Pew announces a new head of arts and culture and millions in grants for Philly

When Christina Vassallo was head of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, she landed several substantial grants from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Now she is moving to the other side of that donor-recipient relationship.

Vassallo is the newly named executive director of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, starting Jan. 5, Pew announced Monday.

“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,” said Vassallo. “So for the center, I’m drawn to its dual identity as a grantmaker and as a hub for ideas, and for the opportunity to connect the arts with civic purpose.”

Leadership and operational changes at the Pew arts center are closely watched in Philadelphia’s arts and culture community since the center, along with the William Penn Foundation, accounts for some of the largest foundation giving in the area.

Pew’s center, for instance, also announced on Monday that it has awarded $8.6 million to 44 Philadelphia-area groups — nearly $180,000 to the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra for a project on Black women composers, $360,000 to Monument Lab for the creation of environmental soundworks as a “living monument to Philadelphia’s birds,” and to projects by Mural Arts Philadelphia, Philadanco, Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, theater companies, dance troupes, and museums.

Vassallo, 45, follows Paula Marincola, who retired in October after serving as the center’s first director, since 2008.

After leaving the Fabric Workshop in 2023, Vassallo became director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Before the Fabric Workshop, she was executive and artistic director of the alternative art gallery SPACES, in Cleveland. She was born in the Bronx and grew up in New York City and northern New Jersey, and holds two degrees from New York University — a bachelor’s in art history and a master’s in nonprofit visual arts management.

Vassallo arrives as Philadelphia’s arts scene grapples with a number of challenges. Many groups are facing the double whammy of attendance numbers that are still lower than pre-COVID levels, and cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.

The Pew arts center specifically has undergone a significant change with the 2024 collapse of the University of the Arts, which had been its operational partner. In June, Pew announced that the Barnes Foundation would take UArts’ place, and Vassallo suggested that the Barnes — which also had a hand in her hiring — could take on a more significant role.

“I think there is tremendous potential there programmatically beyond their administrative role,” said Vassallo, who called the relationship between the Pew center and the Barnes an “evolving” one.

One significant change has already occurred. Vassallo will report to Barnes Foundation executive director and president Thomas Collins, whereas Marincola reported directly to Pew. The Barnes isn’t seen as getting involved with the Pew center’s grant-making process, but, rather, could work with the center on creating new programming.

“We could imagine partnerships between the [Pew Fellowships in the Arts] fellows … being able to engage in the collection at the Barnes, for example, we can imagine the center and the Barnes partnering on community conversations,” said Elinor Haider, senior director of Pew’s Philadelphia Program.

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage will continue to be bases in its offices on Walnut Street, Haider said.

Vassallo called Philadelphia’s arts scene “incredibly rich and vital.” About its challenges, she said — while noting that she needs to relearn Philadelphia’s arts and culture community — that “we are having to find new ways to fund our work. I have seen this in the form of creating new business models, coming up with innovative ways to increase ticket sales and engage current and new audiences to create new revenue streams.”

She said she has “always been a strong believer in nurturing the next generation of art enthusiasts, ensuring that kids have access to the arts across disciplines.”

As for future funding priorities, the center has not yet determined whether it will undertake a strategic planning process, she said.

“Not only are we assessing feedback from grantees and external parties, but we’re also understanding the state of the city, and then you have the various partners involved — you have Pew, you have the center staff, and now you have the Barnes. So I think within that there’s going to be a very special alchemy that starts to further determine the future of center funding decisions.”

A complete list of Pew’s latest grants to art and culture groups: pewcenterarts.org/2025grants.