BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Art Bridges Foundation announces the appointment of Alana Ryder as Director of the Art Bridges Fellows Program, effective immediately.

“The Art Bridges Fellows Program is a cornerstone initiative that builds on our mission of expanding access to American art across the nation, and I’m thrilled to welcome Alana Ryder as the program’s first director,” said Paul Provost, CEO, Art Bridges. “Alana brings the energy and experience to work with our partner museums and to build a program that both extends our mission and also creates a pipeline of future museum professionals from diverse backgrounds. I look forward to supporting Alana as we launch the program and assemble our first class of Fellows.”

The newly-created Art Bridges Fellows Program supports early-career museum professionals who will be placed with Art Bridges partner museums for a three-year fellowship to develop collection projects that get art out of storage, create access for others, foster community engagement, and inspire experimentation.

In her role, Ryder will be responsible for developing and implementing a practical training and career program for the Fellows through varied professional experiences at Art Bridges and at partner museums. In addition to program director, Ryder will oversee the Art Bridges internship program.

“In the years to come, the Art Bridges Fellows Program will create extraordinary pathways for emerging professionals in the arts,” said Alana Ryder, Fellows Program Director. “With its national network and commitments to access, collaboration, and mentorship, the Fellows Program will make field-defining contributions for diversity and the next generation leadership in museums.”

Before joining Art Bridges, Ryder was Manager, Public and University Programs at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State. Ryder previously held roles at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and the Burchfield Penney Art Center (Buffalo, NY). She has curated exhibitions on Charles E. Burchfield and John Cage and presented on academic museums at conferences in Los Angeles, DC, New York, Miami, Chicago, and Tokyo. Recently, she edited a book of student writing on the performing arts, Risk is a Relative Term (2020). Ryder received an M.B.A. from Fisher College at Ohio State, M.A. in history with museum studies from SUNY Buffalo State, and a B.A. in the history of art from the University of California, Berkeley.