Jacqueline Terrassa named Director of the Colby College Museum of Art

Visionary leader brings deep experience from the Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Colby College announces the appointment of Jacqueline Terrassa as the Carolyn Muzzy Director of the Colby College Museum of Art. Terrassa, currently the Woman’s Board vice president for learning and public engagement at the Art Institute of Chicago, assumes her role in October. 

“Jackie Terrassa is the perfect leader for Colby’s wonderful Museum of Art,” said President David A. Greene. “She is an artist and educator who has helped transform the way museums engage with and enrich their communities. With her sharp intellect and rigorous approach to understanding the meaning and impact of artistic works, she is ideally suited to further the Museum’s scholarly and teaching mission.”

Terrassa will lead the Colby College Museum of Art at a time when it has significantly expanded the depth and diversity of its collection and grown its reputation as one of the most respected college museums in the country. The Museum has successfully built relationships with artists, collectors, and other major art museums globally; created exhibitions focused on issues of our time; and integrated the Museum into the student experience. 

“I am thrilled to lead this visionary museum at a time when the field is undergoing profound transformation,” commented Terrassa. “The Colby College Museum of Art offers the perfect context to manifest values of creativity, community, and care that have anchored my work over the years. During the coming years, we will continue to create an expansive, inclusive model for what an art museum can be in collaboration with the many communities the museum seeks to serve, while also continuing to open new ways of understanding American art, art history, and art practice in relation to a constantly evolving, diverse, and complex world.”

Terrassa’s responsibilities will also involve supporting and advancing the mission of the study of American art and scholarship. Imperative to this will be overseeing Colby’s Lunder Institute for American Art. 

“The Colby Museum of Art believes deeply in the value of expanding the canon of American art, inspiring an interchange of ideas between places and cultures, and opening up new models for scholarly and creative engagement,” said Karen Linde Packman ’88, P’21, who serves as chair of the Museum’s Board of Governors. “We are confident that Jacqueline will build upon these ideals and allow us to reach new levels in our work. She’s a dynamic leader with great vision, connecting art to diverse audiences in meaningful ways.” 

Packman noted the ongoing commitment to integrating the Museum into downtown Waterville, which is part of the College’s overarching plan to leverage the arts to help drive the resurgence of the city. The initiative will include a gallery at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, currently in the planning stages, as well as studios and research space in Colby’s arts collaborative, expected to open in spring 2021. 

Deep Experience with Public engagement
Terrassa comes to Colby with an exceptional array of leadership positions at the country’s top museums. At the Art Institute of Chicago, Terrassa set the vision and strategies to strengthen the museum’s civic role as a resource and leader and expand inclusion and equitable access to the institution.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Terrassa established the division of Gallery and Studio Programs, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, she directed public programs that connected adults, families, and youth with artists and the art of our time. 

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Terrassa earned her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA from the University of Chicago. She served as deputy director of collections, programs, and interpretation at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art; and was head of planning for the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution.