Jordana Pomeroy caught the museum bug early in life. Growing up in New York, she worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City after graduating from high school. “I loved wandering the galleries in the off hours,” she says. “I’ve been on this track for a long time.”
That track led her to the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, where she will take over as director and CEO on Sept. 3, bringing more than three decades of museum experience and insights on what it takes to make art museums viable community assets.
Pomeroy previously served as director at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at the Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. She was also the senior curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. and was an art history and museum studies professor at Louisiana State University and FIU.
Pomeroy’s appreciation for art and history began as a child on family trips with her father, a practicing architect, and her mother, a historian. On those trips, Pomeroy visited buildings designed by architect Le Corbusier and ancient ruins. She studied art history as an undergraduate, which set her on her career path.
Pomeroy is taking over from Karen Graham, who has served as the Currier’s interim director since last April when Alan Chong stepped down after nearly seven years on the job.
Pomeroy is passionate about bridging equity gaps and making art more accessible for everyone in the community. She says she’s firmly against “just serving the elite for the elite.”
“[For] people who don’t come from positions of privilege or households of privilege, museums are often still thought of as bastions of elitism and what I love doing is breaking down that idea,” she says.
Pomeroy wants to find an underwriter to allow the museum to make admission free for at least two or three years. “That’s a big barrier for families who can’t see the value and can’t afford to come in,” she says.
Pomeroy would like to use the Currier’s collection to tell stories that may not have been told in the past. “From a business point of view, that investment is important. It’s an investment in New Hampshire’s future and in attracting different kinds of innovation,” she says, adding Manchester is a city “on the move” and needs a museum designed for the 21st century.