Tom Finkelpearl, who led the Queens Museum as its executive director beginning in 2002, has been named the city’s Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. Photo courtesy Queens Museum
After leading the Queens Museum as its executive director since 2002, Tom Finkelpearl is bidding Flushing Meadows Corona Park adieu to fill his new role as the city’s Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
Hailing Finkelpearl as someone with more than 30 years of experience in museum management and arts education, de Blasio said the former Queens Museum director brings a deep commitment to inclusiveness and community engagement and will be tasked with strengthening the city’s cultural life across all five boroughs.
“With his decades of experience in fortifying the city’s cultural institutions, Tom has developed a deep understanding of the powerful role art and culture play in moving our city forward, and the necessity of increasing access to our creative landmarks for all New Yorkers,” de Blasio said at the Queens Museum Monday. “With Tom at the helm of DCLA, I’m confident that New York City will not only continue to thrive as a global cultural hub, but also make the arts more accessible to New Yorkers in every neighborhood.”
De Blasio highlighted the changes that the Queens Museum has undergone under Finkelpearl’s leadership, including a $69 million renovation project that concluded with the facility’s reopening last fall.
“In recent years this museum became so much more – it became even better,” de Blasio said. ‘it became bigger. It became more central to the life of Queens. And it became a museum that connected more deeply to the neighborhoods around it. And that’s all because there was a visionary leader.”
During Monday’s announcement, Finkelpearl noted that the museum has experienced a 50 percent jump in attendance in the new facility. He went on to say that DCLA “should be about inclusion, openness, opportunity.”
“New York City is one of the most eclectic and culturally rich cities in the world, and that’s something that should be shared by all New Yorkers and tourists alike,” Finkelpearl said.
The incoming commissioner added that he is “proud” to “lead the department into an era of ever-increasing openness – to nourish cultural activities in every corner of the city for all to enjoy.”
The mayor wasn’t the only one to heap praise on Finkelpearl, and City Council Majority Leader and Cultural Affairs Committee Chairman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said that, “throughout his career, he has proven to be a terrific administrator and a strong and thoughtful voice on culture and the arts.”
A sculptor by training, Finkelpearl began his career in arts management at Long Island City’s PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center in 1982, which he joined as a public affairs officer, and then went on to organize a number of major exhibitions. In 1990, he joined the city Department of Cultural Affairs as director for the Percent for Art Program, overseeing more than 100 public art projects across all five boroughs. He returned to PS 1 in 1999 as deputy director and helped to manage its 2000 merger with the Museum of Modern Art.
