The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced the appointment of Jacqueline Stewart as its new director and president. She assumes the post on 18 July.
Stewart previously served as the institution’s chief artistic and programming officer. She replaces Bill Kramer, who has been named chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“The board warmly and unanimously agrees that Jacqueline Stewart is the ideal choice to lead the Academy Museum into the future,” said Ted Sarandos, museum board chair and co-CEO of Netflix.
“A strong and inspiring partner to Bill Kramer throughout the period leading up to our opening, she gave indispensable direction to the curatorial program that has been so widely admired.”
Stewart is a leading film historian, scholar, archivist and educator. She taught American film history at the University of Chicago, specialising in African American cinema.
She is the author of award-winning book Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity, and the host of ‘Silent Sunday Nights’ on Turner Classic Movies.
She also founded the South Side Home Movie Project in 2005 to preserve, digitise and screen amateur footage documenting the lives of South Side residents.
“It has been a great privilege to work hand-in-hand with Jacqueline as we opened the Academy Museum,” Kramer said.
“I am thrilled that we will continue to collaborate in our two new roles,” he added.
New leader to oversee Academy Museum operations
“I know the museum will thrive thanks to her rare combination of expertise, creativity, and proven leadership. Like movie fans everywhere, I am so thankful to have her guide the future of the Academy Museum.”
Stewart, who said she feels “deeply honored to have been chosen for this new role”, will oversee the Academy Museum’s operations.
“Our ambition in opening the Academy Museum was to give Los Angeles and the world an unprecedented institution for understanding and appreciating the history and culture of cinema, in all its artistic glory and all its power to influence and reflect society,” she added.
Stewart has a BA in English from Stanford University and a PhD in English from the University of Chicago. She studied moving image archiving at UCLA and the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy.
Images: Academy Museum
