President Biden Appoints Albuquerque Museum Director to National Committee

December 29, 2022 - Albuquerque Museum Director Andrew Connors has been appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as a member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee. In his role, Connors joins 10 other presidentially appointed members to review requests for import restrictions submitted to the United States by foreign governments, consider proposals to extend existing agreements and emergency actions, carry out ongoing review of current import restrictions, and provide reports of findings and recommendations to the Department of State.

The Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act established the 11-member committee to ensure that the U.S. government receives advice from diverse public interests in cultural property matters. The committee includes two members who represent the interests of museums; three members who are expert in archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, or related fields; three members who are expert in the international sale of cultural property; and three members who represent the interest of the general public. The Cultural Heritage Center serves as the secretariat for committee and convenes and facilitates the committee’s quarterly meetings.

“I am honored to have been asked to help our country protect international cultural property, and I look forward to learning from the impressive scholars and experts I will join on the committee,” Connors said.

In 2018, Connors was named director of the Albuquerque Museum, a division of the City of Albuquerque's Department of Arts & Culture, where he previously served as Curator of Art since 2009. Connors’ former roles include Chair of the Visual Arts Department at Albuquerque Academy (2006-2009), Senior Curator at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque (1999-2006), and Associate Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (1984-1999) where he developed collections and exhibitions on Hispanic, Latino, Native American, and Folk Art.

He studied Art History and Architecture at Yale University and did his graduate work in Folklore and American Studies at George Washington University. He has curated dozens of exhibitions, primarily in the areas of United States Latino Art, Colonial Art from Puerto Rico, Contemporary Art, and Graffiti. He recently completed an exhibition on the history of jewelry in New Mexico from prehistory to the present, the first exhibition to look at this material from all cultural backgrounds.

As a lecturer, guest teacher, and consultant, he has worked with numerous organizations including the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Office of Folklife Programs, Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Chicano Studies Department at the University of California Los Angeles, Getty Center for Education in the Arts, and the Royal Government of Bhutan.