Miami—March 25, 2013—Miami Art Museum (MAM), reopening as Pérez Art Museum Miami in December 2013, has named Arlene Chaplin and Sylvia T. Pope to its board of trustees. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron, the new Pérez Art Museum Miami will feature a variety of indoor and outdoor program spaces, a waterfront restaurant, and an education complex.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sylvia and Arlene to the board,” said Museum Director Thom Collins. “Arlene’s marketing experience, and Sylvia’s understanding and love of the arts and her extensive governance experience at major cultural institutions will be valued assets as we prepare to open our new, world-class facility.”

Chaplin graduated cum laude from the University of Miami in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Marketing.  She worked for Tinsley Advertising Agency in public relations as an account executive, and later became marketing director for Florida East Coast Properties. Her philanthropic activities include co-chairing luncheons for the Women’s Cancer League and Project Newborn. She is also on the Board of New York University Tisch School of the Arts and is actively involved in the Miami City Ballet and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 1999 she was honored as one of the “Ten Best Dressed Women” in Miami by the American Cancer Society and was honored at the Lehrman Day School Scholarship Ball. The following year, Chaplin joined the Honeyshine Mentor program. Since 2003, Chaplin has been a Founder at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 2009 Chaplin received the Legacy Builder Award by the Women of Tomorrow Mentor and Scholarship program. She is an active member of both Temple Emanuel and Temple Beth Shalom. In 2011, Chaplin partnered with Lee Schrager and Dawn Feinberg and created the successful YogArt Event.

Pope received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Stephens College in Columbia, MO, as well as Boston Conservatory of Dance. Before moving to Key Biscayne in 2005, She is a member of the board of trustees for Prometheus Dance Cambridge, MA and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA, is a patron for the Fall for Dance Festival at New York’s City Center, and is a Trustee Emerita of Boston Ballet and School. She has also previously resided in Panama where she was a founding member of Conservatorio de Danza and CONDA – Compania de Danza, and founder and president of Fundacion de Artes Escenicas.  While living in Panama she produced and toured modern dance companies throughout Latin American under the auspices of the US State Department.

Opening in December 2013 as Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the new facility features 32,000 square feet of galleries and 200,000 square feet of programmable space, a waterfront restaurant, outdoor plaza, education complex and more.  The project is being realized through a public/private partnership: a dramatic location on Biscayne Bay has been provided by the City of Miami; the voters of Miami-Dade County have approved $100 million in bond funding; and private donors including corporations, foundations and individuals have provided $75.5 million to date in additional support for the building and institutional endowment. Miami Art Museum will reopen as Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) in recognition of developer and long-time museum trustee and supporter Jorge M. Pérez’ now $40 million gift of cash and art. The value of the gift, first announced late last year, increased from $35 million as a result of the value of the art chosen by MAM’s curators for the Museum’s permanent collection.

About Miami Art Museum

Miami Art Museum, a modern and contemporary art museum located in downtown Miami, FL, is dedicated to collecting and exhibiting international art of the 20th and 21st centuries with an emphasis on the cultures of the Atlantic Rim—the Americas, Europe and Africa—from which the vast majority of Miami residents hail. Miami Art Museum’s educational programming currently reaches nearly 35,000 people every year, with the largest art education program outside the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Miami Art Museum will reopen as Pérez Art Museum Miami in fall of 2013 in downtown Miami’s Museum Park. The new, expanded museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, will provide room to showcase growing collections, expanded exhibition space to bring more world-class exhibitions to Miami-Dade County and an educational complex. For more information about Miami Art Museum, visit miamiartmuseum.org or call 305.375.3000.

The new Pérez Art Museum Miami is supported by the Building Better Communities Bond Program and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, Miami Art Museum is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; with the support of Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners. Miami Art Museum is an accessible facility. For sign language interpretation or assistive listening devices, please call Miami Art Museum’s education department 305.375.4073 at least two weeks in advance. Materials in accessible format may be requested.                                                       

###