THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART (PMA) is welcoming Audrey Hudson as the Kathleen C. Sherrerd Deputy Director for Learning and Engagement, a leadership role at the museum.
Hudson brings a range of experience across academia, art education, museum learning, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices. She is joining PMA from the Art Gallery of Ontario where she was chief of education and programming and, this year, also took charge of the Canadian museum’s diversity initiatives. Her new appointment was announced this morning. Hudson officially starts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Aug. 26.
Audrey Hudson. | Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art
“I am so pleased to welcome Audrey to the PMA,” Director and CEO Sasha Suda said in a statement. “Audrey brings a depth of experience in education programming and a true passion for team building and community partnerships. With over two decades of in art education, Audrey will bring her results oriented, forward thinking approach, rooted in DEIA frameworks, to the PMA.”
Before becoming director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2022, Suda had been serving as director and CEO of Art Gallery Ontario (AGO) since 2019, where her tenure overlapped with Hudson.
During her first two years at PMA, the museum established the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art and hired Imani Roach to direct the center. Eight additional senior appointments across key departments have also been made under Suda’s leadership, including top curatorial posts, through promotions and new hires. Latasha Harling became PMA’s inaugural chief people officer and Valarie McDuffie joined as chief financial officer.
“The PMA is an iconic museum and the energetic city of Philadelphia is home to so many diverse communities. I am pumped by the opportunity to build new educational networks and uplift community partnerships.… This opportunity is a dream.” — Audrey Hudson
Hudson is the latest addition to the team. She is an educator, artist and researcher who made the leap from university teaching to museum education seven years ago. She joined AGO in 2017 and served as associate curator of the Schools and Early Learning programming, before being promoted to Richard and Elizabeth Currie Chief of Education and Programming in 2020.
Her previous experience also includes teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at Ontario College of Art and Design University, Toronto Metropolitan University and, most recently, the University of Toronto, on hip hop, art and social change, and Black Canadian studies. Hudson earned a Ph.D., in education from the University of Toronto (2016), where her scholarship explored “hip hop as a means of solidarity for Black and Indigenous youth.”
Hudson said it was an honor to join Suda and the team. In a statement she said: “The PMA is an iconic museum and the energetic city of Philadelphia is home to so many diverse communities. I am pumped by the opportunity to build new educational networks and uplift community partnerships. I look forward to continuing the great work at the PMA and making a contribution to vision the museum into the future. This opportunity is a dream.” CT
Exhibitions currently on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art include “Expanded Painting in the 1960s and 1970s,” a collection exhibition featuring works by Sam Gilliam and Alma Thomas, among others; “Take a Seat: Understanding the Modern Chaira,” a group exhibition that includes designer Jomo Tariku; and “Jesse Krimes: Rikers Quilt.” This fall, “The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure” opens Nov. 9
FIND MORE about Audrey Hudson on her website
BOOKSHELF
“Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place” documents a traveling exhibition of industrial designer Stephen Burks that was on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art last year. A large-scale quilt by Jesse Krimes is currently featured at the museum. His work is highlighted in the critically acclaimed volume “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” and “Senga Nengudi: Topologies” were published to coincide with exhibitions presented at the museum in recent years.
