Source: Peabody Essex Museum
New appointments deepen the museum’s engagement with its communities, promote new experiences, and celebrate its world-renowned collection and exhibition program
SALEM, MA—The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) announces a series of curatorial promotions that are focused on teamwork, collaboration, and impact. Following the departure of PEM’s Deputy Director and Chief Curator Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, who recently assumed a new role at the Royal Ontario Museum, PEM is restructuring its curatorial department to align with the evolving needs of the organization and to better serve the public. PEM is creating a curatorial leadership team, expanding the roles of five staff members with the following appointments: Petra Slinkard, The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles, is now Director of Curatorial Affairs; Karina Corrigan, The H.A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art, is Associate Director – Collections; Daniel Finamore, The Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History, is Associate Director – Exhibitions; Trevor Smith, Curator of the Present Tense, is Associate Director – Multisensory Experience; and Siddhartha Shah, Curator of Indian and South Asian Art, has been appointed Director of Education and Civic Engagement.
“As the nation’s oldest continuously operating museum, PEM has remained vital for more than 220 years by continually adapting and evolving its practices to meet contemporary needs,” says Brian Kennedy, PEM’s Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO. “By sustaining curatorial excellence and embracing a broader practice of civic engagement and innovation, PEM is reaffirming its commitment to creative public engagement and to finding new ways to connect with our regional communities and the wider world.”
Petra Slinkard, Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles
Slinkard joined PEM in 2018 as the Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles, following her role as Curator of Costume at the Chicago History Museum. At PEM, Slinkard’s focus has been to foster an innovative and inclusive spirit in the museum’s celebrated fashion initiative and to develop a vibrant array of exhibitions, installations and programs that celebrate the global impact of fashion. Slinkard oversees PEM’s new Fashion and Design gallery and is the co-curator of PEM’s headlining fall exhibition, Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion. In her expanded role as Director of Curatorial Affairs, Slinkard will oversee the integration of PEM’s current exhibition research and curatorial team, developing new departmental priorities and the strategies to deliver them.
Slinkard is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising, a Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a concentration in Modern and Contemporary Art, and a Master of Science in Fashion/Textile History. Follow @pslinks on Instagram and @pslinksp on Twitter.