SUNY Cortland Names Andrew Mount Director of the Dowd Fine Arts Gallery

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Andrew Mount, Director of the Dowd Fine Arts Gallery at SUNY Cortland

CORTLAND, NY (02/15/2008)(readMedia)-- Andrew Mount of Syracuse, N.Y., joined SUNY Cortland’s Department of Art and Art History on Jan. 7 as director of the Dowd Fine Arts Gallery.

He replaces Barbara Racker, who left the College on Aug. 4 to pursue other career opportunities. Bryan Thomas, art and art history lecturer, served as interim gallery director.

Mount, who most recently was executive director of ThINC in Syracuse, N.Y., brings to his new appointment an extensive background in all facets of museum work, including fundraising, marketing, public relations, financial oversight, exhibition design and installation.

As the new director, Mount is responsible for implementing all phases of exhibition and programming for six gallery exhibits each year. He also manages the budget, researches funding opportunities, prepares grant applications and maintains a small teaching collection.

“I am really excited that Andrew is joining the staff,” said Mark Prus, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, under which the gallery is managed within the Art and Art History Department. “He brings a wealth of experience and creative ideas to ensure the gallery realizes its potential as an educational resource for the College and as a cultural resource for the community.”

In 2006, Mount joined ThINC, an organization that develops, implements and supports arts programming that helps redefine the roles of art and artists and creates more awareness of the value of the arts for all.

Mount also was a fine arts adjunct professor at Cazenovia College from 2006-07 and an arts education adjunct professor with Teachers College at Columbia University from 2005-06. From 2003-06, he served as an arts administration adjunct professor at Metropolitan College of New York.

Between 2000 and 2005, Mount served as the artistic director and founder of FLUX Art Space in New York, N.Y., where he presented digital art works and interdisciplinary projects by both established and emerging artists. FLUX Art Space provides an artistic forum for underprivileged and underexposed sections of multicultural communities in New York City.

Mount has contributed freelance installations for PS1 Contemporary Arts Center in Queens, N.Y., the Guggenheim Museum, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Barbara Gladstone Gallery.

He is affiliated with the Association of Arts Administration Educators, the Harlem Arts Alliance, Arts and Culture Leadership Alliance, National Arts Education Association, College Art Association and was one of 12 commissioners elected by Syracuse Mayor Driscoll for the Public Art Commission.

He received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Reading in Berkshire, United Kingdom, where he also worked in local galleries. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College in New York City and is currently pursuing his doctorate in art education at Teachers College at Columbia University.

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