Melanie Crader Joins Guild Hall's Team

As Guild Hall prepares to reopen its galleries and outdoor areas this weekend, it will do so with a new player in place — Melanie Crader, who joined the organization in May as director of visual arts.

Crader comes to the inaugural position having served most recently as the deputy director at the Parrish Art Museum in February 2022, during a time of transition for the institution. She also assumed the role of interim director at the Parrish, prior to the arrival of Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, who was named the museum’s new director last June.

Before coming to the East End, Crader, who grew up in Louisiana near the Texas border, lived on the West Coast, where she was director of exhibitions and publication management at the Hammer Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. Prior to that, she held various management roles at The Menil Collection in Houston, including budget and project manager and manager of curatorial projects.

“I know about living in a smaller town,” said Crader. “I’ve also been in urban centers for 25 years, so coming here was not like a big shock. I was attracted to the area and the artists. It’s a very storied artist community. I’ve always looked at it as a haven for artists.”

Though she’s had numerous jobs on the administration side of things, Crader comes to her new role with a true artist’s soul and a master’s degree from Ohio University.

“I’m an artist and I have studio degrees,” she explained. “While I was at Ohio University, I taught printmaking, drawing and color theory and did other jobs for the school. When I got out of grad school, I moved to Houston and got a job at a printing company. Then I got a job at an investment company and worked there while teaching and making art.”

Which, in short, means that Crader is well-suited for the new position at Guild Hall, where she will oversee all aspects of the visual arts programming.

“The reopening of Guild Hall is very exciting,” she said. “I’m excited that people will get to experience it soon and meet the program team.”

In addition to Crader’s role as director of visual arts, that team includes Anthony Madonna who is the director of learning and new works, and Nick Schwartz-Hall who recently came aboard as director of performing arts.

“So it’s not just museum, theater, education. It’s about the discussions. Because we’re a multiple disciplinary institution, it’s bringing those interdisciplinary ideas together and creating a collaborative team,” said Crader. “I will oversee museum activities and the collection with the idea that we’re always working in a collaborative way on programming.

“What I’m doing is looking at exhibition strategy and scheduling and how we’ll tier it,” she said. “Because I’m new, I really like to go into a place and learn the culture and bring my experience to it.”

The collaborative model is one that Crader embraces and she’s looking forward to bringing it to fruition. She feels that one of her primary strengths is her ability to bring groups of people together in pursuit of a common goal.

“Building on to make things happen is a strong suit of mine,” she said. “I brought that to The Menil Collection in curatorial form, the capital campaign, managing large budgets and exhibition tours. At the Hammer, I managed an exhibition and publication program. So I have a long history of working with curators and artists to realize their vision.

“I also have a well-rounded track record in fabrication, making sure artistic projects reach their full potential,” she added. “It has helped being an artist and understanding the artistic process, and with curators in understanding the process and relationship building.”

The notion of giving equal weight to each of its three disciplines — learning, visual arts and performing arts — has been a guiding principle since Guild Hall’s founding more than 90 years ago, and the idea of melding all three in a cohesive whole is something Crader understands well.

“Artists aren’t singular makers. They’re always thinking of ideas about philosophy, music, art, all these things,” she said. “For me, this exchange of ideas is natural to the artistic process and thinking about that in a holistic way makes sense.

“I’m really looking forward to diving into the collection and exploring how we can put the collection to work.”