“I’m delighted that Marisa will lead Creative Capital’s innovative educational programs. She has a powerful vision to elevate and expand our online courses, to enhance the accessibility of our programs in English and Spanish, and to grow our institutional memberships and partnerships to uplift thousands of artists seeking trusted resources and knowledge,” said Christine Kuan, President and Executive Director, Creative Capital.

“I am thrilled to come on board as Director of Education and build upon Creative Capital’s vital and accessible professional development programs that support artists in maintaining thriving and sustainable careers,” said Lerer.

Marisa Lerer has worked in higher education, curriculum development, and contemporary art for over 15 years. As an art historian, Marisa specializes in Latin American and Latinx art, public art, and memorials. Her publications have focused on art under dictatorship in Latin America, memorials dedicated to victims of state-sponsored terrorism in Argentina and Chile, contested monuments, and Latinx public sculpture.

She was the George Gurney Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Calvin B. Grimes Scholar-in-Residence at New York University, and was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for her current book project on Latinx public memorials. She has also been honored with grants and fellowships from Fulbright, New York University/Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CUNY’s Center for Place, Culture and Politics, the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Foundation, and a residency at Surf Point, among others.

Prior to joining Creative Capital, she was a professor of modern and contemporary art history and Chair of the Art History & Digital Media Art Department at Manhattan University, Assistant Professor of contemporary art at the University of Denver, and has served on the faculty at Christie’s Education, Parsons School of Design, and the Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Program.

Marisa was co-editor of the journal Public Art Dialogue, which functions as a forum for critical discourse and commentary about the practice of public art and now serves on the journal’s editorial board. She received her Ph.D. at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and her M.A. and B.A. from UCLA and NYU, respectively.

About Creative Capital 

Founded in 1999, Creative Capital Foundation uplifts underinvested, risk-taking artists with unrestricted project grants, professional development, and community-building services to advance freedom of expression and foster sustainable careers. Known as the “gold standard in artist support,” Creative Capital Awards are made via a democratic, national open call process. To date, Creative Capital has fundraised and awarded $55 million in grants and services to 955 artists to create 780 innovative new works in the visual arts, performing arts, film, technology, literature, and multidisciplinary and socially engaged forms. More than 75 percent of Creative Capital Awardees in recent years identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or artists of color, LGBTQIA+, women, and artists with disabilities. In addition, Creative Capital serves more than 250,000 artists nationally each year with in-person and online educational programs and artist resources.

Creative Capital receives major support from: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Reggie and Aliya Browne, Isa Catto and Daniel Shaw, Catto Shaw Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, The Harry R. Halloran, Jr. Charitable Trust, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Wanda Kownacki, Lyda Kuth, Lambent Foundation Fund, a Fund of Tides Foundation, Joseph V. Melillo, Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Stephen Reily and Emily Bingham, Margaret Silva, Walder Foundation, Paige West, and other institutional and individual donors.