Kay Takeda Appointed Senior Director of Artist Programs At Joan Mitchell Foundation

The Joan Mitchell Foundation is pleased to announce that Kay Takeda has been appointed Senior Director of Artist Programs. Takeda comes to the Foundation from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), where she has been in leadership positions since 2005 and currently serves as Vice President, Grants & Services. In her new role, Takeda will oversee the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s diverse roster of artist-centered initiatives, including its grants, residencies, and professional development programs. As part of the senior leadership team for the artist-endowed Foundation, Takeda will spearhead the Foundation’s activity to refine the focus and enhance the impact of program offerings as an essential facet of Mitchell’s legacy. Takeda will begin work at the Foundation on June 4, 2018.

“I have followed Kay’s work in the field for years and always admired her incredible commitment to artists, and to establishing programs that offer new opportunities and platforms for artists to enhance their practices. We are thrilled that Kay is bringing her passion, expertise, and innovative approach to the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and look forward to learning from and collaborating with her, as we continue to ensure that our initiatives serve artists at every stage of their careers,” said Christa Blatchford, Chief Executive Officer of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

In addition to preserving and promoting the legacy of pioneering abstract artist Joan Mitchell, the Joan Mitchell Foundation supports individual artists through several grantmaking programs, residencies at its Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, professional development services, and related initiatives. Together, these programs address the ongoing and changing needs of today’s working artists and fulfill Joan Mitchell’s vision of having a foundation that actively supports and amplifies the important contributions of visual artists to communities around the world.

“Joan Mitchell was not only at the vanguard of American abstraction, but forward-thinking in endowing a foundation to assist generations of artists in developing and sharing their creative work. This is a mission I have long shared and it’s an honor to help steward such an important vision and resource into the future. I look forward to working with the Foundation’s staff and board to advance artists’ research, current practices, and creative legacies as vitally interconnected endeavors,” said Takeda.

Takeda has worked for over 20 years to advance artists and the arts sector in the areas of grantmaking, programming, and capacity-building. In her role as Vice President, Grants & Services at LMCC, she developed and oversaw its grantmaking, professional development programs, and community initiatives. She designed and guided the implementation of LMCC’s $5 million Downtown Cultural Grants Initiative to support local arts organizations and seed new arts activities as part of Lower Manhattan’s recovery after 9/11. Since joining LMCC, she has overseen the organization’s long-standing Manhattan Arts Grants, and led the division in a renewed focus on professional development programs for artists and organizations, new community-based arts initiatives in the Lower East Side, and strategic arts service partnerships.

Prior to joining LMCC, Takeda led national grantmaking programs at Arts International, providing support for US visual and performing artists working internationally. Previously, at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor, she managed a contemporary exhibition program in a 15,000-square-foot historic space as well as international residencies, public programming, and a studio program for visual artists. She has served on the boards of the artist-run Goliath Visual Space and Tickle the Sleeping Giant, Inc./Trajal Harrell, has sat on numerous funding panels, and lectures widely on professional issues affecting artists.

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