Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) Appoints Janice Bond as Deputy Director

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) announced on July 8, 2020 the museum appointed Janice Bond as Deputy Director. Bond brings to CAMH a stellar career of artist advocacy, community activation and engagement, as well as years of administrative leadership at multifaceted contemporary art platforms in both Chicago, Illinois and Houston.

Bond joins CAMH’s leadership team—alongside Executive Director Hesse McGraw—to guide the institution into an exciting period of growth and systemic change. In addition to providing oversight of all museum operations, Bond will work cross-departmentally to uphold new strategic directions that build internal collaborations and expand CAMH’s external partnerships. Bond will further advance the Museum’s commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion for a healthy internal and external culture.

“CAMH is thrilled to welcome Janice to our team—as a native Houstonian, Janice’s new role represents both a homecoming and pivotal moment for the Museum,” said Hesse McGraw, Executive Director. “Janice brings a remarkable record to CAMH, grounded both in belief and trust in artists, and strategic operational acumen that will serve CAMH well. We look forward to the positive influence her thoughtful leadership and cultural insight will infuse into the Museum.”

Although born and raised in Houston, Bond comes to CAMH from Chicago where she was not only an accomplished artist, curator, and gallerist but she also founded Bond Creative Advisors—a consulting practice that has led collectives of artists and institutions in realizing large-scale projects and programs across the city and beyond. These diverse initiatives included new artist-in-residence programs, public art planning and project development, and The Art Allies, which educated and developed visual art collectors and arts entrepreneurs. In this same period, Bond also served as a member of both the Chicago Cultural Plan Advisory Council and the Navy Pier Arts Working Group.

From 2013 to 2015, Bond served as Director of Arts and Culture at Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a not-for-profit—founded and led by MacArthur Fellow Dr. Rami Nashashibi—with a focus of using art as a foundation and pathway for social justice and restorative healing within the city’s southwest side and in similarly marginalized communities. In addition, she has launched an enterprise of transformative workshops facilitated across the world, from the Brooklyn Museum to Malaysia.

Bond’s experience as an artist extends beyond the United States. In 2014, she traveled to Dakar, Senegal where she became a supporter of Association Colombin, a nonprofit artist-founded organization that remains artist-led and artist-run, while teaching pottery and sculpture to deaf and mute Senegalese so that they can gain independence and visibility while making a positive impact in their community. In 2016, Bond was an artist-in-residence and lecturer at the Mark Rothko Art Centre in Daugavpils, Latvia, where her work remains as part of the permanent collection.

“It is a true joy to join the leadership to evolve CAMH’s historic and renowned institutional legacy.” Bond said. “For a museum to sustainably realize its vision, the endeavor must be rooted in the spirit of aligned conscience, service, and investment. As CAMH continues to travel this path, it is imperative that we recalibrate our internal and external operational models to purposefully foster equity and expanded vision. I look forward to CAMH addressing long-standing inequities through re-imagining how we listen, how we engage our communities, and how we aspire to greatness. Alongside the Houston community, artists, cultural workers, staff, and Board of Trustees, I am eager to co-create spaces that inform, inspire, and influence the experience of contemporary art in Houston and beyond.”

Bond’s administrative prowess, contemporary art knowledge, and community engagement will integrate seamlessly with CAMH’s ongoing strategic efforts to position artists as catalysts for cultural and civic transformation. Bond assumed her role at CAMH on June 23, 2020.

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