Guggenheim appoints Cyra Levenson deputy director
Cyra Levenson. Image courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
NEW YORK – Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, announced Thursday the appointment of Cyra Levenson to the position of Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education and Public Engagement.
Levenson will be responsible for the development and implementation of learning and engagement opportunities for modern and contemporary art and architecture at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and will have a significant role in partnering across the foundation’s international network. She comes to the Guggenheim Museum from the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she has been Deputy Director and Head of Public and Academic Engagement since 2016. Levenson will begin her new position on March 3.
A vital member of the Guggenheim’s senior leadership team and executive cabinet, Levenson will head the Education Department’s activities to develop, present and cultivate learning and engagement for all visitors, including youth, families and adults. Levenson will introduce content that explores the collection and exhibitions and oversee programming that serves an average of 250,000 students, teachers, scholars, artists and members of the public each year. She will provide leadership for the museum’s ongoing school and family programs, internships, access programs and interpretive and public programs, including the longstanding Learning Through Art artist residency program in New York City public schools, and, with the museum’s curatorial team, the Guggenheim Social Practice initiative. She will also partner with education colleagues at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and will develop program and audience engagement strategies for the future museum in Abu Dhabi.
Previously, Levenson served as the Curator of Education and Academic Outreach at the Yale Center for British Art. She was also the Co-executive Secretary of the Yale-Smithsonian Partnership and was responsible for developing and leading the academic and public engagement initiative between the two institutions. Levenson has also held positions in the museum education field at the Rubin Museum of Art, the Heritage School in New York and Seattle Art Museum. She holds a master of education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.
