Independent Curators International supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement.

Independent Curators International supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement.

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Board of Trustees

SUYDAM R. LANSING
Honorary Chair
Suydam (Sydie) Lansing is an artist and designer. Her late husband Gerrit was the longtime Chairman of ICI. Sydie, a longtime Board member of ICI, is its Honorary Chair. The Lansings were the 2005 recipients of ICI’s Leo Award for their patronage of contemporary art. She also serves on the Board of FAPE (Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies) in Washington, DC, the Board of MoMA PS1, and on the International Council of MoMA. She lives in New York City and Northeast Harbor, Maine.

JEANNIE M. GRANT
Co-Chair
Jean Minskoff Grant received her B.S. and M.A. from New York University; she was a matriculated Ph.D. candidate at NYU. She completed a Dietetic internship at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Currently she works as President/ CEO of the Minskoff Grant Realty & Management Corp., where she is owner and manager of commercial properties for which MGRMC provides asset and direct management. Prior to 1984, Jeannie held the position of Chief Dietitian at the then New York Infirmary Hospital; she served as Director and then President of The American Dietetic Association Foundation, and was a Medallion recipient of the American Dietetic Association in 2003. Jeannie is a member of the “U.S. Foreign Policy and Women” Advisory Council of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the Executive Board of The New York Women’s Foundation. She has chaired The Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and is a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College Committee on University Resources (COUR).

PATTERSON SIMS
Co-Chair
Patterson Sims is an independent, New York City-based art curator, writer and consultant, who has held positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Montclair Art Museum. He currently directs two artist-endowed foundations and serves on the boards of several foundations and visual arts non-profits.

BELINDA BUCK KIELLAND
President
Belinda Buck Kielland is a founding partner of OSL contemporary, a contemporary art gallery in Oslo, Norway. She is a member of VIA Art Fund, a patrons group which supports contemporary visual arts projects that exemplify core values of artistic production, thought leadership, and public engagement. She also serves on the Board of The Hartfield Foundation, engaging with institutions and non-profits to support creative expression and artistic excellence.

ANN SCHAFFER
Vice President
Ann and Mel Schaffer are long-time supporters and members of ICI. Mel graduated from Cornell University and is the Chairman and CEO of Trademark Plastics Corp. in New Jersey. Ann is a Skidmore College graduate, who tutored romance languages and worked at the United Nations as an information officer, interpreter, and translator. She later was a founding supporter of Rachel Coalition, an organization that combats domestic violence, and was a teacher, consultant and advisor of contemporary art. Ann and Mel both serve on the Photography Council at the Guggenheim (with Ann serving as Co-Chair), and are Co-Chairs of ICI’s annual fall benefit. In addition, Ann is a member of several boards, including Skidmore College; the Montclair Art Museum, which she is Chair of the Art Committee; United Jewish Communities of Metro West; and the NJ State of Israel Bonds Women’s Division. She also serves on advisory committees, including the Opportunity Project; and Co-Chair of the National Advisory Council at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. She has been the curator of the annual Art for Art’s Sake fundraiser and auction at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, where she was honored in 2019. Ann is an officer and Honorary Chair of the Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art and a former Trustee.

BARBARA TOLL
Treasurer
Barbara Toll is an art advisor and freelance curator with forty years of experience in the contemporary art world. She has worked at the Museum of Modern Art, served as curator for the David Rockefeller Collection and taught at NYU before opening Barbara Toll Fine Arts in Soho in 1981. Since closing her Soho gallery in 1994, Ms. Toll has curated Focus: Donald Judd Furniture and Follies: Fantasy in the Landscape for the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York. She also organized the exhibitions “Blueprint for Art in General” and “Artists and Writers at Yaddo” for Art in General in New York City. Ms. Toll is a past board member of ArtTable, the national organization for professional women in the visual arts. She also served on the board of the Parks Council, now called New Yorkers for Parks. At the present time, she is also a member of the Corporation of Yaddo, and a board member of the Drawing Center. She serves on the Photography Committee of the Guggenheim Museum as well as the Archives Committee of the Museum of Modern Art. She is a graduate of Goucher College with a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute and lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.

ADAM ABDALLA
Adam Abdalla has been actively collaborating with and advising globally recognized museums, foundations, art galleries, publications, neighborhoods, hotels, and luxury brands for a decade, with a strong focus on communications, strategic marketing and program ideation and execution. Before founding Cultural Counsel, he served as Senior Vice President at Nadine Johnson & Associates for over 5 years, where he formally founded their Arts & Culture department. He currently serves as a Board Member of the New Art Dealers Alliance and Dallas Contemporary. Offering strategic advising to principals in both art and business, he has developed strong relationships with some of the best creative talent in the world, ranging from fine artists and curators to creative directors and branding agencies. He has launched successful global PR campaigns for the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, LUMA Foundation, Creative Time, Art 21, Museo Jumex, United States Artists, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the New Art Dealers Alliance and countless others.

NOREEN AHMAD
Noreen Ahmad is an accomplished strategist and communications specialist skilled at balancing the ideals of the cultural sector with the long-term mission-driven interests of every client. She is currently the Vice President at ALMA Communications. Over the last two decades, she has worked with over 50 cultural and educational institutions across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa to strengthen audience engagement, fortify market positioning, and increase brand awareness. She has honed a sophisticated understanding of the concerns facing public cultural organizations, private creative enterprises, and initiatives that harness the energy and passions of both. A dynamic leader and successful manager, she is dedicated to fostering strong internal and external relationships and cultivating an organizational culture of growth and innovation. Prior to joining ALMA, Noreen was the Director of Communications and Marketing at the Morgan Library & Museum. Previously, she held leadership positions at Sutton, Fitz & Co, and LaPlaca Cohen, as well as roles at the Whitney Museum of American Art and The School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center. She was the co-chair of the Young Collectors Council at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from 2008 to 2019. She is an adjunct professor at New York University, as well an Associate Producer on the HBO Documentary, The Price of Everything.

NEIL BARCLAY
Neil Barclay is the Chief Executive Officer of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. A former attorney, Barclay was most recently executive director and CEO of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. Barclay’s experience also includes seven years of service as associate director of the Performing Arts Center for the University of Texas at Austin and service as founding president and CEO of Pittsburgh, Pa.'s August Wilson Center. He served for nine years on the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals receiving the Alice and Halsey North Award for outstanding service to the field by a board alumnus in 2024. A leading national presenter and producer of contemporary performing and visual arts, Barclay serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the regional arts organization South Arts. He is currently a member of the College of Communications and Fine Arts Advisory Board for Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, his undergraduate and law school alma mater.

LAURA BARDIER
Laura Bardier is the Executive Director of the James Howell Foundation in New York and the founding Director of the Este Arte Art Fair in Uruguay. In 2017, Laura was appointed to incorporate the artist-endowed foundation in honor of American artist James Howell, which fosters his legacy and supports educational programs, exhibitions, and scholarships. With the founding of Este Arte in 2015, Bardier generated a platform for the professionalization of the arts that has profoundly shifted the Latin American art scene and market, producing a radical increase in the region’s cultural awareness. Previously, Laura held key positions at the Cultural Department of the Municipality of Napoli (Italy) and major private collections in the United States. She has curated exhibitions in Uruguay, Italy, and the U.S.; her writing on contemporary art has been published in Domus MagazineArte al DíaReviewInfonegocios and El Pais. Laura was a member of the National Committee of Visual Arts of Uruguay and is a Board member at ArtTable. She received her BA from the Università Degli Studi di Firenze and her MA from the Donau University in Austria.

JEFFREY BISHOP
Jeffrey Bishop was born in Berkeley, CA; he received his BFA from Tufts University and his MFA from the University of Washington after studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he was awarded the James William Page Traveling Fellowship. His hybrid works of digitized prints and painting have been featured in exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and Miami (Ohio) University Art Museum, and many gallery shows nationally and internationally. He was a recipient of the Seattle Commission’s Artist Award and the Seattle Art Museum’s prestigious Betty Bowen Memorial Award. He was represented by the Linda Farris Gallery in Seattle for 22 years, and has had numerous one-person shows, including most recently a career survey at Mosaic Artspace in LIC, NYC (2022-23), at John Molloy Gallery, NYC (2019) and an exhibition of Monoprints at SRO Gallery, Brooklyn (2018). From 1980 to 1988, Jeffrey taught painting at Cornish College of Arts; currently he sits on the Advisory Board of the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, and is a Trustee of Bang on a Can in New York and Copper Canyon Press in Port Townsend, WA.

