Allison Wong will join the team at the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) as Executive Director, effective Aug. 1. A leader in Hawaii’s arts community for over a decade, Wong has a passion for championing the power of culture and art to promote connection, enrich the human experience, and transform lives and communities.
“Passing the torch to Allison Wong is exciting for myself, the agency and the community. We are fortunate to have a capable individual in Allison and a strong foundation with Art in Public Places Program/Hawaii State Art Museum Director Karen Ewald and SFCA staff,” said Jonathan Johnson, outgoing SFCA executive director. “I look forward to watching an exciting new chapter of the agency unfold.”
Wong’s leadership and achievements as executive director at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu and as deputy director of administration and operations at the Honolulu Museum of Art are among the many reasons why the SFCA Board of Commissioners selected her from a pool of many highly qualified candidates.
“Wong possesses an ideal combination of first-hand knowledge of Hawaii’s arts funding ecosystem, experience in nonprofit leadership and community engagement, and a deep commitment to the artistic community through the arts,” says Board Chair Lloyd Unebasami. “We look forward to continued success of the SFCA programs.”
Most recently, Wong has served Hawaii’s arts and culture community as an SFCA board commissioner (a governor-appointed volunteer position) and as director of partnerships for Hawaii Contemporary (formerly the Honolulu Biennial Foundation).
Johnson retires June 30, after eight years as executive director and 34 years at SFCA. Ewald, SFCA Art in Public Places program director/Hawaii State Art Museum director, will serve as interim executive director from July 1 to 31.