On July 8th, the J. Paul Getty Foundation announced that Dr Joan Weinstein would become the foundation’s new director. Weinstein’s selection came after an international search although she is currently serving as the deputy director, a roll she’d held since 2007. Weinstein will follow Deborah Marrow who served as the Getty director for more than 30 years; Marrow retired from her position late last year in December.
The Los Angeles-based Getty Foundation has supported the arts since 1984. Today, it continues to do so through its various grants that promote individual artists and institutions alongside one another. For the past 25 years, Weinstein has worked within the Getty helping it towards its goals. During her tenure at the Getty, Weinstein is probably best known for her role in the start of the Getty’s ‘Pacific Standard Time’ initiative, of which, she is co-director. ‘Pacific Standard Time’ first kicked off in 2011 with ‘Art in LA 1945-1980’, which brought together more than 60 institutions in southern California to celebrate the birth and history of LA’s art scene. After that, the initiative had another edition in 2017 called ‘PST: LA/LA’ that examined the dialogue between the LA art scene and Latinx and Latin American art and another has been announced recently called ‘PST: Art x Science x LA’, set for 2024.
Since Marrow stepped down at the end of 2018, Weinstein has acted as the acting director, which she has done at two other times during her time at the Getty. Additionally, she has previously served as associate director, senior programme officer, and programme officer since joining the organization in 1994. In addition to beginning ‘Pacific Standard Time’ as deputy director, Weinstein has received praise for her commitment to the development and strategically directing the foundation’s grant making and the terms by which to assess those grants. She has overseen the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship programme, which was previously called the Multicultural Undergraduate Internship. In 2005, she spearheaded the foundation’s response in aiding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area. The Getty’s Fund for New Orleans generated $2.9 million in grants to help rehabilitate the area affected. Other initiatives directed by Weinstein have been in East-Central Europe, Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East.
In a press release announcing her selection, Weinstein said:
‘I am deeply honored to lead the Getty Foundation. The Foundation has a strong legacy of supporting the greater understanding and preservation of the visual arts in our home city and around the world, but our work is far from done. I look forward to working even more closely with the Getty’s talented and dedicated board and staff, as well as with our remarkable grantees, to creatively address the pressing issues facing the arts and cultural heritage today.’