BRIDGET FINN
Bridget Finn is Director of Art Basel Miami Beach. Previously, she was a Partner and Director at Reyes|Finn, a contemporary art gallery in Detroit, MI., Director at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery in New York, and she was the Associate Director of Strategic Planning & ICI Projects at Independent Curators International where she worked to support fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art for ICI’s diverse audiences. She was also co-founder/curator of Cleopatra’s, an art space based in Brooklyn, which has realized over 100 projects from 2008 through 2018. Previously, she worked at the Anton Kern Gallery, where she liaised with and supported gallery artists. Finn received her BFA from The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

SHAWNA C. GALLANCY
Shawna C. Gallancy currently holds the position of Senior Director of Marketing, Communications and Visitor Experience at the International Center of Photography. Shawna has nearly 20 years of experience in the art world working with renowned galleries, artists and institutions with positions at Jeff Koons LLC, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Sutton PR Ltd, and the American Federation of Arts. Within this increasingly sophisticated landscape, Shawna has successfully managed public relations, marketing and social media strategies inclusive of strategic brand communications, digital strategy, VIP relations and partnerships. Her experience ranges from working with internationally recognized artists to launching new brands in the cultural sphere. She holds an MA in Art History from Hunter College, CUNY and a BA in Art History from Duke University.

LAVON KELLNER
LaVon Kellner has a rich background in marketing, sales and entrepreneurship that began at Hallmark Cards, where she became the first woman in its 75-year history to run its highest volume sales territory, Manhattan. Kellner continued her career at best-in-class companies including Random House and Starbucks Coffee. In 1995 Kellner co-founded Ethis Communications, a start-up that became the premier medical communications company in eyecare. In 2016 she sold her stake in Ethis and its subsidiaries to pursue her passion for the arts. Kellner holds frequent salons in her home to bring together artists, museum scholars, gallerists and collectors. She is a trustee of Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, The Foundation for Gender Equality, Children’s Art Guild, Baxter Street Camera Club. She also serves on The National Arts Club’s (NAC) Decorative Arts, Fashion, Exhibitions, Membership and Photography Committees and is an Ambassador of the NAC’s Artist Fellow program.

LAUREN KELLY
Lauren Kelly, born in England and raised in New York City, has worked at Sean Kelly Gallery since 2006. As a Director at Sean Kelly Gallery, Lauren is principally involved in artist liaison and sales and works with a number of the gallery's artists, most prominently with Marina Abramović, Julian Charrière, Jose Davila, Hugo McCloud and Sam Moyer. She has been heavily involved in expanding the gallery's artist roster and was instrumental in the addition of Jose Dávila, Peter Liversidge, Hugo McCloud and Sam Moyer. Lauren has developed the gallery's partnerships with arts organizations worldwide, facilitating projects such as the production of Güiro, the Los Carpinteros Art Bar installation that was produced in conjunction with Absolut Art at Art Basel Miami Beach. Lauren is a graduate of Smith College with a degree in Art History, she also studied at Goldsmith's College, London. 

JO CAROLE LAUDER
Jo Carole Lauder has worked extensively with The Museum of Modern Art. Since 1993, she has been the President of the International Council. She was also Chairman of the Junior Council, later the Contemporary Arts Council; she founded its Junior Associates and an annual Corporate Luncheon honoring the recipient of an award named in honor of David Rockefeller. MoMA's collecting and program decisions have benefited from her participation in Trustee Committees on Architecture and Design, Education, Film and Photography. In addition, Jo Carole is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, a foundation that assists the U.S. Department of State in its various programs designed to exhibit and preserve fine and decorative art in U.S. embassies all over the world. At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, she is Co-Chairman of the Trustees’ Council. Jo Carole grew up in Wilmington, DE and received her B.A. from the Tyler School of Fine Art in Philadelphia. Jo Carole was the recipient of the 2007 Leo Award. She lives in New York with her family.

CINDY LIVINGSTON
Cindy Livingston is the retired CEO of Sequel AG, the global licensee of Guess and GC Watches. She was the CEO of that company from 1998-2016, conducting business in more than 100 countries around the world.  Under her global oversight, she was instrumental in starting Time to Give, the charitable arm of the company that raised more than $8 million for 15 children’s charities around the world. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Bravado Designs, a lingerie company based in Toronto, Canada. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, she is a graduate of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with degrees in marketing and advertising. She previously held jobs as Vice President of Accessories and Cosmetics for the Ohio Division of Federated Department Stores.

