Photo by Erik Peterson

New Chief Named for Headlands Center for the Arts

Headlands Center for the Arts recently announced that Maricelle (Mari) Robles is the next Executive Director.

Robles is an arts leader, educator, and organizer who is coming to Headlands after working with several arts and social impact organizations, including Prospect.5 New Orleans and Elevate Prize Foundation. She has a longstanding career history working at the intersection of art and education, including as the Educator-in-Charge, Public Programs and Engagement at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

She will assume the position of Executive Director on December 14, 2020.

Robles is passionate about building meaningful relationships between the arts and new and broad communities, and is driven by the desire to connect people of all backgrounds to quality arts education. As a Latinx woman of Puerto Rican heritage, Robles has focused her career on making art more accessible and welcoming to all, and on creating inclusive experiences both within and outside of art organizations’ walls.

“I’ve encouraged a reciprocal relationship between artists and art institutions for much of my career, and the idea of continuing that work at Headlands, which truly values artists and the creative process, is very exciting to me,” said Robles. “I’m really looking forward to guiding Headlands through this next phase, as we continue to run a celebrated international artist residency program, while also creating more engagement with Bay Area artists and audiences alike. Headlands offers a space to think and create, which is what I admire most about it, as that space is valuable not only to artists, but to the public as well. I hope to be able to create more opportunities for people to celebrate and experience creativity in the coming years.”