcher, who joined Art21 in April 2026 as the Archivist. Prior to joining Art21, Madeleine was the Jenny Holzer Studio’s Media Archivist, focusing on digital preservation and audiovisual archiving. Elsewhere, Madeleine volunteers with the Prison Library Support Network and has published research on questions of the environment and digital technology in the archive.

Madeleine holds a BA in Film Studies from Columbia University and an MA in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation from NYU.

Emma Nordin is a dedicated arts administrator with a history of fostering partnerships and producing memorable experiences for audience members. As the Director of Education at Art21, she supports Art21’s mission to educate and expand access to contemporary art through the production of documentary films, resources, and public programs. Her responsibilities include facilitating new and existing educational programming and projects, such as Art21 Educators, organizing and executing public programs, and developing resources to accompany films.

Previously, she worked at the New-York Historical Society, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and Tenement Museum. She was selected to give SITE Santa Fe’s Innovative Thinker lecture in 2021, in addition to past conference presentations at the American Alliance of Museums, National Art Education Association, and others. She was also a former Vice President and Conference Chair, Trustee-at-Large, and intern of New York City Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER). She completed her graduate studies in the John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master’s Program at New York University and her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jessica has worked in and with New York-based nonprofit organizations since 2008. Her focus on development started in 2012 when she became a freelance grant consultant for organizations working at the intersection of arts and culture, social and racial justice, arts education, and community development. Working with entities such as Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Laundromat Project, and Museum Hue, she honed her writing skills and was exposed to various methods and approaches to fundraising. From these diverse people and projects, she has solidified her belief that creativity, at any capacity, connects us all and is a powerful force for positive change in our world. Rooted in a love of the arts, her professional goal is to help build financially stable platforms by which to support artists in their creative explorations—and in sharing that ingenuity and vision with diverse individuals and communities. She holds a BA of Architecture from the University of Florida and will eventually complete her thesis to obtain an MA in Art History from Hunter College.

Noor Tamari joined Art21 in January 2023 and is currently the Executive and Curatorial Assistant. She began her career in the arts working at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. She recently served as the Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellow where she worked as the project manager for a collaborative book on creative solitude. She has also served as Press Liaison for Susan Inglett Gallery. Noor holds a B.A. in Art History from Pomona College.

Emilia Copeland Titus joined Art21 in 2024 as a Development Intern and currently works as the Communications Assistant. She previously worked on the Catalog team at D.A.P. | Distributed Art Publishers. She holds a B.A. in Culture & Media from The New School. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Catapult, Barrelhouse, and elsewhere.

Nora Wimmer joined Art21 in May 2022 and is currently the Digital Manager. Nora began her career in nonprofit arts administration, working with organizations such as the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, the International Fine Print Dealers Association, and the Royal Academy of America. Most recently, she worked for Sanford L. Smith + Associates, managing the marketing and promotion of large-scale events specializing in fine art, design, antiques, and books.

She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a concentration in Painting, and a minor in Art History from Rutgers University.

Susan Sollins has been well known in the field of contemporary art for more than 30 years for her innovations in public programming and museum education, and as a curator. In addition to her work for many art institutions as a curator and consultant, Sollins was the co-founder and Executive Director Emerita of Independent Curators International (ICI), a nonprofit organization that develops, organizes, and circulates traveling exhibitions of contemporary art presenting a broad range of recent trends and aesthetic concerns to viewers nationwide and abroad. During her 21-year tenure, ICI’s 75 exhibitions featuring more than 1,700 artists were seen at more than 360 institutions and alternative spaces in the US, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

Sollins was formerly the Visual Arts Consultant for Thirteen/WNET‘s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning arts magazine, City Arts; served on the Boards of the MacDowell Colony and ICI; and has been a panelist for the NEA, NYSCA, and New York’s Percent for Art program. Early in her career, Sollins was the Curator of Education (Chief, Museum Programs) at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, and Curator of its Discovery Gallery, which showcased contemporary art. In her private life, as the wife of the late composer Earle Brown, she was actively involved in the world of contemporary music for many years.

Sollins founded Art21 in 1997 and served as executive director for seventeen years. She was the executive producer and curator through seven seasons of the organization’s flagship PBS-broadcast series, Art in the Twenty-First Century. Sollins passed away in 2014.

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A Tribute to Susan Sollins

Remembering the Late Founder of Art21

• About Art21