Berkeley, CA, February 13, 2007 - The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is pleased to announce that Nancy Nelson has been appointed campaigns director for the institution's building campaign. She will begin at BAM/PFA on February 15, 2007.

"We are truly delighted that Nancy will be joining us at BAM/PFA," says Kevin E. Consey, director. "Her extensive experience directing major development campaigns with leading universities and non-profit organizations makes her an ideal addition to our team as we continue the exciting and challenging process of planning for our new building."

As campaigns director, Nelson will be responsible for planning a series of campaigns to support BAM/PFA's project to build a new museum and archive at the western entrance to the University of California, Berkeley campus, close to downtown Berkeley. In September 2006 BAM/PFA announced that internationally acclaimed architect Toyo Ito has been chosen to design this new facility.

"This is an exciting and a critical time to support the vision of this internationally acclaimed visual arts center," says Nelson. "I am absolutely thrilled to be part of the amazing team that is advancing the mission and goals of BAM/PFA in a community that prides itself on its cultural richness."

"Nancy will be an outstanding asset to our campaign, and especially to our efforts to reach out to the Berkeley and East Bay communities for this important undertaking. It's great to have her onboard," says David Wheelan, deputy director for institutional advancement.

Nelson comes to BAM/PFA from The Grameen Foundation in Washington, D.C., where she was vice president of development and communications, responsible for managing individual, corporate, and foundation giving, annual and planned giving, and constituency relations and communication. The Grameen Foundation is a dynamic international non-profit organization that uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty. Prior to this, Nelson served as vice president for institutional advancement at The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, and associate dean, development and alumni relations, at The Anderson School at UCLA. Her extensive experience with university development also includes leadership roles at the Stanford Business School, the University of Washington, and the University of Michigan.

About BAM/PFA
BAM/PFA is the visual arts center at the nation's leading public university, the University of California, Berkeley. One of the largest university art museums in the United States in both size and attendance, BAM/PFA engages audiences on campus, in the Bay Area community, and beyond, presenting consistently innovative and challenging perspectives on art and film from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.

BAM/PFA is recognized internationally as a center for excellence in the presentation of visual art. Innovative and intellectually rigorous, the museum exhibition program presents new perspectives on historical and contemporary art and artists from around the world, as well as important emerging artists, often in their first U.S. exhibitions. The museum's collection of more than 15,000 objects includes exceptional examples of mid-twentieth-century painting, including important works by Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Other significant strengths include historical and contemporary Asian art; early American painting; Conceptual and contemporary international art; and California and Bay Area art.

The Pacific Film Archive became a curatorial department of the museum in 1970, and has since become one of the nation's most respected and comprehensive film exhibition, collection, and study centers. Internationally recognized for its commitment to increasing the understanding and appreciation of the art of cinema, PFA's exhibition program surveys films in critical, cultural, and historical contexts, frequently including in-person conversations with filmmakers, authors, and scholars. The PFA film and video collection now includes the largest group of Japanese films outside of Japan, as well as impressive holdings of Soviet silents, West Coast avant-garde cinema, seminal video art, rare animation, Central Asian productions, Eastern European cinema, and international classics. PFA is actively engaged in film preservation, with a focus on endangered works of experimental film and video.

Credit Line

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Additional support is provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Bernard Osher Foundation, Packard Humanities Institute, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Columbia Foundation, the Christensen Fund, the William H. Donner Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Gap Inc., other private foundations and corporations, and our individual donors and members. Major endowment support has been provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation and by George Gund III.

Gap Inc. is proud to support First Impressions: Free First Thursdays at BAM/PFA. For more information about Free First Thursday gallery tours and screenings visit our website at bampfa.berkeley.edu

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Located at 2626 Bancroft Way, just below College Avenue near the UC Berkeley campus.

Information: 24-hour recorded message (510) 642-0808; fax (510) 642-4889; PFA recorded message (510) 642-1124; TTY (510) 642-8734

Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu

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