Amanda Herman

Amanda Herman is the Associate Director at the University Museum of Contemporary Art, effective July 1, 2024. Herman had been the UMCA Education Curator since 2018, expanding the breadth and reach of the museum’s education programs across campus and throughout the region.

Herman advises undergraduate and graduate student internships and assistantships in the museum, including the annual Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition program and Collecting 101, a student-led acquisition program.  She plans public programs and facilitates on-going collaborations with faculty across disciplines, including close-looking workshops with the College of Nursing and an annual service-learning program with the Department of Art History and local high schools.

Prior to her time in Massachusetts, she worked for over a decade in San Francisco as an arts educator for foster youth and as a multi-media artist. Her collaborative projects involved long-term creative work with communities and individuals to produce films, photos and public events that addressed complex social issues.

Since moving to the area from San Francisco in 2012, she has taught advanced photography, art and social practice as an adjunct at the Five Colleges, was founder and producer of “Live Art Magazine” created for the stage at the Academy of Music in Northampton and has created many innovative projects with schools and organizations in Springfield, Holyoke and Easthampton.

Herman holds an MFA in Social Practice from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, is on the board of Historic Northampton and is part of the curatorial team of the Valley Arts Salon.