Tephra ICA Curator To Step Down For New Role At Georgetown University

RESTON, VA — Jaynelle Hazard will be stepping down as executive director and curator of Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art on Aug. 1 to become the director and chief curator of Georgetown University Galleries. She will also be an associate professor of practice in the school's Department of Art and Art History.

"Tephra ICA celebrates this exceptional career opportunity for Jaynelle, so richly deserved and earned, and is deeply grateful for her leadership and vision in delivering the many successes we have realized over our four years together," the Tephra ICA Board of Directors said, in statement released on Friday.

Hazard, who became the organization's executive director and curator in March 2020, oversaw the rebranding of the Greater Reston Arts (GRACE) in January 2021. The 501c3 nonprofit's mission is to promote the arts in the Reston area.

"'Tephra' is defined as matter ejected from geothermal eruptions, which lands on a nourishes the surrounding environment, according to the release. This is reflected in Tephra ICA's belief in 'the combustibility of creativity and generation of ideas and growth that the arts can provide,'" the newly renamed Tephra ICA said in a 2021 release.

During her tenure, Hazard founded the fall fundraising initiative, The Alloy Project, and drafted and implemented Tephra ICA's Social and Cultural Equity Commitments.

"The institution is grateful to Jaynelle for the exceptional vision, equanimity, strength, and class that have marked her impressive four-year run. Jaynelle and her team have made our content stronger, our reach greater, and our practice more just," the board of directors said.

In making the announcement of Hazard's departure on Friday, the board of directors also announced that it has begun a national hiring search for her successor.