PROVIDENCE COLLEGE ANNOUNCES NEW PC GALLERIES DIRECTOR AND CHIEF CURATOR
(Providence, R.I.) – Providence College (PC) announced today that it has named Carol Stakenas, M.F.A, as its director and chief curator of Providence College Galleries (PCG). Stakenas, who most recently served as Guest Artistic Director and Curator at Swarthmore College Libraries in Swarthmore, PA, started her duties at PC on September 18.
“Carol brings extensive expertise in managing and curating art exhibitions for higher education institutions and non-profit organizations across the country,” said Sean F. Reid, Ph.D., Providence College provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “We’re excited to have someone with Carol’s experience and vision come to PC.”
“I am excited to help grow a space of belonging and contemplation and a hub for dialog, participation, and innovation,” Stakenas said of her new role. “PCG is generating momentum, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with the staff and faculty to amplify the work,” they added. Stakenas succeeds Jamilee Lacy who earlier this year became Executive Director of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle.
Prior to Swarthmore, Stakenas worked as the executive director of No Longer Empty, a nonprofit that curates site-responsive exhibitions, education, and public programs in unconventional locations around New York City, and was the executive director of the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. She also has been involved in several curator and producer roles for art-based organizations across the country.
Stakenas is a frequent conference participant and an active author and editor of various literary projects. They earned a B.A. from Goucher College in Maryland, a B.F.A. in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, and an M.F.A, in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.
PCG showcases contemporary art to advance PC’s mission to cultivate “aesthetic appreciation, and understanding of the natural world, other cultures, and diverse traditions” while promoting “the common good and service of neighbors near and far.” It operates two on-campus galleries, the Reilly Gallery at the Smith Center for the Arts and a gallery in Hunt-Cavanagh Hall. It also sponsors a multi-platform website that includes the online journal Providence Arts & Letters, manages installations and exhibitions across the college’s campus, and intersects with the public throughout the city of Providence.
One of those public projects is My HomeCourt, an annual initiative that fosters community engagement through the revitalization of basketball courts and city parks facilitated by cutting-edge contemporary art. Every year, a Providence park with an outdoor, public basketball court is selected for renovation. PCG then commissions an internationally renowned artist to design a ground mural for that court.
Founded in 1917, Providence College is the only college or university in the United States administered by the Dominican Friars. The Catholic, liberal arts college has an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 4,100 students and offers degrees in 56 academic majors. Since 1997, Providence College consistently has been ranked among the top five regional universities in the North according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.
