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Berkeley, CA, April 27, 2012- The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) announces the appointment of Aimee Chang as Director of Engagement. The newly created position brings the communications, education, and membership departments together to foster meaningful and transformative experiences for visitors at an institution that celebrates art, film, and cultural discourse.

“We are ecstatic to welcome Aimee to the BAM/PFA team. Her groundbreaking work in a diverse range of education, communications, and curatorial roles at some of the finest museums in the country makes her uniquely qualified for this new and innovative role,” said Lawrence Rinder, director of BAM/PFA. “As Director of Engagement, Aimee will provide visionary and strategic leadership in the development of interactive and creative approaches to audience engagement in our galleries, at the PFA Theater, and also online.”

Chang comes to Berkeley from the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, where she served as Manager of Public Programs and conceived and directed a diverse schedule of public programs, including lectures, conversations, hands-on workshops, music series, film series, and exhibition-related events. During her tenure, she increased the profile of public programs through community and university partnerships, new marketing efforts, and original programs such as SoundSpace, a yearlong project with a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin's Butler School of Music who created experimental music programs throughout the galleries. Her other initiatives included the Blanton's extended hours program, Third Thursdays, which features artists' talks, screenings, performances, and other programs; and Perspectives, a series that invites a range of educators, artists, and others to offer insight into exhibitions

Prior to her post at the Blanton Museum of Art, Chang served as the Director of Academic and Residency Programs at the Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, where she led an Irvine Arts Innovation Fund project to integrate artists throughout the museum; spearheaded the museum's Artist Council, an advisory board of artists tasked with reimagining the role of the museum; directed an artist residency program focused on engaging artists with the larger Los Angeles communities and UCLA; and strengthened the museum's ties to the UCLA community.

Chang also has extensive curatorial experience, having served as Curator of Contemporary Art at the Orange County Museum of Art. Many of her exhibitions stemmed from her particular interest in artists who engage with communities, such as Kutlug Ataman's Southern California-based project, Paradise, and she has written about Transforma, the artist-led project that catalyzed creative responses to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans from 2005-2010.

About BAM/PFA
Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley's primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the United States. Internationally recognized for its art and film programming, BAM/PFA is a platform for cultural experiences that transform individuals, engage communities, and advance the local, national and global discourse on art and ideas. BAM/PFA's mission is “to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through art and film.”

BAM/PFA presents approximately fifteen art exhibitions and 380 film programs each year. The museum's collection of over 16,000 works of art includes important holdings of Neolithic Chinese ceramics, Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese painting, Old Master works on paper, Italian Baroque painting, early American painting, Abstract Expressionist painting, contemporary photography, and video art. Its film archive of over 14,000 films and videos includes the largest collection of Japanese cinema outside of Japan, Hollywood classics, and silent film, as well hundreds of thousands of articles, reviews, posters, and other ephemera related to the history of film, many of which are digitally scanned and accessible online.

Museum Information
Location: 2626 Bancroft Way, just below College Avenue across from the UC Berkeley campus.

Gallery and Museum Store Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Open L@TE Fridays until 9 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Information: 24-hour recorded message (510) 642-0808; fax (510) 642-4889; TDD (510) 642-8734.

Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu

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