Neal Benezra

Museum Director, SFMOMA

"Neal is a champion for making the museum experience more accessible because he believes art can transform people's relationship with each other and the world around them. SFMOMA went through a major expansion and closed for 3 years, re-opening in May 2016 and began offering free admission to people 18 years and younger. In its first year after re-opening, SFMOMA doubled its teacher engagement and school-aged visitor attendance. Two public schools (Balboa High School and Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts) use their Koret Education Center as an extension of their classrooms. Neal is dedicated to leveraging art as a learning tool that inspires new ways of looking at history, culture, and current events."

A Bay Area native, Neal Benezra became the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in 2002. Under his leadership, SFMOMA has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth in its collections; has initiated pioneering partnerships with artists, collectors, and cultural institutions on the local, national, and international levels; and has significantly increased and strengthened its staff. Benezra spearheaded the project to transform SFMOMA through a physical expansion of the museum, designed by Snøhetta, and an extensive enhancement of SFMOMA’s programs, collections, and education services. Further, under his leadership SFMOMA became free to young people, ages 18 and under, intentionally engaging more youth of color to connect with the museum and with art.

Benezra holds both an MA and a PhD in the history of art from Stanford University; an MA in the history of art from the University of California, Davis; and a BA with honors in the history of art and political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

"One of the most impactful initiatives we began with the expansion of the SFMOMA building was to offer free admission to all visitors aged 18 and younger. We firmly believe that it is never too early to learn to love art and removing the biggest barrier to the museum for young people--the cost--has helped us to cultivate the next generation of art lovers and be more welcoming than we imagined.“