The Board of Trustees of Museum of the Moving Image appointed Aziz Isham as their new Executive Director. A veteran non-profit arts executive, Emmy-winning filmmaker, writer, and curator, Isham steps into the leadership position on October 1, 2023, as the Museum explores a major project to redesign its core exhibition.
Isham comes to the Museum after a twenty-year career leading non-profit arts organizations, most recently as the executive director of Twenty Summers, whose annual festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts, presents and incubates original work that imagines a more sustainable and equitable future. Prior to that, Isham was the founding Executive Producer of the Brooklyn-based community-media network BRIC TV where he oversaw hundreds of hours of programming by filmmakers and journalists and shepherded numerous features and shorts to the national spotlight. While there, he opened a state-of-the-art media incubation center in Downtown Brooklyn. Isham has produced more than 40 documentaries, feature films, and TV series—with an emphasis on independent and community-focused productions. He has received six NY Emmy Awards for documentaries on climate change, education, and the arts.
Isham grew up in New York City and graduated from Yale with a degree in Anthropology. He speaks frequently on community and media and teaches showrunning and social justice filmmaking at the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema in Brooklyn, New York. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children.
"MoMI really is the museum of the moment. AI is changing everything we think we know about the moving image and media literacy is a prerequisite for navigating our world online. I can't think of a more relevant New York institution and a better place to make sense of the present and figure out our future," said Isham. "As the world of the moving image transforms, we've got this opportunity to redesign how the Museum engages with the public, and with our communities in Queens and in New York City. I'm especially thrilled to be joining as the Museum re-imagines its core exhibition—building on so much incredible work by the curators, staff, and trustees."