Amy Sadao is a contemporary art writer, juror, and lecturer who was director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia from September 2012 to September 2019.[1][2] She oversaw the ICA's fiftieth anniversary as well as exhibitions of Nicole Eisenman, Ruanne Abbas, Jayson Musson, Alex Da Corte, Barbara Kasten, among others.[2] Sadao was executive director of Visual AIDS in New York City prior to her appointment to the ICA directorship.[3] She has been known to engage diverse communities and to center art around the contemporary social and political issues across the globe.[4]
Amy Sadao | |
---|---|
Born | 1971 Los Angeles, California |
Education | B.F.A., Cooper Union School of Art, 1995 M.A., Comparative Ethnic Studies University of California, Berkeley, 2000 |
Born in California in 1971,[5] Sadao grew up in Huntington Beach, California.[6] She received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in 1995 and an MA in comparative ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000.[2] Around 2010, Sadao began dating poet Thomas Devaney who teaches at Haverford College.[7] She currently lives in the Rittenhouse neighborhood.[8]
Sadao began her career in museums as a curatorial intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art.[2] At the Whitney museum, she worked with curator, Thelma Golden.[6]
Sadao was the executive director of Visual AIDS in New York City for ten years, from 2002 through 2012.[7] During her time at Visual AIDS, she increased outreach and expanded available resources surrounding HIV/AIDS to encourage discussion and support of HIV+ artists. In June 2012, she became the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA).[9]
University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price announced her appointment to a directorship named for Daniel W. Dietrich II, honoring his substantial financial gift in 2005. In 2015, he also gave a US$10 million endowment to the university[10] in support of its curatorial program and to help bring artists to Philadelphia.[11] Describing her as "a leader of unparalleled energy and vision", Gutmann commented, "She has an especially strong commitment to forging collaborations across a wide range of diverse communities and placing art at the center of dialogue about the most significant intellectual, political, and social issues of the contemporary world."[12] Price said, "I have been particularly impressed by her understanding of the role of art in a research university – and in catalyzing intellectual and interdisciplinary inquiry in general – as well as by the knowledge she brings of Penn and Philadelphia."[12]
She was elected to the board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council in 2015.[13]
Dietrich has been a longtime supporter of the museum, and led a capital campaign in 2005 by endowing the Daniel W. Dietrich II position now occupied by Sadao.