GONZALO CASALS

Gonzalo Casals is an arts administrator, policymaker, and educator. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, a not-for-profit organization that addresses critical systemic challenges by emphasizing data-driven research, strategic capacity building, and a commitment to transparency, accountability, and participation.

Recently, Gonzalo was the Senior Research and Policy Fellow for Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation (2022-2023), where he collaborated with artists, cultural workers, researchers, and program officers on a series of research projects aimed at better understanding the lives and livelihood of Artists in the US. Before his tenure at Mellon, he served as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (2020-2021). In this role, he spearheaded the recovery of the arts and culture sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic with policies and programs supporting artists and cultural organizations hardest hit by the pandemic.

Before joining Mayor DeBlasio’s administration, Gonzalo was the Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (2017-2020), the Vice President of Programs and Community Engagement at Friends of the High Line (2013-2017), and for over seven years, he held various roles at El Museo del Barrio (2006-2013). All informed by his vision of cultural production as a vehicle to foster cultural empowerment, social capital, and civic participation.

A lifelong learner for over a decade, Gonzalo has taught Museum Education, Arts Administration, and Culture Policy at the City University of New York (CUNY), New York University, Yale University, and Columbia University.