The Rhodes Vision includes the goal of graduating students with the ability to translate academic study and personal concern into effective leadership. Kristin Pedrozo ’22 certainly is an example of an individual with that goal in mind, having been accepted into two programs for art museum leadership.
While an undergraduate, Pedrozo worked on campus for Rhodes Express and as a curatorial intern at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. In 2022, she earned a bachelor’s degree in art, and now is back at the Brooks Museum on a three-year appointment as a fellow of the Art Bridges Foundation located in Bentonville, AR.
The foundation works with museums across the United States to create and support arts programs that educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local audiences. Its fellowship provides future museum leaders opportunities to gain skills and experiences in museum departments from collections to exhibition design and production.
While working at the Brooks Museum, Pedrozo also is pursuing a master’s degree from Arizona State University (ASU) through its ASU-LACMA Master’s Fellowship. Founded in 2018 as a partnership between ASU and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this program aims to culturally diversify the staff and leadership of art museums in the United States and to accelerate the careers of professionals of color already working in museums.
Museum employees can take the classes remotely and participate in professional development activities. Fellows have access to resources at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Heard Museum, the ASU Art Museum, ASU’s Herberger Institute, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in Memphis, Pedrozo worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic with Memphis-based artists to create virtual exhibitions. She curated Surrealistic Experience: Our Past Year, which was exhibited through the college’s Clough-Hanson Gallery web site the spring of 2021.