New York, February 24, 2021
Dear SIA Community,
It is with hope and optimism that I announce my departure as CEO/Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art - New York to embark on my next chapter as President and Executive Director of Creative Capital. It has been a privilege to serve you for these past five years. The Institute is in a position of remarkable strength, even in the midst of a global pandemic, and that is thanks to the intense commitment, hard work, and talent of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Most importantly, we have garnered high praise and student satisfaction with our remote teaching across all our MA and Non-Degree programs despite our shared longing for in-person experiences.
It has been uniquely rewarding for me to collaborate with our exceptionally knowledgeable and generous faculty to augment our academic offerings with exciting new courses, to advise our wonderful MA students on academics and careers, and to promote the scholarly publications, new ventures, and art world achievements of our brilliant alumni. We have also begun important work to bolster our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, to further diversify our global curriculum, and to hire more BIPOC and LGBTQI faculty, staff, guest speakers, artists, and industry experts.
Over the years, the Institute has burnished its international reputation and expanded our graduate level opportunities through new partnerships with the largest historically Black college Spelman + AUC in Atlanta, ESCP Business School in Paris, Centro University in Mexico City, Ewha University in Seoul, and a reimagined collaborative MA with Tsinghua University in Beijing. From these partnerships, we have also created compelling new Online Premier courses in Korean, Spanish, and soon Chinese.
With our superb MA and Online Premier programs, a new Pre-College Summer Institute, and MA accreditation achieved through 2028 as well as new accreditation approvals forthcoming, I am confident that the Institute will continue to thrive, to innovate, and to enrich the educational experience of Sotheby’s Institute for years to come. Last but not least, I am happy that we have formulated a campus-wide sustainability policy, organized sustainability programming on art conservation, and will become participants of the Climate Leadership Network.
My deepest thanks to our Board of Directors, our stellar leadership team, faculty and staff, and our amazing international students and alumni. In challenging times our true characters emerge, and I am inspired by our community’s positivity, resilience, and focus on the future. My last day with the Institute will be March 19, 2021 and I am pleased Ann-Marie Richard, our respected and beloved Program Director and Faculty member, will take the helm as Interim Director of SIA NY. I wish you all good health, prosperity, and tons of great art!
With best wishes,
Christine Kuan