JOEL MILLER
Joel M. Miller is a Director of Golston & Storrs, a full service commercial law firm with offices in New York, Boston and the District of Columbia. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia Law School where he was Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He was the founding, and for 40 years, managing partner of Miller & Wrubel, a commercial litigation firm specializing in representing companies primarily in the financial services and real estate industries and other professionals, including law firms. Miller currently is Counsel to Goulston & Storrs in New York City. He is listed in Super Lawyers as one of the leading commercial litigators New York. He represents companies, law firms, and lawyers in commercial disputes involving securities transactions, finance and lending arrangements, complex instruments and derivatives, mortgage securitizations, mortgage servicing, and other financial crisis matters, real estate, executive movement and employment matters.

SAM MOYER
Sam Moyer is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work integrates a wide variety of materials including marble, painted glass, Plexiglas, wood. Textures and finishes often mirror or contradict one another, encouraging unanticipated results to arise from the materials she manipulates. She is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery, Kayne Griffin Corcoran and Galerie Rodolphe Janssen. Moyer has exhibited with the Public Art Fund, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; The Bass Museum, Miami, FL; Tensta konsthall, Stockholm; Société, Berlin; Autocenter, Berlin; Bugada & Cargnel, Paris; Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin; Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Nils Stærk, Copenhagen; and the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, among many other venues.

VIK MUNIZ
Vik Muniz was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1961, and lives and works in Brooklyn and Rio de Janeiro. Since early in his career Vik has had solo exhibitions in major American and international organizations, with his first major solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In addition to his artistic activities, Vik is involved in educational and social projects in Brazil and the US. In 2011 Unesco nominated him Good Will Ambassador and in January 2013 he received the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. In 2014 Vik started building Escola Vidigal, a school of art and technology for low-income children from the Vidigal community in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, Vik has been a visiting professor at the University of Oxford, Bard College, Residency programs at MIT, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and was the creative director of the 2017 Rio Paralympics opening ceremony. Vik’s works are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate Modern, London, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and others.

ANGEL OTERO
Angel Otero was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and is a Brooklyn-based visual artist best known for his process-based paintings. Otero received his MFA in 2009 and his BFA in 2007 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (2017); Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX (2016); Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2015); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA (2013); and Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC (2012). Otero is the recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Visual Arts. His work can be found in collections at DePaul University Museum, Chicago; Istanbul Modern, Istanbul; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA.

CAROL SALMANSON
Carol Salmanson works with light and reflective materials to create installations, sculptures, and wall pieces. She is best known for her window installations, which have been seen in Russia, New York, and New Jersey. Salmanson also has an extensive solo, two-person, and group exhibition history throughout the United States and internationally. Her work has been shown in galleries, non-profit venues, and artist run spaces such as SL Gallery, Guild Gallery II, PS122, FiveMyles, Storefront Bushwick, Dam Stuhltrager, Sideshow Gallery, and others. She has curated and co-curated shows as well. Salmanson earned a B.S. from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.B.A. in finance, accounting, and marketing from the University of Chicago. After working for a large corporation, she started a company which bought, renovated, and sold historic houses in Denver. She studied art in New York City at the Arts Students League, School of Visual Arts, and National Academy of Fine Arts’ Abbey Mural Workshop Fellowship program. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for ICl, Smack Mellon, and the Hearing Health Foundation.

PATRIZIA SANDRETTO RE REBAUDENGO
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo is founder and President of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, based first in Guarene (1997) and then also in Turin (2002). In 2017, she established the Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid. She is a member of the International Council of MoMA in New York, the International Council of the Tate Gallery in London, the Leadership Council of the New Museum in New York, the Committee for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Museum of Art of Philadelphia, the Conseil d’Administration de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, the CCS of the Bard College of New York, the Advisory Committee of the  Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, the Patronato of the Fundación MACBA of Barcelona. Since 2014 she is the President of the Comitato Fondazioni Arte Contemporanea (national Committee of Contemporary Art Foundations). Since 2017 she is the President of Fondazione IEO-Monzino (The European Institute of Oncology and Monzino Cadriological Centre). Since 2015 she teaches Theories and forms of the art market at IULM, Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione in Milan.

