The Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey has appointed Kate Kraczon as its new chief curator, effective June 15. Kraczon previously served as director of exhibitions and chief curator at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, where she was laid off in late 2024 amid a wave of cuts. She succeeds Gail Stavitsky, who held the post since 1994. The museum also recently hired Todd Caissie, an enrolled member of the Osage Nation and former director of Canada’s New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum, as its director.
Kraczon’s appointment signals a strategic shift for the Montclair Art Museum, which has long focused on American and Native art. Her track record at the Bell Gallery includes commissioning the only US exhibition of "Prisoners of Love" by Palestinian artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, bringing a version of Julien Creuzet’s French Pavilion presentation from the 2024 Venice Biennale to Providence, and significantly increasing the Bell’s exhibitions budget from $180,000 to nearly $600,000 while establishing a $1.2 million public art endowment. Her emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as collaboration with Indigenous artists, aligns with the museum’s board priorities and positions the institution for expanded contemporary programming.