Ramos will bring an international perspective to MOLAA, having spearheaded partnerships with major international institutions and alliances during her more than 20-year career in the museum field, according to the museum. Her tenure at MoLAA will begin on May 1.
“Dr. Ramos joins MoLAA at an exciting time,” states a MoLAA press release. “The museum celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, has seen growing admissions and continues to receive accolades from the museum industry, media and the community.”
Braun said his staff is excited to see someone of Ramos’s caliber take the reins at MoLAA.
“She is strategic, forward-thinking and has an excellent track record of museum leadership,” Braun said. “Her ability to organize projects on a global scale and attract new audiences and support through innovative, collection-based programs will enable MoLAA to strengthen its artistic direction and create a solid infrastructure for its continued growth.”
In speaking of her new appointment, Ramos said, “When we refer to the most exalted institutions of Latin and Latin American art, MoLAA is a mandatory reference. As a professional, to be able to contribute to and expand upon the artistic legacy and the vision of MoLAA, in a framework of strategic development, is a great responsibility. Nevertheless, it is a shared responsibility with all those visionaries who see the arts as the pinnacle of human expression and a unifying force that celebrates diversity and inclusion without regard to borders.”
Ramos goes to MoLAA directly from the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the largest and most prominent Latin American cultural institutions, where she has served as executive director and chief curator for the past 12 years, according to MoLAA.
Ramos led the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico through a strategic planning process that focused on developing new audiences, increasing the collection with relevant artwork, implementing new technologies and ensuring financial stability for the institution, according to MoLAA. She expanded the MAPR’s collection through more than 400 strategic donations and acquisitions, including major artwork from Latin-American artists. Under her leadership, the MAPR also obtained accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).
At MAPR, Ramos oversaw the development of innovative exhibitions and programs that highlighted the museum’s collection in new ways, including the organization of a series of partnerships with major national and international institutions, producing several exhibitions of global relevance such as: The Figurative Impulse: from the UBS Collection; El Museo Bienal [S] Files/Selected Files with El Museo del Barrio (2005); Jean Michael Basquiat: An Anthology for PR with Art Premium (2006); Virgin, Saints and Angels (2007); ‘Suite Vollard’ by Pablo Picasso (2011); Interconnections: Curatorial Readings of the MAPR Collection (2012); VIAL: International Contest for Digital Creation and Interpretation (2013); Marco Polo, Man and Myth with Contemporanea Proguetti (2014); Impressionism and the Caribbean: Francisco Oller and his Transatlantic World with the Brooklyn Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art. This last exhibition included the collaboration of Yale Center for British Art, Hispanic Society of America, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and the Musée d’Orsay, among others (2016).
In 2010, Ramos was invited to become a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). In 2014, she was named as an accreditation commissioner of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and in 2016 she was elected as a board member of the International Committee for Exhibition Exchange of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-ICEE).
Prior to her tenure at MAPR, Ramos was director of the San Juan City Museum and director of the National Collection of Puerto Rico at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, and she worked as assistant of Collections sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Culture at the Reina SofÃa Museum in Madrid, Spain.
Ramos completed her Ph. D. in fine arts at the University of Barcelona, Spain, with a concentration in arts administration. She received her M.A. in fine arts from Illinois State University and her B.A. in fine arts from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. In addition, Ramos participated in the Museum Leadership Program hosted by the Getty Leadership Institute and is a certified fine art appraiser.
Source: MoLAA
