Legacy 2015 Miami: Black Healthcare Issue | Page 10

10BB

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO THE MIAMI HERALD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015

PINNACLE
By Olisa Adger

Meet New Director of Perez Art Museum Miami, Franklin Sirmans

Franklin Sirmans,
Future Director of the Perez Art Museum

THE EVE OF

JACKIE
THE LIFE OF R&B STAR
JACKIE WILSON

OCT 14-25

The Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is
getting a new director this month. Franklin
Sirmans will be bringing his talents to Miami
from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(LACMA) where he has served as
depart-ment head and curator of
contemporary art since 2010. Prior to
LACMA, Sirmans was curator of modern and
contemporary art at the Menil Collection in
Houston.
We spoke with Mr. Sirmans about the
contemporary and modern art scene in
South Florida and diversity among artists.
LM: Were you contacted about the
available position or did you specifically
seek out PAMM?
FS: I was excited to be contacted and I
immediately responded. Even before they
contacted me, I knew about the position
and thought that it was an ideal position for
me. The Perez is a growing collection of
modern and contemporary, so it has that
focus that is really where I come from.
That’s what I study, that is my foundation. It
has an amazing curatorial staff of four
individuals, whom I know and admire and
am seriously looking forward to working

with, and a board who wants to take things
to a new place. The museum building is only
two years old, so going to a beautiful
building that is practically brand new is
something that I find as a really great
foundation.
LM: What do you find appealing about
Miami?
FS: Having worked in Houston, LA and
New York, I find Miami to be one of the
most dynamic cities there is, with an
unparalleled diversity and change, and it’s
just a dynamic place to work from at this
point in time in so many ways. So, all of
those things combine to make it the most
appealing place I can imagine.
LM: What is your take on the Black
community’s involvement in the art scene
here in Miami?
FS: When you say, “art scene,” I have to
think about the whole cosmology of
galleries, and I’m sure there could be a
much deeper representation of people of
color, in general, in broad terms. But at the
same time, if I think about that, and I think
about communities, and I think about MOCA
[Museum of Contemporary Art]

“Having worked in Houston, LA and
New York, I find Miami to be
one of the most dynamic cities there is,
with an unparalleled diversity and
change, and it’s just a dynamic place to
work from at this point in time in
so many ways…”

CELEBRATING
THE GOOD LIFE WITH
THE LEGENDARY
NATALIE COLE
PATTI LABELLE

THE MOVIE MUSIC OF

SPIKE LEE
&
TERENCE
BLANCHARD

NOV 6

North Miami, and I think about who’s at the
BASS [Museum of Art], and I think about all
these places together, it is a pretty good
foundation for a conversation around
representation, where everybody feels like
they have a pretty good place at the tabl K