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Emily Mello is an educator, curator, and strategic advisor for museums and arts organizations, motivated by art as a catalyst for social and civic engagement. With more than two decades of leadership experience, she builds capacity, fosters collaborative partnerships, and develops generative programs that advance meaningful work with artists and community stakeholders.
Most recently, she served as the Mayer Senior Director of Learning and Public Programs at the MCA Chicago (2023–25), where she led a large team overseeing a diverse portfolio and revived many programs to achieve full attendance for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Previously, as Director of Foundation Planning and Special Projects (2022–23) for artist Simone Leigh, she collaborated to gather over 700 attendees and 70 presenters as a key member of the project team for Loophole of Retreat: Venice (2022), a three-day convening held during Leigh’s U.S. Pavilion exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale.
As Senior Associate Director of Education at the New Museum of Contemporary Art (2015–22), she designed and launched the annual Art and Social Justice Residency and Exhibition, organizing seven projects with commissioned installations, publications, and extensive programming as the series’ lead curator. Artists included Simone Leigh, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed, among others.
As Deputy Director for Education and Public Programs, Mello established the vision for engagement at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) during a major capital campaign and transition to a new building (2011–15). She strategically planned, fundraised, and implemented complex budgets—including a $10M Knight Foundation endowment—to quadruple program staff and offerings.
Among several inaugural initiatives at PAMM, she launched the Researchers-in-Residence program, connecting participants, including Bouchra Khalili, Guillaume Désanges, and Primary Information with local resources and publics. She has directed and co-organized multiple performance series, including works by Shana Lutker, Helado Negro, Jacolby Satterwhite & Trina, Du Yun, Akuzuru, and Dev Hynes & Ryan McNamara at PAMM.
She has organized over 700 public programs, led or collaborated on interpretation plans and materials for more than 100 exhibitions, written or contributed to dozens of successful grant applications and evaluations, and developed numerous depth-model civic partnerships. Earlier in her career, she held positions at the Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.
She holds a certificate from the Aspen Institute Seminar for Artist-Endowed Foundation Leaders, an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in English and Art History from Mount Holyoke College. She is currently based in Providence, RI.
Photo by Anjali Pinto