GRACE Names New Executive Director and Curator

The Greater Reston Arts Center has a new leader.

Lily Siegel is now the center and gallery’s executive director and curator, GRACE announced in a press release earlier today. Siegel is scheduled to begin her new position on Dec. 5.

The center’s former executive director and curator, Holly Koons McCullough, left for the Arlington Arts Center earlier this year.

“Together with the terrific Board of Directors and staff, I will promote that development through a robust exhibition program that includes local and international artists shown side-by-side,” Siegel said in a statement. “We will expand the scope of educational programing, both in regional schools and in the gallery, by emphasizing the promotion of art to enrich community. The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival will continue to grow by broadening the opportunities for artists and the public to get involved.”

More about the new appointment from GRACE:

The Board of Directors for the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) today announced the appointment of Lily Siegel as the Center’s Executive Director and Curator. She will start on December 5. The appointment comes at an important time in the Center’s history, as it builds out its Destination GRACE vision of becoming an even more robust cultural institution in the D.C. metropolitan region, coinciding with the arrival of the Metrorail’s Silver Line.

“GRACE is a strong regional voice well poised for national impact. Together with the terrific Board of Directors and staff, I will promote that development through a robust exhibition program that includes local and international artists shown side-by-side,” Ms. Siegel said. “We will expand the scope of educational programing, both in regional schools and in the gallery, by emphasizing the promotion of art to enrich community. The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival will continue to grow by broadening the opportunities for artists and the public to get involved.”

Ms. Siegel received her BA (Visual Arts: History and Criticism) from the University of California San Diego and her MA (Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She began her career as a curatorial assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, followed by tenures as the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the High Museum in Atlanta and then as the Associate Curator at The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM) in San Francisco. Since moving to Washington, D.C., just over a year ago, she has continued her relationship with The CJM as a guest curator for the exhibition From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory in Contemporary Art, which opens on November 25. She will be presenting an exhibition on the late artist Moira Dryer, Moira Dryer: Vice Versa (working title), at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. in Spring 2018. Exhibition research for Moira Dryer: Vice Versa has been generously supported by a Curatorial Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

“Lily has already achieved a great deal in her young career, which speaks to her special talents,” said Robert Goudie, GRACE Board Chair. “She brings outstanding academic achievement, a passion for contemporary art, a demonstrated ability to raise money for and manage significant projects, and a national perspective, relationships, and experiences. She’s exactly the right person to lead us forward in our determination to become an even more impactful presence in the metropolitan area’s visual arts landscape. We could not be more excited to have her assuming the leadership of the organization.”

“I am honored by this opportunity and look forward to getting to work. The chance to lead this dynamic period of growth and extend GRACE’s already well-established reputation for quality is a compelling combination for me,” said Ms. Siegel. “GRACE has a rich history in the community. As the community grows–with the coming of Metrorail and extension of the D.C. metro area–so will GRACE.”

Photo courtesy of GRACE