Kristina L. Durocher Joins UMass Fine Arts Center as Visual Arts Director

UMass alum will provide executive leadership, vision for museum and two galleries

AMHERST, Mass. — Kristina L. Durocher in June will join the leadership team of the UMass Fine Arts Center. Durocher will serve as the Fine Arts Center’s inaugural visual arts director, a role in which she will provide leadership and vision for the organization’s three visual arts entities: the University Museum of Contemporary Art, Augusta Savage Gallery and Hampden Gallery.

Durocher holds an MA in art history from UMass and a dual BFA in art history and painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She brings to her new position more than two decades experience leading independent and academic museums. From 2011 until 2024, Durocher served as director of the Museum of Art at the University of New Hampshire.

“We are very fortunate to have a leader with Kristina Durocher’s experience, vision and unwavering dedication to public higher education joining our organization,” said Fine Arts Center Director Jamilla Deria. “Our museum and galleries have benefitted from the work of a group of incredibly talented and dedicated curatorial, education, and operational professionals. We’re confident that with Kristina’s unifying leadership, there is no limit to what our visual arts team can accomplish.”

Durocher will officially join the Fine Arts Center on Monday, June 3.

At the University of New Hampshire, Durocher was responsible for administration of the Museum of Art, curating six to eight exhibitions annually, developing curricular connections with faculty across the university and community outreach. Under Durocher’s leadership, the museum was recognized for its contributions to the Seacoast region; was awarded a Public Value Partnership grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts; and was the recipient of grants from the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, the Alliance of American Museums, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Durocher has served since 2020 as president of the Association of Academic Museum and Galleries. In that role, she advocates for institutional and field-wide excellence, reinvention and individual professional growth. In 2017, Durocher was named a fellow of the Getty Leadership.

Durocher writes and presents on field-wide issues. Most recently she co-authored, “Bringing Our Resources to Bear,” which appeared in the July/August 2022 issue of Museum. In 2019, she co-edited the book For Love or Money: Confronting the State of Museum Salaries, to which she also contributed an essay on legislation to end salary inequity.