Awards In Italian Culture 2022
Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum
Since 2015, Anne Pasternak has served as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest fine arts institutions in the nation. For more than thirty years, Anne has devoted her career to engaging broad audiences with the limitless power of art to move, motivate, and inspire. As a staunch advocate for the civic and democratic roles our cultural and educational institutions can play, she is committed to projects that demonstrate the crucial links between art and social justice.
During her time at the Brooklyn Museum, Anne has focused on strengthening the Museum as a center for the visual arts that is courageous, pioneering, and global. Through her leadership, Anne has expanded exhibitions, educational and public programs, and fostered special exhibitions, including The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, David Bowie is, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, and Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving. These initiatives are building the foundations for the Brooklyn Museum’s new Strategic Plan, to further the Museum’s mission to create inspiring encounters with art and engage the audiences the issues of today.
Prior to joining the Brooklyn Museum, Anne served as the President and Artistic Director of Creative Time for two decades, where she initiated projects that gave artists opportunities to respond to political and environmental challenges, while also expanding their practice and work globally. She collaborated with hundreds of artists, including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, and Kara Walker, commissioning and presenting works that ranged from sculptural installations in Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall to skywriting over Manhattan, as well as Tribute in Light, the twin beacons of light that illuminated the sky above the former World Trade Center site, and continue to be presented on the anniversaries of 9/11.
Previous FIAC Awards
2019
Paola D’Agostino
Xavier F. Salomon
2018
Gabriele Finaldi
Richard Armstrong
2017
Paola Marini
Ian Wardropper
2016
Davide Gasparotto
Eike Schmidt
2015
Mariella Utili
Eric M. Lee
2013
Colin B. Bailey
Daniela Porro
2012
Brian J. Ferriso
Antonia Pasqua Recchia
2011
Glenn Lowry
Rossella Vodret
2010
Malcolm Rogers
Roberto Cecchi
2008
Anne Poulet
Nicola Spinosa
2007
Phillip de Montebello
Cristina Acidini