Deana Haggag (born 1987) is an American arts organization leader. She is the program officer in arts and culture at

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

. Formally, Haggag was the President and CEO of

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

(2017–2020), and was Executive Director of The Contemporary (2013–2017) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Early life and education

Haggag was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1987, to parents that were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

immigrants. She is Muslim and first-generation

Egyptian-American Egyptian Americans are Americans of partial or full Egyptian ancestry. The 2016 US Census estimated the number of people with Egyptian ancestry at 256,000. Most of whom are from Egypt's Christian Coptic minority.Estimates for the number of Copti ...

. Haggag grew up in

Rutherford, New Jersey Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 18,834. Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, fr ...

. In 2009, Haggag received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Rutgers University–Newark Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's State University. It is located in Newark. Rutgers, founded in 1766 in New Brunswick, is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a me ...

, where she majored in Art History and Philosophy. In 2013, Haggag earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where she majored in Curatorial Practice.

Career

From 2017 until May 2020, Haggag served as the President and CEO of

in Chicago, which provides US$50,000 "fellowships to artists working in architecture and design, crafts, dance, literature, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, and visual arts." She had formerly been Executive Director of The Contemporary from 2013 until 2017. At The Contemporary, Haggag was credited for reviving the museum (formerly "The Contemporary Museum") and turning it into one of the most vital cultural institutions in Baltimore. At age 26, she became Executive Director and sole employee, relaunching the organization following its closure for approximately 18-months. During her tenure, the museum's staff grew to five employees and its budget increased from US$40,000 to over US$500,000. Additionally, under her leadership, The Contemporary commissioned four-award-winning large-scale art projects, including "Bubble Over Green" by Victoria Fu; "Ghost Food" by Miriam Simun; "Only When It's Dark Enough Can You See The Stars" by

Abigail DeVille Abigail DeVille (born 1981) is an artist who creates large sculptures and installations, often incorporating found materials from the neighborhoods around the exhibition venues. DeVille's sculptures and installations often focus on themes of th ...

; and "The Ground" by

Michael Jones McKean Michael Jones McKean (born 1976) is an American artist and educator. McKean's work explores the nature of objects in relation to folklore, technology, anthropology, and mysticism. His complex installations and sculptures merge expansive but high ...

. The museum also created a number of artist resources to bolster the cultural community in the region. Haggag's work has been praised in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Cultured Magazine'', ''

Artspace Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...

'', ''

Hyperallergic ''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking ...

'' among other publications. At ''

'', Rebecca Bengal praised Haggag's role in national efforts to protect arts funding: Haggag was named Artistic Director of the 2020 Seattle Art Fair, founded by Paul Allen in Seattle, WA, before it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

References

External links

*
Oral history interview with Deana Haggag, 2020 August 14

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haggag, Deana 1987 births Living people American art curators American women curators African-American Muslims American women chief executives American people of Egyptian descent African-American curators People from Brooklyn People from Baltimore People from Rutherford, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Maryland Institute College of Art alumni 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women