KATIE McGOWAN PROMOTED TO DIRECTOR OF KRESGE ARTS IN DETROIT
Photo by Noah Stephens
Deputy director Katie McGowan is the new director of Kresge Arts in Detroit!
After more than 10 years in leadership roles with Kresge Arts in Detroit, Christina deRoos is departing the Kresge Arts in Detroit staff on May 30 to explore new opportunities. Her current role, director of leadership transition, will ensure the program continues to operate effectively and efficiently during the changeover.
Katie is an artist with a deep understanding of Detroit, years of experience with the Kresge Arts in Detroit program, and strong local and national connections within the arts community. It will be exciting to see her vision and wide-ranging expertise leading the program.
Christina deRoos
director of leadership transition
McGowan joined the Kresge Arts in Detroit team as managing director in September 2018 and was later promoted to deputy director. She has overseen the administration of both the Kresge Eminent Artist Award and the Kresge Artist Fellowships, playing a key role in evolving the nomination, application, and selection processes to best serve the artists of metro Detroit. During her time as deputy director, McGowan has also led initiatives like the Featured Photographer project and the In the Air: Voices from Detroit and Beyond series, which supported individual artists beyond their fellowship year.
I’ve worked in the art world my entire career and have a personal connection to and care for cultivating conditions where artists are celebrated, respected, and paid equitably. Metro Detroit has an incredible amount of creative energy and world-class talent across artistic disciplines. It’s a privilege to support the energy and momentum of the arts community through our awards programming.
Katie McGowan
director
McGowan is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer, and committed advocate for creative workers. She was born and raised in metro Detroit. After spending 10 years as an artist, educator, and writer in several U.S. cities and Croatia, Katie moved back to Detroit in 2011 to collaboratively build the Department of Education and Public Engagement (DEPE) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD).
There, she co-founded the museum’s DEPE Space Residency program. McGowan also helped launch the Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead, a large art installation on the museum’s grounds—which is a replica of the late, international artist’s childhood home in western Wayne County—in addition to designing and leading museum programming. Since then, she has lectured at the College for Creative Studies and Eastern Michigan University, started an arts consulting firm that operated between NYC and Detroit, and served as program director for the Ann Arbor Film Festival—the oldest experimental and avant-garde film festival in North America.
McGowan’s personal art practice is at the intersection of literary art and performance art, often resulting in genre-bending performances of nonfiction reportage. She holds an M.F.A. from The University of Iowa in Intermedia as well as M.A. and B.A. degrees from Wayne State University, in English.