Studio Museum in Harlem Appoints New Chief Program Officer: Natasha L. Logan is ‘Proven Leader’ With ‘Deep Commitment to Uplifting Artists’s Voices’

THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM is welcoming Natasha L. Logan as its chief program officer. The Studio Museum focuses on local, national, and international artists of African descent. Logan will be responsible for exhibition and program strategies, a key leadership role supporting the museum’s mission and fundraising goals. Logan joins the Studio Museum from Creative Time, the New York-based public art organization, where she has served as deputy director since 2019. Her new appointment at the Studio Museum is effective today.

Logan arrives at the Studio Museum at a critical moment in its history and future. The Harlem institution is constructing a new building, the first designed expressly for the needs and purposes of the museum since it was founded in 1968.

“I am thrilled to welcome Natasha to the Studio Museum in Harlem,” director and chief curator Thelma Golden said in a statement. “Natasha is a proven leader who approaches the cultural sphere with enthusiastic collaboration and innovative vision. As we embark on a new era, I am confident her breadth of experience and deep commitment to uplifting artists’ voices will greatly advance the Museum’s dynamic programming initiatives.”

Natasha L. Logan. | Photo by Nicholas Parakas, Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem

Working directly with Golden, Logan’s portfolio is multifaceted with a mandate that reaches across the institution. She is expected to:

• Unify the goals of the museum’s Curatorial, Learning and Engagement, and Collection and Exhibitions Management departments;
• Manage the museum’s permanent art collection, functioning as operations liaison for all acquisitions, loans, and conservation efforts; and
• Work externally, cultivating the museum’s new and ongoing relationships with peer museums,
  curators, and arts workers across the globe

LOGAN BRINGS TWO DECADES of experience to the Studio Museum. Her background is an eclectic mix of arts management, cultural production, and engagement with artists working across a variety of disciplines. She first joined Creative Time in 2016 as project manager and director of programming. Over the past five years, Logan has served as deputy director of the nonprofit known for its ambitious, socially engaged, and site-specific public art commissions.

During her tenure at Creative Time, she produced more than a dozen projects, including Charles Gaines’s Moving Chains (2022–23), Rashid Johnson’s Red Stage (2021), Jenny Holzer’s VIGIL (2019), and Duke Riley’s Fly By Night (2016). She has also worked with Pedro Reyes, Allison Janae Hamilton, and Sophie Calle, among other artists. Generating partnerships and launching several initiatives, Logan has also helped to grow the organization.

Previously, Logan managed the studio of conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas and oversaw his various commissions, collaborations, and initiatives, including the transmedia project “Question Bridge: Black Males.” In an earlier position, Logan was assistant director of career development at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for nearly four years (2007-11), advising hundreds of emerging artists. She earned an undergraduate degree in English literature and African American studies from the University of Virginia.

“As we embark on a new era, I am confident her breadth of experience and deep commitment to uplifting artists’ voices will greatly advance the Museum’s dynamic programming initiatives.” — Thelma Golden

THE STUDIO MUSEUM is undergoing a major transformation. After celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, the museum closed to the public in 2019, and officially embarked on the construction of a new purpose-built home on 125th Street, supported by its $300 million capital campaign.

In the years since construction began, the museum has continued to operate. Based out of temporary offices nearby, the museum is supporting emerging artists through its Artist-in-Residence program and presenting museum exhibitions and public art projects in collaboration with other New York City institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Public Art Fund.

The museum is also shaping its legacy and charting its future in a new building expected to be completed next year. Hiring Logan is a central part of that vision. For the first time in its 56-year history, the Studio Museum will have a building designed specifically to suit its needs. The 82,000-square-foot structure includes expansive spaces devoted to exhibitions, education, and public programming, exponentially increasing its capacity to serve visitors, artists, the community of Harlem, and the art world at large.

“I am delighted to join the team at the Studio Museum in Harlem during this pivotal, legacy-affirming, and future-oriented moment,” Logan said in a statement. “I am excited to collaborate to realize programs and exhibitions aligned with a mission that is so meaningful to me personally and professionally.” CT

UPDATE (05/08/24): The article has been corrected to reflect that the cost of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s new building is not $300 million, rather the construction is supported by funds raised through the museum’s $300 million capital campaign. The museum said the cost of the new building itself is not available.

BOOKSHELF
Natasha L. Logan co-edited “Question Bridge: Black Males in America.” The volume was published to accompany “Question Bridge,” a five-channel video installation that has been presented at numerous museum across the United States. The project “assembles a series of questions posed to black men, by and for other black men, along with the corresponding responses and portraits of the participants.” The candid responses are curated to simulate conversations. Also consider, “Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem.”