Deana Haggag

Haggag was born in Brooklyn, New York,[3] to Egyptian immigrants.[4] She is Muslim and first-generation Egyptian-American.[5] Haggag grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey.[6]

In 2009, Haggag received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University–Newark, where she majored in Art History and Philosophy.[7] In 2013, Haggag earned a Master of Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, where she majored in Curatorial Practice.[8]

In 2017, Haggag became President and CEO of United States Artists in Chicago, which provides US$50,000 "fellowships to artists working in architecture and design, crafts, dance, literature, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, and visual arts."[9] She had formerly been Executive Director of The Contemporary since 2013.[1]

At The Contemporary, Haggag was credited for reviving the museum (formerly "The Contemporary Museum") and turning it into one of the most vital cultural institutions in Baltimore.[10] At age 26, she became Executive Director and sole employee, relaunching the organization following its closure for approximately 18-months.[11] During her tenure, the museum's staff grew to five employees and its budget increased from US$40,000 to over US$500,000.[11] Additionally, under her leadership, The Contemporary commissioned four-award-winning large-scale art projects, including "Bubble Over Green" by Victoria Fu, "Ghost Food" by Miriam Simun, "Only When It's Dark Enough Can You See The Stars" by Abigail DeVille, and "The Ground" by Michael Jones McKean. The museum also created a number of artist resources to bolster the cultural community in the region.[11]

Haggag's work has been praised in Vogue,[4] Cultured Magazine, Artspace,[12] Hyperallergic[13] among other publications. At Vogue,[4] Rebecca Bengal praised Haggag's role in national efforts to protect arts funding:

As arts funding faces a devastating blow, it's an ominous time to be an artist or to take a leading role in nonprofit fundraising, but it's also a time when the arts need a fresh kind of fire, something that Haggag embodies with passionate devotion and an approach that feels both thoughtful and innovative. At 30, she is considerably younger than most of her peers, coming off a career largely focused on curating in New York City, Cairo, and Baltimore, where she most recently headed the traveling museum The Contemporary.[5]

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