PGH Museums Expands Board, Welcomes New Members
PGH Museums is excited to announce an expansion to its board of directors, replacing departing board members Amanda Narcisi and Jeremy Lese, and adding an additional two members. The expansion will increase the size of the board from a nine person body to eleven. The move was made to address specific needs of the organization and encourage growth. Please welcome PGH Museums newest board members, Veronica Jancuk, Elizabeth Osborn, Joshua Snider, and Christopher (CJ) Thorpe II. The four join the existing seven board members, Brian Crawford, RJ Kozain, Aedan Marty, Lance McFadden, Donald Sgambati III, Melissa Sorg, and Victoria Sterling.
Veronica Jancuk has over 13 years’ experience in project management, producing websites, rebranding, photography, videography, marketing, and social media. She currently works at Hugo & Marie, a creative agency and artist management firm based in NYC. Her favorite museum and gallery in Pittsburgh are the Carnegie Museum of Art and the gallery at Associated Artists of Pittsburgh due to her personal connection with the over 100 year old organization. She is a descendent of one of the founding members, Aaron Harry Gorson, who was also one of the original exhibiting artists. Veronica developed a love of art from her mother who spent time drawing and painting. She hopes to expand our supporter program through social media and maximize the use and design of our website to help develop and promote content.
Elizabeth Osborn is a graduate of High Point University with a master’s in communication and business leadership and a bachelor’s in internal business with minors in Italian, art history, and economics. Elizabeth remotely works for a nonprofit arts council based out of Syracuse, New York. There she works in event planning and coordinates grant requests with knowledge of what organizations are looking for in the grant writing process. Elizabeth’s favorite museum is the Andy Warhol Museum finding Warhol’s pop art, film, and its impact on advertising to be inspiring. She developed a passion for art after seeing the ballet, The Nutcracker, and took the opportunity to admire the architecture of the theater. Elizabeth is hoping to find new and innovative ways to help PGH Museums connect people to the arts and history through out of the box ideas such as pop-up events and better utilizing social media.
Joshua Snider is a printmaker, owning PGH Print Ship based out of Etna, PA. Through his business, he has worked with many nonprofit and volunteer organizations which has given him insight into how they work and operate. PGH Print Ship has won multiple awards in graphic design and Joshua plans to use assets at his business to aid PGH Museums with design opportunities. Joshua has served on the board of advertising with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Soccer club where he secured corporate advertisements. Joshua’s favorite gallery is Point Five Gallery in Etna. He appreciates the gallery’s intimate nature. He also is a fan of the Mattress Factory and The Andy Warhol Museum. Joshua was always an appreciator of art but an introduction to the Unblurred event in the Garfield / Friendship area galvanized his interest. From there, he became enthralled in local Pittsburgh art establishments such as the Pittsburgh Glass Center, The Roboto Project, Garfield Artworks, and PULLPROOF Studio. Joshua hopes to use his talents to grow PGH Museums supporter base and general awareness and to make PGH Museum’s mission more easily and quickly understood.
CJ Thorpe is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s in philosophy and African American Studies. CJ has worked for the US State Department and the USA Pavilion as a Youth Global Ambassador at the World Expo in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) representing the United States to over 1,000 dignitaries. During his work with the department of state, he wrote proposals for the USA Pavilion, navigated UAE law, and assisted in executing events. During this time, he was awarded the USA Pavilion Leadership Award. CJ worked as a program facilitator and AmeriCorps Keys service member for the Industrial Arts Workshop and was a member of the Leadership Council member as a student athlete with Penn State Football. CJ’s favorite museum in Pittsburgh is the Mattress factory due to its history and the way the museum worked with artists to allow them to create the large, sometimes full room, installations in the museum. CJ became interested in art during middle school when he was taught the history of screen printing and about Andy Warhol. The connection between art and history instilled an interest in both which has grown over time. CJ hopes to help PGH Museums become more involved in schools and in minority communities to help spark an interest of art and history to kids with hopes that it will develop into lifelong interests.
The PGH Museums board additionally voted to lower the threshold of a quorum at board meetings, voting to keep the quorum at 5 persons despite the increase in board size.
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