SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Museum of Craft and Design announced Kara Owens as its new Associate Director. Owens will be vital in helping MCD continue to build a culture of innovation, inclusion, collaboration, teamwork, and philanthropy. With over twenty years of experience in the arts, culture, and social justice sectors, Owens brings outstanding leadership skills, grantmaking experience, and project management to MCD. She has worked with myriad communities through nonprofit enterprise and public service to support the City’s manifold creative voices.

Owens comments, “It is an honor to join the Museum of Craft and Design as it continues its upward trajectory as a dedicated space for innovative and provocative contemporary art, craft, and design. I am overjoyed to support JoAnn Edwards and her team’s vision to shape new ways art may permeate, inform, and inspire our daily lives. I am thrilled to join a community that does so much to nurture artists and contributes so greatly to our dynamic arts ecosystem.”

Prior to MCD, Owens worked as a consultant for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where she managed the Performing Arts Program’s Organizational Effectiveness Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (OE-EID) grantmaking program. Additionally, she was of service to the Chinatown Media & Arts Collaborative and led multi-sector engagement and community partnerships for the region’s first AAPI contemporary art and culture hub. Owens also supported Grants for the Arts as a coordinator and program officer, and granted over 200 San Francisco nonprofit arts organizations with general operating support and special project funds.

MCD’s Executive Director, JoAnn Edwards notes, “It is a tremendous asset to have Kara Owens on MCD’s leadership team as it ramps up to the next phase of growth. Her high-quality leadership, community-centric experience, and passion for the arts will be invaluable. ”