Pioneer Works Names Eric Shiner First-Ever Executive Director
Shiner to execute on long-term vision while meeting rapid growth needs
Dec 19, 2019, 08:05 ET
BROOKLYN, N.Y., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- It was announced today by the Board of Directors that Pioneer Works has appointed Eric Shiner as their inaugural Executive Director. Shiner, the former Director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and, most recently, the Artistic Director of contemporary art gallery White Cube, New York will execute the long-term vision of the multi-disciplinary, non-profit cultural center, as they experience tremendous growth moving into their eighth year. Shiner will assume his new role on January 6, 2020.
Of his new role, Shiner says, "I am thrilled to take on the role of Executive Director of Pioneer Works, one of the most dynamic models for the promotion of art and science in the world. What started off as a dream for artist Dustin Yellin to create a space for the promotion of critical thinking and creativity has now morphed into a fully-functioning and dynamic nonprofit that promotes art, science and a plethora of timely topics that empower and engage. The world-class team at Pioneer Works brings passion, commitment and innovation in all that they do, and I am very much looking forward to helping them and the board of directors further solidify our position as a 'thought school' of the future."
Imagined by its President and Founder, artist Dustin Yellin, Pioneer Works builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. Each year, the organization welcomes approximately 150,000 guests to experience programming in the areas of art , science, technology, music, and narrative arts- 85 percent of which is presented free-of-charge. Leaders from across these fields present ideas, lead workshops, and engage with an audience that stretches from the direct community in Red Hook, Brooklyn to all over the globe. This year alone, some of these leaders included luminaries such as Gloria Steinem and Ronan Farrow to Jacolby Satterwhite, Maria Popova, David Byrne, Sir Roger Penrose, Terry Riley, and Richard Dawkins.
"Eric brings a plethora of unique talents and skills to the amazing people that have made Pioneer Works a culture center to the greater New York communities. We are extremely lucky to have him on board and look forward to making our visions a reality that will inspire generations to come" says Austin Hearst, a member of Pioneer Works' Board of Directors.
Shiner will serve as a partner to Dustin Yellin and Gabriel Florenz, the Founding Artistic Director and Vice President to guide and execute Pioneer Works' long-term vision and capital expansion plans.
Janna Levin, Chair and Director of Pioneer Works says, "Pioneer Works has been a labor of love. We are building the world we want to live in and are moved and amazed by the community that has formed around a shared expression of such pure appreciation for the arts and sciences. Eric shares that vision and we're excited for Pioneer Works to flourish with the expertise, good will, and leadership he brings."
Eric Shiner was most recently Artistic Director of contemporary art gallery White Cube, New York and prior to this was a senior vice president of contemporary art at Sotheby's. From 2010 to 2016, Shiner was the director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and was the Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Warhol from 2008 to 2010. A leading scholar on Andy Warhol and Asian contemporary art, Shiner lived and worked in Japan for a total of six years and was assistant curator on the inaugural Yokohama Triennale in 2001. Shiner has curated dozens of contemporary art exhibitions in cities around the globe and was the team leader on The Warhol Museum's major Warhol retrospective that traveled to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo between 2012 and 2014. Notable exhibitions include Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei in 2015/16, Deborah Kass: Before and Happily Ever After in 2012 and Armory Focus: USA at the Armory Show in 2013.
About Pioneer Works
Pioneer Works is a non-profit multidisciplinary cultural center located in Redhook, Brooklyn. The center builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. Pioneer Works encourages radical thinking across disciplines by providing practitioners a space to work, tools to create, and a platform to exchange ideas that are free and open to all. We are driven by the realization that humanity is facing unprecedented social, intellectual, and spiritual challenges; our programs explore new ways of facing those challenges by using the arts and sciences dynamically as both a lens and catalyst. When humanity comes together and combines the ideas and talents of many, we have the ability to engineer what once appeared to be impossible. Pioneer Works values curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, and inclusion. At the core, Pioneer Works aims to improve how to understand and regard each other and the world. We believe our multidisciplinary approach creates a unique capacity to build bridges across ideas and communities, so that we may all think differently, together.
Pioneer Works Board of Directors includes Leyli Zohrenejad, David Belt, Austin Hearst, Julia Bator, Alan Tisch, Andres Santo Domingo, among others.
For press inquiries, please contact Maxine Petry at [email protected].
SOURCE Pioneer Works
