Elana Casey has joined the UMass Fine Arts Center as the associate director of Augusta Savage Gallery. She will curate exhibitions promoting diversity and inclusivity, cultivate relationships with emerging and established artists from underrepresented communities, and incorporate current art trends into programming. 

Casey is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, writer and arts administrator from Washington, D.C. She has held roles as an educator, filmmaker, administrator and arts advisor, reflecting her deep commitment to cultivating creative networks and preserving cultural memory. 

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Casey holds a bachelor of fine arts and completed her course work for a master of arts in teaching from the George Washington University Corcoran School of Art and Design. She also earned an Elevate Your Career Through Education certificate in gallery management from Pace Gallery. 

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Elana Casey to the visual arts team,” said Visual Arts Director Kristina Durocher. “As an artist and educator, Elana has a wealth of experience developing creative learning experiences and mentoring students in their own intellectual, artistic, and educational growth. Augusta Savage Gallery will flourish as a center for artistic inquiry, community, and student success under her inspired leadership.” 

Prior to joining the Fine Arts Center, Casey served as the chair of the visual arts department of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where she previously attended high school. As department chair, Casey led with a vision to educate and empower young artists as both scholars and entrepreneurs. Over her seven-year tenure, Casey digitized student portfolios for college and career access; co-developed a comprehensive curriculum that included ceramics, advertising design, Advanced Placement studio art, AP art history, and professional practice; and expanded programming through partnerships with such institutions as The Studio Museum in Harlem, NXTHVN, Transformer Gallery, and the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum. 

As department chair, Casey played an integral role in directing the Ellington Gallery. She curated and programmed exhibitions that featured both student work and notable artists such as Hank Willis Thomas and Shaunte Gates. 

Augusta Savage Gallery, located in New Africa House at UMass, is a multicultural and multi-arts facility that was founded in 1970 by the W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies. The gallery’s mission is to promote artistic works from a broad spectrum of cultures. Exhibitions are selected for their aesthetic integrity and their ability to enlighten the viewer on such issues as race, ethnicity, class and cultural identity. 

Casey’s personal artistic practice centers Black diasporic histories, cultural memory and mythologies, often drawing from African and African American folklore, literature, and lived experience. 

“I’m excited to learn more about my local art community and the surrounding regions while creating a new launching pad for emerging and early-career Black American and diasporic artists to center their work through scholarship, exhibitions and programming,” said Casey. “I’m honored to uplift the name of Augusta Savage by building compelling narratives and exhibitions that reflect our living contemporary art world.”