Hyde Park Art Center Promotes Mariela Acuna to Director of Exhibitions and Residency Programs

Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center  recently announced the promotion of Mariela Acuna to Director of Exhibitions and Residency Programs. Acuna’s promotion was announced at the Art Center’s 85th Anniversary Gala held on November 15, 2024. Acuna will assume her new role on November 25, 2024.

“We are thrilled that Mariela is taking up the mantle of Director of Exhibitions and Residency Programs at Hyde Park Art Center,” stated Art Center Co-Directors Jeannette Tremblay Chambers and Aaron Rodgers. “Having witnessed Mariela’s exceptional contributions not only to the Art Center thus far, but also to the breadth of Chicago’s artistic landscape, we are confident she will guide our programs to their next echelons of success, building on the 20-year legacy of Allison Peters Quinn before her.”

Acuna is an art administrator and curator from San José, Costa Rica. As Exhibitions and Residency Manager at Hyde Park Art Center, she has led the Jackman Goldwasser Residency which supports local, national, and international artists and curators. Acuna will continue to oversee the Art Center’s residencies, plus its publishing platform Green Lantern Press, and the Artists Run Chicago Fund. In her new role, Acuna will also oversee a program of 12 exhibitions each year at the Art Center.

As a curator, Acuna has organized a diverse range of exhibitions at the Art Center, including Positions: New Landscapes (currently on view), William Estrada: Multiples and Multitudes (2023), Joseriberto: BoboDeco (2022), and with Peters Quinn co-curated two editions of the Art Center’s Ground Floor Biennial (2020 and 2022). Outside of the Art Center, she has curated exhibitions at Illinois State Museum, Chicago Art Department, Girls’ Club Collection, and University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University.

“I am so excited and deeply honored to take on the role of Director of Exhibitions and Residency Programs at Hyde Park Art Center,” stated Acuna. “For me, this is a dream job, building upon Allison’s visionary work and expanding the impact of our exhibitions and residency programs to transform the lives and careers of countless artists in Chicago. I look forward to continuing to deepen our capacity to support artists in ways that only Hyde Park Art Center can, alongside my dear colleagues who are brilliant, talented, and generous.”

In addition to her work at the Art Center, Acuna has held positions at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida; Girls’ Club Collection in Ft. Lauderdale; and the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art History and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Florida Atlantic University and a dual Masters degree in Art Administration and Public Policy and Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Hyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact.  For additional information see hydeparkart.org.