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Artist and teacher Jorge Rojas is joining the staff of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, as the museum's new director of education and engagement.
Before joining UMFA, Rojas was site director for the Venture Humanities Course, a free interdisciplinary program for low-income adults by Westminster College and the Utah Humanities Council. He teaches art history in East High School's Clemente Course in the Humanities, and was a teaching artist-in-residence at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
The Mexican-born Rojas studied painting and sculpture at the University of Utah and Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. His multi-disciplinary work has been seen at galleries and museums across the U.S. and Mexico. His online performance art event "Low Lives" was seen at UMFA's G.W. Anderson Family Great Hall in 2011 and 2012.
"Jorge is highly respected in our community as a dynamic and innovative arts leader, and we're thrilled to welcome him as our new director of education and engagement," said Gretchen Dietrich, UMFA executive director, in a statement.
In the new job, Rojas will lead a staff of six arts educators who develop and coordinate UMFA's education and outreach efforts. Those efforts serve 60,000 people each hear, including more than 15,000 students, kindergarten through 12th grade, across Utah.