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Armenian Museum of America Appoints Jennifer Liston Munson as Executive Director

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Jennifer Liston Munson as Executive Director

The Board of Trustees at the Armenian Museum of America announced on Feb. 28, the appointment of Jennifer Liston Munson as the Armenian Museum’s next Executive Director.

Jennifer’s association with the organization first began in 2011 when she was introduced to the museum by portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh’s widow, Estrellita Karsh. It was at that time that Jennifer, one of the leading professionals from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, along with her colleague Keith Crippen, transformed the first floor of the Museum in preparation for the “Karsh: Celebrating Humanity and Highlights from the Collection” exhibitions.

Following this transformational project, the Executive Committee at the Museum contracted Jennifer for a number of other projects. Her work has always been of the highest caliber and has brought a new level of excellence and awareness to the Armenian Museum. She designed the Simourian Family Galleries which feature the exhibition Objects That Transcend, a display of newly-acquired metalwork, and the Adele and Haig Der Manuelian Contemporary Galleries, where she curated and designed Scars of Silence, an installation of video and photography by Nubar Alexanian that explores the subconscious suppression of loss by three generations of Armenian-Americans. In 2017 she worked with graphic designer Andrew Wollner to create the rebranding and identity program for the museum, which draws from an expressive symbol of eternity carved on a 12th-century Armenian monastery to form a distinctive logo that, combined with the tagline art, culture, & eternity, sets the tone for the reinvention of the museum.

“During Jennifer’s association with the Armenian Museum, she developed a great love and passion for Armenian art, history, and culture. One of her many goals will be to develop programs and exhibitions to expand visibility of the museum to a wider audience within both the Armenian and non-Armenian communities,” the museum’s Board of Trustees said in a statement. “The Board feels extremely fortunate to have someone with her extensive experience and creativity leading the museum at this pivotal time in the organization’s history,” the statement went on.

Liston Munson received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University, and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Loughborough College of Art and Design in England. Prior to her work as a senior member of the Exhibitions and Design Department at the MFA, she was a 2001 Traveling Scholar at the MFA. Jennifer maintains a professional art practice. Her work is held in many corporate and private collections.

The Armenian Museum of America houses and preserves objects of art and culture collected from Armenian families and donors from around the world. The museum holds its collection in trust for future generations as objects of witness and survival to serve as a record of Armenian creativity, ingenuity, and wisdom for those who are familiar with Armenian history and culture, as well as for those to whom these objects, manuscripts, and ephemera are a new experience.

California Legislature: $3 million for Armenian Museum, $10 for curriculum included in Calif. budget

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Armenian Museum, $10 for curriculum included in Calif. budgetSenator Anthony Portantino announced that the Armenian Genocide Education curriculum implementation and the Armenian-American Museum funding have been included in the final version of the State budget.

The California Legislature will be voting to pass the 2017-2018 budget on Thursday, June 15.

The $3 million-dollar funding commitment for the Glendale-based museum brings the state investment to this important human rights project to $4 million dollars. Earlier in the year, Portantino helped restore the initial $1 million from last year’s budget. Portantino asked the State Senate to prioritize increasing the State’s commitment to the museum to an additional $3 million over the next three years.

Portantino, with the support of Senate Pro Tem Kevin de León and Budget Subcommittee Chair Richard Roth, arranged a presentation from Armenian Museum Executive Board Member Zaven Kazazian before the budget subcommittee. Portantino joined Kazazian in making the presentation before the subcommittee.

“I am extremely happy that as a member of the budget committee, I was able to bring these two important proposals to light this year. It was such a pleasure to invite Zaven Kazazian from the Armenian Museum Board to Sacramento to present this significant human rights project to the attention of the Senate and then into the State Budget,” commented Portantino.

The subcommittee and the Senate subsequently included the funding in the Senate version of the budget. Since the request was not included in the Assembly budget, it had to be sent to the budget Conference Committee for resolution. The Conference Committee adopted the Senate proposal, paving the way for the museum funding to be included in the fiscal 2017 – 2018 budget.

“I am very pleased that the State Senate included the request for funding of our important museum proposal. It was an honor to present at the Senate subcommittee and I’m very excited that the full budget includes the Senate request,” concluded Zaven Kazazian, Armenian American Museum Executive Board Member.

As Chair of Budget Subcommittee on Education, Portantino also put in the request for the funding of the genocide curriculum update implementation. Again, this proposal was included in the Senate priority list. After long negotiations, $10 million dollars was included in the 2017-2018 budget to fund the History-Social Science curriculum framework, which includes teacher training for the Armenian Genocide and other important historical updates.

Over the past several years, the legislature has passed bills to update California curriculum on various issues included the Armenian Genocide. Assembly Member Adrin Nazarian authored the legislation to include teaching Armenian Genocide history. Portantino’s budget request funds the development and implementation of this important curriculum update.

Sen. Portantino represents nearly 930,000 people in the 25th Senate District, which includes Altadena, Atwater Village, Bradbury, Burbank, Claremont, Duarte, Glendale, Glendora, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, La Verne, Lake View Terrace, Los Feliz, Monrovia, Montrose, Pasadena, San Dimas, San Marino, Shadow Hills, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Sunland-Tujunga, and Upland.