Kate McNamara named new director of Carpenter Center

Kate McNamara will be the new John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the center announced Friday.

McNamara, a curator, educator, and author, had been interim director of the CCVA for the past year, and assumed the permanent role March 25.

“What excites me most about this moment is the opportunity to deepen the Carpenter Center’s role as a leading contemporary art space and artistic laboratory,” McNamara said. “Through new residencies, expanded exhibitions, publishing collaborations, and partnerships with our university and neighboring communities, we are building an ecosystem where artists, students, scholars, and local residents encounter art as a living, shared practice. I’m grateful to continue this work and to help guide the Carpenter into its next chapter.”

McNamara is a visiting critic at the Rhode Island School of Design and Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Previously, she served as executive and creative director of My HomeCourt, a nonprofit initiative revitalizing city parks through collaborations with contemporary artists. She founded ODD-KIN, a contemporary art space in Rhode Island, and co-founded the Warhol-funded regional Interlace Grant Fund.

McNamara was the curator-at-large and interim director at Providence College Galleries. From 2015–2019, she served as director of galleries and exhibitions at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. She also served as director and chief curator at the Boston University Art Galleries. She co-founded Cleopatra’s, a former alternative project space in Brooklyn, and held curatorial roles at MoMA PS1 and Participant Inc.

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts is Harvard’s center for contemporary art and artists. Its exhibitions are free and open to the public.