Calder Gardens Announces September 2025 Opening and Appointment of Juana Berrío as Marsha Perelman Senior Director of Programs

Berrío will curate public programs for the new international cultural destination opening in the heart of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Trustees of Calder Gardens announced today that the new cultural destination on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will open in September 2025 and that curator, educator, and arts programmer Juana Berrío has been appointed as the Marsha Perelman Senior Director of Programs. With a building conceived by Pritzker Prize-winning design practice Herzog & de Meuron and gardens by internationally acclaimed Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, Calder Gardens will unite the art of Alexander Calder with nature and architecture to create an oasis that invites introspection and nurtures human connection.

Starting on January 21, 2025, Berrío will be responsible for curating public programs that foster engagement, enrichment, and community, including a robust and inclusive slate of performances, events, and wellness activities that resonate with Calder's art in the galleries. Widely admired for exhibitions and programs she has organized across the United States and in her native Colombia, Berrío brings extensive experience in the creative cultural field to her new role. Currently, she is the curatorial and sustainability advisor at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Program in New York.

Prior to her position at the Whitney, Berrío served as associate director of residencies and curator of public programs at Amant in Brooklyn. She has also held positions in areas ranging from curatorial and programming to education and research at the Walker Art Center, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, SFMOMA, the New Museum, the 2013 Venice Biennale, and UNTITLED Art San Francisco. Berrío was cofounder and director of Kiria Koula, a gallery, bookstore, and programming space in San Francisco. She has taught at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and at Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá. She earned an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York, an MFA from the University of Minnesota, and a BFA from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. 

Alexander S. C. Rower, President of the Calder Foundation, Chair of the Calder Gardens Curatorial Committee, and Calder's grandson, said: "Calder Gardens is an entirely new type of cultural institution focused on nurturing introspection and personal growth through the art and ideas of my grandfather—one of the most influential artists of the modern era. Juana Berrío's expertise and wide-ranging interdisciplinary experience—shaped by openness, compassion, and curiosity—make her ideal for this essential role at Calder Gardens. We look forward to being inspired by her dynamic, unexpected programming."

Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes Foundation, which will provide administrative, operational, and educational programming support to Calder Gardens, said: "With extensive experience in curatorial and programming roles at museums, galleries, and nonprofits across the US, Juana Berrío brings significant cultural programming knowledge to Calder Gardens. Her expertise and ability to thoughtfully and meaningfully engage the community will be instrumental as we create a place where art and nature merge in a novel and exciting way."

"I am thrilled to join Calder Gardens, a unique space that integrates art, architecture, and nature to invite self-reflection," said Juana Berrío. "I look forward to working with the team to design rich cross-pollinations between artistic and nonartistic practices, with diverse communities, and between humans, flora, and fauna. Calder's own passion for interdisciplinary collaborations and experimentation at large provides a perfect context for Calder Gardens to become one of the most innovative and forward-thinking spaces for art and culture today."

The public can learn more about Calder Gardens online at caldergardens.org and on social media @caldergardens on Instagram and X. Opening dates will be announced soon.

Photo credits:1.) Juana Berrío, Marsha Perelman Senior Director of Programs, Calder Gardens. All works by Alexander Calder © 2025 Calder Foundation, New York. Photo courtesy of Calder Gardens, Philadelphia. Photo by Emma Trim. 2.) Parkway Garden rendering, Calder Gardens, 2022. © Herzog & de Meuron.

About Calder Gardens
Calder Gardens unites the art of Alexander Calder with nature and architecture to create an oasis that invites introspection and nurtures human connection. Featuring a building designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning firm Herzog & de Meuron and gardens by internationally acclaimed landscape designer Piet Oudolf, Calder Gardens will present a rotating selection of masterworks from the Calder Foundation, New York. 

Philadelphia philanthropists working in collaboration with the Calder Foundation founded a 501(c)3 non-profit supporting organization to launch Calder Gardens, with significant support from the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Through an innovative collaboration, the Barnes Foundation will provide administrative, operational, and educational programming support to Calder Gardens in what constitutes a new model for institutional sustainability and efficiency.

About Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (b. 1898, Lawnton, Pennsylvania–d. 1976, New York City), whose illustrious career spanned much of the 20th century, is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born into a family of celebrated though more classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. He began in the 1920s by developing a new method of sculpting: by bending and twisting wire, he essentially "drew" three-dimensional figures in space. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony. From the 1950s onward, Calder increasingly devoted himself to making outdoor sculpture on a grand scale from bolted steel plate. Today, these stately titans grace public plazas in cities throughout the world.

For additional information, please contact: 

McKenna Young, Brian Communications
[email protected] / 484.385.2913

Andrea Schwan, Andrea Schwan Inc.
[email protected] / 917.371.5023 

Deirdre Maher, The Barnes Foundation 
[email protected] / 215.278.7162

SOURCE Calder Gardens