Carnegie Museum of Art hires a dozen new staff members
Carnegie Museum of Art has hired more than a dozen new employees this year, including staff for three key positions.
Next Monday, Ronald Lee Newman will begin his duties as the Oakland art museum’s deputy director, according to information shared with the Pittsburgh PostGazette.
“I think he’s going to be a great addition,” said Steven Knapp, president and CEO of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, adding that many key posts were vacant when he joined the organization earlier this year. Mr. Knapp, formerly president of The George Washington University, said he knew Mr. Newman when both men worked in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Newman served as managing director for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Downtown Pittsburgh from November 2018 through September 2019. Previously he spent more than a decade as director of operations and collaborative programming for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. He is a 2004 graduate of Howard University.
Since September, Aryn Beitz, a Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer, has served as the museum’s director of design and publishing. Previously, she worked at The Shed, a cultural center in New York City and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Ms. Beitz earned a master’s degree in fine arts in communications design from Pratt Institute in 2016.
Dana Bishop-Root is the Carnegie museum’s director of education and public programs. For 10 years, she worked at the Braddock Carnegie Library Association, developing neighborhood-centered programs, a collaborative staff and a strategic plan. She is part-time now but will become full time in late January.
In November, Talia Heiman, who lives in Los Angeles, was hired as curatorial assistant for Sohrab Mohebbi, curator of the 58th Carnegie International, a show devoted to contemporary art. Ms. Heiman, who was a curatorial intern for the last international, received her master’s from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Also in November, Jordan Bohannon was hired as digital content manager. Previously, he developed and implemented digital content for the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block in Tucson, Arizona.
Besides hiring staff for major positions, the museum added five museum services associates and two interns. The hires come during an especially difficult year for museums, which saw the number of visitors drop precipitously.
Following pandemic-induced shut downs, Carnegie Museum of Art reopened to visitors in June. After a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases statewide, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all museums to close on Dec. 11. Carnegie Museum of Art closed temporarily on Dec. 12 and will remain shuttered through Jan. 4.