BROOKLYN, NY.- Powerhouse Arts (PHA) announces the appointment of Liz Munsell as Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs. This senior leadership position reflects Powerhouse Arts’ commitment to elevating the role of art as a central pillar of civic life and community well-being. As Brooklyn’s purpose-built hub for arts fabrication and programming, Powerhouse Arts serves thousands of artists, fabricators, educators, and community members annually, creating a dynamic ecosystem that drives cultural innovation and contributes to the broader creative economy.

Working closely with President Eric Shiner and the senior leadership team, Munsell will lead the vision and execution of exhibitions and public programs designed to deepen community engagement and broaden access to the arts. Her position includes developing major annual exhibitions, expanding educational programming in collaboration with PHA’s Learning and Engagement team, and overseeing the Programming team that supports artist residency and subsidy initiatives, art fairs, and other institutional programs.

“Liz brings a valuable combination of curatorial rigor, institutional insight, and a deep commitment to artists,” said Shiner. “Her leadership will help us further model what an arts institution can be in the twenty-first century, with a focus on artistic production, collaboration, and community.”

For Munsell, this role is a welcome evolution after nearly two decades working within some of the country’s most respected museums.

“Having dedicated my career to traditional museums with extraordinary collections and weighty histories, I was drawn to the opportunity to rethink how institutions support artists,” says Munsell. “Powerhouse Arts provides an environment of deep material, technical, and community resources that aligns closely with my artist and audience-centered curatorial practice.”

Munsell noted that exhibitions will play a critical role in making visible the extensive behind-the-scenes work, including fabrication activities, that define Powerhouse Arts.

“Building a new exhibitions program at Powerhouse Arts offers an opportunity to reveal the incredible network of production, experimentation, and collaboration unfolding here every day. By making those processes more visible, accessible, and interactive, we hope to inspire diverse community members to imagine themselves as artists or arts workers.”

Munsell’s appointment also reflects a broader narrative of institutional transformation. In 2021 she co-founded Museums Moving Forward, an advocacy initiative dedicated to improving equity and working conditions within the museum sector. Her move to Powerhouse Arts represents not a departure from institutional work but an opportunity to help shape a new model.

“I’m excited to help build an institution that embodies the values of diversity, accessibility, and inclusion that many of us have been working toward,” she said.

Standing on one of the few remaining industrially-zoned blocks in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, Powerhouse Arts embodies a unique intersection of industrial production, artistic experimentation, and community engagement. “The organization embraces an idea that resonates deeply with me—that artists are workers, and workers are artists,” she said. “It’s a model that acknowledges the labor of cultural production while also creating space for communities of all demographics to engage with contemporary art from its humble beginnings in a studio, to its presentation at the highest level.”