Press Release

Prospectus available in January 2020

Tucson, AZ – Arizona artists over 18 years of age working in any media are welcome to submit works to
be considered for Arizona Biennial 2020. The oldest running state-wide juried exhibition featuring
exclusively Arizona artists, Arizona Biennial will be on view at Tucson Museum of Art from July 3 through
September 20, 2020. The work juried into the exhibition will be selected by guest juror Joe Baker,
Director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut.
The prospectus will be available January 13, 2020 on TMA’s website: TucsonMuseumofArt.org.
The entry fee is $35 for up to three works. Digital submissions only.

Schedule for Artists
Mar 6: Entry forms, fees, and flash drives must be received by the Museum no later than 5:00
p.m. Late entries will not be accepted. No emailed submissions.
Apr 23: Juror Joe Baker will select works from submissions
Apr 23: Panel: “The Critical Eye: What Curators of Contemporary Art Look For” Tucson Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m. Panelists: Joe Baker, Guest Juror Erin Joyce, Fine Arts Curator, Heard Museum Miki Garcia, Director, University Art Museum, Arizona State University
Apr 27—May 1: Notification of results emailed
Jun 25—26: Works accepted at Tucson Museum of Art lobby from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Shipped entries must arrive, PREPAID, by 4:00 p.m., Friday, June 26
Jul 2: Opening reception
Jul 3: First day open to the public
Sep 20: Last day of the exhibition
Sep 21, 22: Artist pick up of all works, 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Oct 5-9: Shipped works will be prepared for return shipping

About Joe Baker
Artist, curator and educator Joe Baker is the new director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and
Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut. Prior to his position there, he served as the CEO/Executive
Director of Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and as co-founder and executive
director of Lenape Center, New York, New York.
At Palos Verdes Art Center, Baker transformed the 88-year old institution with innovative new
programming that has professionalized the art exhibitions and school and expanded its educational
outreach to communities in need throughout Los Angeles County. Previously, Baker served as Executive
Director at Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans, Louisiana, challenging museum visitors’
expectations of an historic house experience by supporting contemporary artists’ interventions on the
eight-acre estate of civic activists, philanthropists and founders, Edith and Edgar Stern.
At Arizona State University’s Institute for Design and the Arts, Baker served as the Institute’s first
Director for Community Engagement, where he led research and contemporary practices to strengthen
the public and civic purposes of the arts through innovative campus-community partnerships. Some of
his projects at ASU include: Civil Disobedience, an all-elements hip hop event in partnership with the
School of Music. Partnering with School of Nursing and Health Innovation, School of Landscape
Architecture, and St. Vincent de Paul Society, he established a community garden to research health
disparity in urban populations. He also founded Night Gallery, a partnership with Vestar Development
Corporation and ASU School of Art, to create an experimental exhibition space in a marketplace,
including music, dance, new media, and theater and film.
At the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, Baker was the Lloyd Kiva New Curator of Fine Arts, where he
pioneered new opportunities for emerging and underrepresented artists through innovative
international exhibitions and programming.
His work has recently focused on addressing issues of identity and global cultural equity.
He is the recipient of the Virginia Piper Charitable Trust 2005 Fellows Award, recognizing outstanding
leaders in nonprofit communities, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s Contemporary Catalyst
Award for 2007, the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian Design Award
2008, and ASU’s Presidential Medal for Social Embeddedness, 2009. In 2003, Baker received the Joan
Mitchell Foundation Award in Painting. He is a member of IKT International association of curators of
contemporary art, Luxembourg, and serves on the International Advisory Board, Laumeier Sculpture
Park, St. Louis, Missouri.
Baker graduated from the University of Tulsa with a BFA degree in Design and an MFA in painting and
drawing, and completed postgraduate study, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, MDP
Program. He is an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.