Cultural Institutions: The Next 4 Years

Moderated by Sam Mondros, The San Francisco Standard

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As museums and other cultural institutions navigate political and economic change, how can those dedicated to historically excluded communities amplify their missions? This panel brings together our city’s arts leaders to discuss the path of cultural institutions over the next four years: how to sustain public and philanthropic support, advocate for inclusivity, and remain vital to the communities they serve. This panel will feature Ali Gass, director of ICA SF; Soyoung Lee, director of the Asian Art Museum; Roberto Ordeñana, executive director of the GLBT Historical Society; and Key Jo Lee, chief of curatorial affairs and public programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora. This conversation will be moderated by The San Francisco Standard’s arts reporter Sam Mondros.

Sam Mondros, Moderator
Sam covers the arts for The San Francisco Standard. Previously, he was a staff reporter at the Point Reyes Light covering government, education, wildlife, and the arts in West Marin. His work has also been featured in The New York Times and Squarecylinder.

Ali Gass, Founding Director + Chief Curator, ICA SF

Alison Gass is the ICA San Francisco’s founding director. Her leadership focuses on building globally-minded and community-engaged exhibitions programs and diversifying museums’ collections, staff and visitorship.

Most recently Gass served as the ICA San José’s Executive Director and Chief Curator where she steered the museum through its most successful year during COVID. Before that, she was the Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago where she launched the Feitler Center for Academic Engagement. Previously Gass was the Chief Curator at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, and the Assistant Curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

The ICA SF isn’t her first “startup” museum. After leaving SFMOMA, Gass served as the Founding Chief Curator at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, where she helped launch the new Zaha Hadid- designed building, assembled a team, and established a global contemporary art program.

Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs, Museum of the African Diaspora

Key Jo Lee is chief of curatorial affairs and public programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. In this role, Lee oversees the strategic direction for the museum’s exhibitions and programs; leads globally on identifying and promoting emerging artists from the African diaspora; and works to expand MoAD’s reach and influence locally, nationally, and internationally. She is responsible for the overall management and execution of the museum’s curatorial vision, including its exhibitions, publications, and public and educational programs, and plays an important role in the organization’s outreach, communications, and digital strategy.

Lee has a master’s degree from and is PhD candidate in History of Art and African American Studies at Yale University. Her first book, Perceptual Drift: Black Art and an Ethics of Looking, was published by Yale University Press and The Cleveland Museum of Art in January 2023.

Soyoung Lee, Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO, Asian Art Museum
Soyoung Lee is the newly appointed Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum San Francisco. Most recently, Lee served as Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator at the Harvard Art Museums, where she oversaw the museums’ robust exhibitions program and curatorial vision for building the global collections. She also directed the Museum Training Program mentoring the next generation of curatorial, conservation, and education professionals. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University for the academic year 2024-25. Between 2003-2018, Soyoung was the first curator for Korean art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she helped transform the profile of Korean art and culture in the U.S. Her acclaimed exhibitions and publications include Jewelry: The Body Transformed, Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art, Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom, and Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. A respected scholar and leader in the museum field, Lee has wide-ranging expertise and research interests, including Korean and Japanese ceramics 1400-1900, issues of cross-cultural exchanges in East Asia, and contemporary Asian and Asian diasporic art. She received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University.

Roberto Ordeñana , Executive Director, GLBT Historical Society
Born and raised in San Francisco, Roberto’s career has focused on strengthening local LGBTQ+ communities at the nexus of equity, economic opportunity, health, well-being, and culture for over 25 years. In the late 1990s, he worked at STOP AIDS Project, where he developed nationally recognized HIV prevention programs, experimental documentaries, and community organizing projects with Latinx gay, bisexual, and trans youth. He previously worked at the San Francisco LGBT Center, where he built direct service, arts, and cultural programs and worked to strengthen its organizational capacity and long-term sustainability. He is the Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society, museum, and archives that recently announced the acquisition of permanent space for the museum and archives in partnership with the City and County of San Francisco. In addition to his long professional career leading LGBTQ+ programs and institutions, Roberto has also volunteered his time as part of San Francisco community boards and city commissions, including Bay Area Young Positives, the LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the San Francisco Arts Commission, where he served for ten years and as president from 2019 to 2022.