About
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation provides grants and other forms of strategic support to artists, faculty, cultural centers, students and other arts advocates at Penn. Our vision is that the arts at Penn are valued and embraced as a creative catalyst, driving innovation, inspiration, and action.
We work across the university to support the arts, the humanities and creative expression–in all twelve schools, in the university’s artistic and cultural centers and through the many partnerships and collaborations that connect Penn to the world at large.
The Sachs Program supports a creative, culturally diverse and pluralistic Penn community. We are committed to supporting individuals and groups from all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, disabilities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Staff and Board
The Sachs Program is directed by John McInerney, with support from Chloe Reison. The Sachs Program operates independently, under the Provosts Office and the Vice Provost for Faculty. It receives counsel and guidance from an advisory board comprised of standing faculty and select arts leaders at Penn.
Sachs Program Staff
John McInerney, Executive Director
Chloe Reison, Associate Director
Tamara Suber, Administrative Assistant
Erin O’Malley, Programming Coordinator
Gracelynn Wan, Communications Coordinator
Faith Mamaradlo, Website Coordinator
Sachs Program Advisory Board
Al Filreis
Kelly Family Professor of English
Director, Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing
Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House
Deborah A. Thomas
R. Jean Brownlee Term Professor of Anthropology
Guthrie Ramsey
Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music
John L. Jackson, Jr.
Richard Perry University Professor
Walter H. Annenberg Dean, Annenberg School for Communication
Julian Siggers
Williams Director, The Penn Museum
Ken Lum
Professor and Chair of Fine Arts Department
Michael Leja
James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor and Chair of History of Art Department
Sharon Hayes
Associate Professor of Fine Arts
Keith and Katherine Sachs
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is supported by an endowed gift from Keith L. and Katherine Sachs. Keith L. and Katherine Sachs have provided major support for the arts at Penn for more than a decade, completely transforming the landscape of arts education on campus.
This transformative gift – the largest gift ever made across the arts at Penn – will establish The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and closely link arts education to the Penn Compact 2020’s goal of advancing innovation across the University.
Past gifts by Keith L. and Katherine Sachs have supported the Sachs Guest Curator Program at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Sachs Professorship in Contemporary Art in the Department of History of Art in the School of Arts & Sciences and the Fine Arts Program Fund and Visiting Professorship in the Department of Fine Arts in the School of Design