June 12, 2023
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Curran as Executive Director of UChicago Presents.
Sarah is an arts consultant and curator who has served as Interim Executive Director of UChicago Presents for the last year. Her broad arts knowledge covers music, theater, dance, contemporary performance, visual arts, and film. Sarah’s curatorial practice includes fostering interdisciplinary work and socially responsive programming. From 2017 until 2019, Sarah served as the Director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, known for its adventurous programming and academic integration. She simultaneously served as Managing Director of Wesleyan’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), a low-residency Master’s degree program offering artist-centered curatorial training in time-based art. Prior to her time at Wesleyan, Sarah spent eight years with Stanford Arts as the Director of Programming and Partnerships, and then as the first Associate Director of the Stanford Arts Institute. She has worked with The Tribeca Film Festival, Martha Graham Dance Company, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School. Sarah holds an MA in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, an AB from Princeton University, and certificates in Curatorial Practice in Performance from Wesleyan University and management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
As UChicago Presents enters its 80th season, we are thrilled that Sarah has agreed to take on the role of Executive Director and lead the organization into its next chapter. Drawing on UChicago Presents’ long history of bringing high-caliber musical performances to campus, she hopes to expand UCP’s breadth of programming and deepen connections with campus partners. As Sarah puts it, “I see UChicago Presents as a vital platform for providing accessible, innovative, world-class performances to audiences on campus, in the community, and beyond.”
Please join us in thanking the members of the search committee and all of our colleagues who assisted in the search, and in welcoming Sarah to the Directorship of UCP.