The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, announced that its director, Christina Vassallo, will leave the museum, effective January 2, 2026. She will join the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, a grant-making organization in Philadelphia, on January 5.

“It has been an honor to shepherd CAC and be part of Cincinnati’s vibrant artistic legacy,” Vassallo, the museum’s director since 2023, said in a statement. “I’m so proud of the exhibitions we’ve brought to the city, the strong partnerships we’ve forged with artists from around the world, and the steps we’ve taken to embrace a mission to develop a more empathetic world through the creation and experience of all contemporary art forms.”

Prior to joining the CAC, Vassallo was executive director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. There, she organized exhibitions with artists like Samara Golden, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Jayson Musson, Rose B. Simpson, and Henry Taylor. From 2014 to 2019, Vassallo was executive director of Spaces, an arts organization in Cleveland, and before that, she served as executive director of Flux Factory, an artist-in-residence program in New York.

At the CAC, Vassallo worked with guest curator Maite Borjabad López-Pastor on the 2022 group show “A Permanent Nostalgia for Departure,” which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the opening of the museum’s building, Zaha Hadid’s first completed building in the US. During her tenure, the CAC also presented solo shows by Vivian Browne, Marcus Leslie Singleton, and Sheida Soleimani.

In her new role at the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Vassallo will be in charge of doling out grants to Philadelphia-area arts and culture organizations. (On the same day the organization announced her appointment, they awarded $8.6 million dollars to 44 local organizations and artists.) “The center embodies everything I value about arts leadership—intellectual curiosity, rigorous support for artists and arts organizations, and a true commitment to public life,” Vassallo told the Philadelphia Inquirer.