{"id":6482,"date":"2021-01-25T14:40:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T14:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uaaglobal.com\/sfai-board-of-trustees-elects-lonnie-graham-to-succeed-pam-rorke-levy-as-chair\/"},"modified":"2021-01-25T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T14:40:08","slug":"sfai-board-of-trustees-elects-lonnie-graham-to-succeed-pam-rorke-levy-as-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uaaglobal.com\/sfai-board-of-trustees-elects-lonnie-graham-to-succeed-pam-rorke-levy-as-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"SFAI Board of Trustees elects Lonnie Graham to succeed Pam Rorke Levy as Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"
The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has announced that Pam Rorke Levy will be replaced by Lonnie Graham as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The SFAI has been fighting to stay afloat, financially, as attendance had declined, but the exit of Levy comes soon after the Board faced criticism over discussing the potential sale of a Diego Rivera mural.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Levy became Chair of the Board after serving on the committee since 2013. Last summer, Levy\u2019s term expired but she remained on the Board to support the school as it navigated the pandemic. \u201cI feel I can step back,\u201d Levy told<\/a> The New York Times <\/em>in light of the announcement, \u201cSFAI has the runway to rebuild itself.\u201d Levy will work alongside Graham until the end of January to assist in the transition.<\/p>\n The SFAI has been in an ongoing battle to save the school from foreclosure, which was imminent in the spring of last year. A deal was negotiated with the University of California which allowed the 150-year old art school to skirt closing for good. Ultimately, the University of California purchased more than $19 million of the SFAI\u2019s debt from private banks while the board focused on restructuring to safeguard the school\u2019s future.<\/p>\n To help alleviate financial pressures, board discussions included airing the idea to sell a mural by Rivera, a renowned Mexican artist who heavily influenced the San Francisco area. The mural was created in 1931 and holds and estimated value of $50 million. When it broke that the artwork\u2019s future was uncertain<\/a>, alumni and faculty were outraged by the motion. Soon after, though, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to give the artwork landmark status<\/a>, which would make any future sale or relocation of the artwork far more difficult.<\/p>\n The SFAI Board also faced backlash after making the decision to use restricted endowment funds to help cover school spending. However, the decision received criticism from a few Board members, one of which stepped down earlier in January, as well as others outside of the committee. According to Graham, last week the Board revisited this and decided to procure a $7 million loan so that the endowment would remain in tact.<\/p>\n Graham, who graduated from the SFAI in 1984, is an artist, photographer, and cultural activist. In 2002 and 2016, he was an adjunct professor at the art institute and became a part of the Board of Trustees in July of last year. He previously worked as the Acting Associate Director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia and the Director of Photography at Manchester Craftsmen\u2019s Guild in Pittsburg. A Pew Fellow, Graham is currently the Executive Director of The PhotoAlliance in San Francisco and a professor of art in photography at Pennsylvania State University.<\/p>\n Alongside the election of Graham, John Marx has been elected as Vice Chair of the Board and will replace Bonnie Levinson and Jeremy Stone, who have been co-Vice Chairs since 2020 and 2019, respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we move forward,\u201d Graham said in a statement released by the SFAI, \u201cI would like to see the San Francisco Art Institute continue to cultivate and sustain experimentation and innovation in the fine arts as we imagine an inclusive and collaborative educational environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) has announced that Pam Rorke Levy will be replaced by Lonnie Graham as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The SFAI has been fighting to stay afloat, financially, as attendance had declined, but the exit of Levy comes soon after the Board faced criticism over discussing the potential sale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-call-for-artists"],"yoast_head":"\n