Justin Garrett Moore Named Inaugural Program Officer for The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Effort to Bring More Voices into Public Spaces
NEW YORK, NY, DECEMBER 3, 2020 – The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation today announced Justin Garrett Moore as the inaugural program officer for its new Humanities in Place program area. He will join the Foundation on December 16, 2020.
In this role, Moore will lead the implementation of the Foundation’s programmatic strategic plan in Humanities in Place, which seeks to bring a variety of histories and voices into public, media, museum, and memorial spaces, widening the range of complex public storytelling. He will also partner with the Foundation’s president to shape and lead the Foundation’s Monuments Project—a five-year, $250 million commitment to reshape the US’s commemorative landscape.
“Justin’s design and planning work is generous, creative, and geared toward impact. His work has resulted in truly transformative public spaces,” said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. “He is an innovative, collaborative designer and educator who prioritizes the power of public design to help solve major challenges. I look forward to working with him as we move forward to broaden our commemorative and cultural landscapes and public storytelling.”
Moore currently serves as Executive Director of the City of New York Public Design Commission, where since 2016 he has foregrounded quality urban design for New York’s public projects while encouraging sustainability, accessibility, diversity, and equity in New York's public buildings, landscapes, and art.
As Program Officer for Humanities in Place, Moore intends to further the Mellon Foundation’s work to broaden and deepen the range of how and where the stories of our histories and communities are told across public experiences as varied as built environments, digital platforms, and ephemeral programs. “From public spaces and art to innovative institutions and initiatives, places have the power to bring people together and promote greater understanding and inclusion,” said Justin Garrett Moore. “The Humanities in Place program creates an opportunity to amplify long-marginalized voices and bring new resources to diverse environments. By grounding this work in the Foundation’s focus on social justice and by embracing complexity and difference in communities, I look forward to engaging the people, partnerships, and ideas needed to transform and care for our places and experiences...