Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute names new museum director

UTICA, N.Y. — The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute announced it has appointed Stephen Harrison as the new director of the museum of art and chief curator.

Harrison has served as the deputy director of the museum since November 2020. As director, he will plan future exhibitions, enhance collection and interpretation initiatives, and develop community relationships and collaborations. Harrison will continue to lead the education, curatorial, and registrar departments. He will also support Munson-Williams President/CEO Anna D’Ambrosio with major initiatives such as an institute-wide master plan, rebranding, and the organization’s strategic five-year plan.

Since joining the museum, Harrison spearheaded major acquisition and deaccession efforts and established a new acquisition fund honoring the memory of Helen Munson Williams. He curated the 2022 Norman Rockwell exhibition, the most-attended summer exhibition in the museum’s history.

“I’m honored to be taking on this new role with such talented people at the Museum of Art when Munson-Williams is brimming with so much promise and potential,” Harrison said. “I’ve received such a warm welcome in Utica, and I’m proud to be sharing one of the best collections of American art in the world with our community and beyond.”

Prior to joining Munson-Williams, Harrison served as curator of decorative art and design at the Cleveland Museum of Art and curatorial positions at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Louisiana State Museum of New Orleans.

With more than 25 years of experience, Harrison is an expert in the 19th- and early 20th-century decorative art. He is the author of numerous scholarly publications, lectures widely on the topic of decorative arts and historic interiors and is a former regular contributor to “Better Homes & Gardens.”

Harrison, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in American material culture from the Winterthur Museum Program at the University of Delaware, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, located at 310 Genesee St. in Utica, has 12,000 works of art in its permanent collection and houses the Pratt MWP College of Art and Design.