SOMArts Cultural Center, the city-funded artist incubator, gallery and performance space, announced Thursday that it has hired San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art’s Maria Jenson to be its new executive director.
Jenson comes from SFMOMA’s External Relations team, where she worked for the past three years managing community relationships and public partnerships. She leaves for her new position just days after the newly-renovated museum reopens.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Jenson says she wants to work with SOMArts to help emerging artists find their way into San Francisco’s growing art world, adding, “Everybody needs a place to cultivate their ideas, and I think the cultural centers really provide that opportunity.”
Located under the I-80 overpass, SOMArts is one of six city-supported non-profit cultural centers that provide space for young, experimental artists to create their work and perform or exhibit new works outside of the often exclusive, profit-minded art world.
Representatives of SOMArts and the city have expressed excitement over Jenson’s hire.
