Bio

Anastasia James is a nationally recognized arts executive with nearly two decades of experience advancing the role of the arts in civic life. As Director of Galleries & Public Art at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, she provides leadership for five public galleries and related programming, oversees all public art initiatives, and is deeply engaged in cross-sector partnerships that enhance the Cultural Trust’s impact regionally and nationally. She is the staff lead for the Cultural Trust’s Public Art and Design Committee and part of a core team working on the development of Arts Landing, a major new civic space designed by Field Operations, set to debut in 2026. James serves on advisory committees for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the Pittsburgh International Airport, and Riverlife. With expertise in institutional strategy, fundraising, financial management, and large-scale cultural initiatives, James is committed to shaping museums and arts organizations that are financially sustainable, artistically ambitious, and deeply engaged with their communities.

A nationally recognized arts leader, with 19 years of professional experience, James was formerly Deputy Director of Art & Education at the Bechtler Museum where she led the Curatorial, Education, Community Engagement, and Programming teams in addition to acting as the museum’s Chief Curator. Previously James held roles as Founding Curator at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art where she worked directly with George Lucas on major collection development and institutional planning. She has also held senior curatorial roles at SUNY New Paltz and the Contemporary Jewish Museum and junior curatorial roles at the Queens Museum and the Andy Warhol Museum.

As a scholar, James is an expert in Global postwar and contemporary art 1945–present with specific expertise in the work of Andy Warhol. She is the editor of three monographs exploring various aspects of Warhol’s life and work through the focal point of his primary collaborators. Her curatorial practice is notable for her longstanding engagement with new and emerging media and championing of diverse and underrepresented voices and has been profiled widely in periodicals such as The New York Times, Artforum, ArtNews, Art in America, LA Times, T Magazine, Vogue, and The New Yorker. In 2012, James received an MA in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies where her thesis focused on the work of American artist, Ray Johnson and tenets of democracy in progressive American arts education.