Vanessa Kwan Named Exhibitions Director at Emily Carr University
Vanessa Kwan (photo by Rachel Topham Photography)
Artist, producer and curator Vanessa Kwan has been named director and curator of gallery and exhibitions at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, starting Oct. 17.
Kwan will be responsible for gallery exhibitions and programming at the Libby Leshgold Gallery and other university exhibition spaces and venues, as well as READ Books, ECU Press and the university's art collection and outdoor screen, the university announced today.
"I have a longstanding connection to Emily Carr and have a deep commitment to the many ways artists learn and inhabit education," says Kwan, who earned a BFA at Emily Carr University in 2004.
"I think and hope the gallery can have a prismatic effect – to reflect, refract and transmit the brilliance of the artists and ideas within the institution to the outside world, and vice versa. There is urgency to this work; artists are visionary problem-solvers and I believe completely in what a vibrant arts discourse can offer our collective future."
Kwan comes to the university from grunt gallery, where they have worked as curator since 2014 and program director since 2019.
Kwan has worked in artistic leadership roles since 2003, contributing to organizations such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, Access Gallery, the Powell Street Festival and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. They regularly write, speak and publish on art and culture, and have produced residency projects across the Pacific Rim since 2017.
This year, Kwan received the university's Emily Award, which recognizes outstanding alumni achievements in the arts, media and design.
Source: Emily Carr University
