Neil Barclay

In January of 2019 Barclay was selected to lead the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History as its president and CEO.

A former attorney, Barclay was most recently President and CEO of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. During his five-year tenure, the institution’s budget increased by more than 40 percent including lead gifts from some of the nation’s leading arts philanthropists.

Barclay served for seven years as associate director of the Performing Arts Center for the University of Texas at Austin and is the founding president and CEO of Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Center. Additionally, he was instrumental in the historic capital renovation planning for Los Angeles’ Vision Theater, originally built by Howard Hughes and currently in the final stages of development for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

A leading national presenter of contemporary performing and visual arts, Barclay served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Arts Professionals for 9 years including four years as its Vice President.  He currently chairs the board of South Arts one of the nation’s six regional arts organizations.

Since 2018 he has served as a member of the College of Communications and Fine Arts Advisory Board for Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, his undergraduate and law school alma mater.

MuseumNext Green Museums Summit
Tuesday, 29th March 2022

Embedding Environmental Sustainability from the Top Down and Bottom Up
Leadership from The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History will address how we are holistically embedding Sustainability throughout our entire museum. Our unique leadership expertise spans from law, anthropology, public history, visual studies, to architecture, service design and computer science; developing frameworks to co-create a Green Museum of the Future. Learn how we’re using Storytelling as a multidisciplinary tool to create a Green Manifesto and Climate Action Plan to embed Sustainability in our strategic goals, learning engagements, and infrastructure to attract and retain audiences, staff, volunteers and vendors to create a truly regenerative museum for the next generation.

Full Schedule Here