Chakshu Patel Appointed Director of Institutional Advancement
New York, NY, June 12, 2019 – The Studio Museum in Harlem is pleased to announce the appointment of Chakshu Patel as its Director of Institutional Advancement. She will take up her position on June 17, working with Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden and colleagues across the institution to secure the support necessary to realize the Studio Museum’s vital mission.
The Studio Museum is currently in the largest campaign in its fifty-year history, for the purpose of funding construction of its new building designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, providing an operating reserve, and increasing the endowment. The campaign to date has proceeded strongly, with contributions from public and private donors enabling the Museum to commence the first major phase of the building project. Patel will build on this success, leading the strategic direction, management, leadership and implementation of the Museum’s capital and annual fundraising initiatives.
Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, said, “I am thrilled to welcome Chakshu Patel in this crucial leadership role. Her entire career has been defined by her commitment to social justice and to increasing access and opportunity. I know the passion she brings to her work at the Studio Museum will be as important to us as her broad institutional perspective and her diverse, extensive experience, which has encompassed development, management, program design, and strategy.”
Chakshu Patel said, “I am excited to be joining the Studio Museum at this important moment in its history, and to work alongside Thelma Golden and the entire Museum staff to further solidify the Museum’s place as a premier center for contemporary artists of African descent, locally, nationally and globally.”
Patel comes to the Studio Museum from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), where she most recently served as Vice President in the Strategy Office. Prior to that, she served as the National Director of Foundation Relations and Donor Communications at PPFA. Under Patel’s leadership, the department experienced significant growth in both its revenue and the number of its full-time staff. In particular, her work focused on raising funds for key organizational strategic initiatives.
Before joining PPFA, Patel was a practicing attorney, who worked at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project and in private practice.
Patel holds a JD from New York University School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, and a BA in Women’s Studies from Drew University. She serves on the Board of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, a nonprofit organization working with the City of Jersey City to preserve a half-mile-long elevated railway for a habitat-oriented linear park.
About The Studio Museum in Harlem
Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, The Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Studio Museum is preparing to construct a new home at its longtime location on Manhattan’s West 125th Street, designed by internationally renowned architect David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. The first building created expressly for the institution’s program, the new building will enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.
While the Studio Museum is currently closed for construction, the Museum has opened Studio Museum 127, a temporary programming space located at 429 West 127th Street, and is working to deepen its roots in its neighborhood through inHarlem, a dynamic set of collaborative programs. The Museum’s groundbreaking exhibitions, thought-provoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops continue at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem and beyond.
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