Artforum: Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation Appoint Sara Reisman and Alex Gardner to New Executive Directorial Positions

[image description: two photographic portraits, on the left is a woman smiling agains a background of yellow plastic, on the right a man with glasses is smiling against a dark brown background]

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation announced today that Sara Reisman will be the foundation’s new executive and artistic director. Alex Gardner has been appointed the executive director of the foundation’s Treasury of Lives, one of the largest biographical encyclopedias of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalayan region.

In her new role, Reisman will be an administrator for many of the foundation’s interests, such as its art and social justice program, which seeks to broaden access to art and culture throughout New York City via funding and new initiatives. Reisman will also oversee the foundation's yearly grants program, which supports artistic activism, arts education, art in community and service centers, community-based museums, and public art. “As the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation’s executive and artistic director, I'm proud to further its art and social justice initiative to expand artistic and cultural access in New York City,” said Reisman. “The idea that artists and cultural producers can act as catalysts for social change is at the core of Foundation's mission, and I strongly believe that the work we support through philanthropic means is essential.”

Alex Gardner will continue to expand the Treasury of Lives database. It currently contains more than 1,150 biographies written by more than ninety international scholars. “The Treasury of Lives has become one of the premier resources for scholars, educators, and anyone interested in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism,” says Gardner. “I'm excited to focus on developing this resource as a way to raise further awareness of the deep history and enriching value of Tibetan and Himalayan cultures, of which Shelley and Donald Rubin have been longtime supporters and advocates.”