Above: Sarah Schultz was the Director of Education and Community Programs at the Walker Art Center. Photographed March 28, 2013. (Courtney Perry/Special to the Star Tribune)
This week the American Craft Council announced Sarah Schultz as the new executive director. She will start work on April 2, just in time for the St. Paul American Craft Show (April 20-22).
A known name around the Twin Cities, Schulz was a long-time employee at the Walker Art Center, working there from 1992-2014 in the positions of director of education (14 years) and curator of public practice (8 years). She launched the Open Field program, which hosts over 100 events throughout he summer in a field near the Walker, and also established the artist-designed mini golf program, among other projects.
"One of the things I'm keen to do is to create more opportunities for artists and audiences to engage in craft," said Schulz, when reached by phone in New York. "I'm excited to jump back into the community again and reconnect with artists that I've known, and meet new artists."
Schulz will be returning to the Twin Cities from New York, where she's most recently been the interim vice president of public programs and education for Friends of the Highline in New York City and a visiting curator for Mural Arts Philadelphia. Though not a native Minnesotan, she lived in Minneapolis for 26 years after finishing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota.
When asked what programs she might be working on, she said that it's "a little premature to launch big projects," but did note that she's especially intrigued by artists that work in the "interstitial spaces between art and craft, design and craft, and even performance and craft."
Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the American Craft Council relocated to Minneapolis from New York in 2010.