MEL SCHAFFER
Ann and Mel Schaffer are long-time supporters and members of ICI. Mel graduated from Cornell University and is the Chairman and CEO of Trademark Plastics Corp. in New Jersey. Ann is a Skidmore College graduate, who tutored romance languages and worked at the United Nations as an information officer, interpreter, and translator. She later was a founding supporter of Rachel Coalition, an organization that combats domestic violence, and was a teacher, consultant and advisor of contemporary art. Ann and Mel both serve on the Photography Council at the Guggenheim (with Ann serving as Co-Chair), and are Co-Chairs of ICI’s annual fall benefit. In addition, Ann is a member of several boards, including Skidmore College; the Montclair Art Museum, which she is Chair of the Art Committee; United Jewish Communities of Metro West; and the NJ State of Israel Bonds Women’s Division. She also serves on advisory committees, including the Opportunity Project; and Co-Chair of the National Advisory Council at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. She has been the curator of the annual Art for Art’s Sake fundraiser and auction at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, where she was honored in 2019. Ann is an officer and Honorary Chair of the Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art and a former Trustee.

SARINA TANG
Leadership Council Chair
Sarina Tang is an art historian, curator, and patron with extensive experience in the international arts community.  She studied at the École du Louvre in Paris. Born in Shanghai, her family emigrated to Sao Paulo, where she was raised. She studied Chinese brushwork painting as a teenager and her first visit to the 9th Bienal de Sao Paulo awakened a life-long passion for works of art by living artists. For the 34th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Ms. Tang is a member of the International Advisory Board. Ms. Tang worked with Roy Lichtenstein's last commissioned sculpture plaza in Singapore in the 90s and curated his exhibitions Landscapes in Chinese Style in museums in Singapore and Hong Kong. She has surveyed contemporary art in China since the 1980s, and founded a non-profit residency and exhibition/concert space in Beijing in 2006. Finding a lacuna in cross-cultural interaction between her own 2 background countries, Ms. Tang created the operating foundation Currents Art and Music, to bridge contemporary art of Brazil and China. In 2017/2018, Ms. Tang curated the first exhibition to show a panorama of contemporary Brazilian art in Beijing. Troposphere featured paintings, sculpture, photography, video and new installations by 21 Brazilian artists linked to works by 21 Chinese artists. Website: currents.cc

CHRISTOPHER WISE
Christopher Wise has over fifteen years’ experience managing large and complex fine art operations. As Vice President at DeWitt Stern | Risk Strategies, Mr. Wise is responsible for expanding DeWitt Stern’s practice with a broad spectrum of fine art clients including, private collections, galleries, museums, artists and estates and foundations. Prior to joining DeWitt Stern Mr. Wise was Executive Vice President at UOVO. He played a key role on the leadership team launching a globally recognized fine art storage firm that developed over 500,000 SF of real estate, a specialized transportation company with a fleet of vehicles, nearly 100 employees, and the management of over $2B customer owned artwork. Mr. Wise developed the risk management program for UOVO, including contracts, terms of service and the placement of insurance coverages. Prior to UOVO, Mr. Wise was director and co-founder of SD Fine Art Storage, an owner and developer of fine art storage properties in New York City. Mr. Wise is a frequent speaker at professional organizations and in the press, including American Alliance of Museums (AAM), Association of Registrars & Collection Specialists (ARCS), The Aspen Institute of Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative (AEFI), The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He graduated with honors from Knox College with a dual degree in Studio Art and English Literature. 

SALLY WRIGHT
Sally Wright is the Executive Director of Catskill Art Space in Livingston Manor, NY. During her tenure at CAS she has led the organization on a $1.5 million capital expansion project, broadening the scale and scope of the program bringing James Turrell and Sol LeWitt to rural communities of the Western Catskills. Together with the CAS Artists Council, Wright directs the curatorial vision of CAS overseeing the realization of its exhibition program and producing catalogues with critical art historians and scholars. She previously served at Dia Art Foundation as the Manager of Special Events and Corporate Sponsorship, generating over one third of the organizations' annual operating revenue. Wright graduated from Bates College with a BS in Anthropology. She lives in Livingston Manor and New York City with her family.

GERRIT L. LANSING
Chairman Emeritus, In Memoriam

MAXINE FRANKEL
Trustee Emeritus

CAROL GOLDBERG
Trustee Emeritus

AGNES GUND
Trustee Emeritus

SUSAN SOLLINS
ICI Co-Founder, In Memoriam

NINA CASTELLI SUNDELL
ICI Co-Founder, In Memoriam