Diane Barber is an Independent Curator with more than 20 years of experience in the Visual Arts. Projects include major exhibitions with an international roster of artists presented in arts organizations, galleries, universities, schools, and other public spaces and institutions.

 

Most recently, Barber served as Director of the East End Foundation, the organizing force behind the East End Cultural District, a state-designated creative hub in Houston's East End.

 

Prior to that, Barber served as Co-Director/Visual Arts Curator of DiverseWorks ArtSpace (Houston, TX). During her 14-year tenure, Barber curated more than 65 exhibitions for DiverseWorks giving particular emphasis to commissioning new works and site-specific installations and to developing programs with charged cultural and political undertones.

 

Barber also previously served as Exhibitions & Publications Coordinator for FotoFest International, the largest photography biennial in the United States. Professional affiliations include the Warhol Initiative, NPN’s Visual Arts Network, the NAMAC 2009 Leadership Institute, the Advisory Board of FotoFest, the Board of Directors of the Friends of Women’s Studies at the University of Houston, and ArtTable. She is past board president of the National Association of Artist Organizations and former Chairman of the Houston Coalition for the Visual Arts. Barber is also a founding board member of the Independent Arts Collaborative, a Houston-based organization responsible for the creation of MATCH a multi-tenant arts complex in Houston’s urban core.