As an artist, curator, artistic director, and frequent keynote speaker internationally, Kristy Edmunds has a reputation for innovation and depth in the presentation of contemporary performing arts. Edmunds is also known for placing equal emphasis on the support and commissioning of new work by some of today’s leading performance creators across all disciplines.

She was the Founding Executive and Artistic Director of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) and the TBA Festival (Time Based Art) in Portland, OR; and served as Artistic Director for the Melbourne International Arts Festival from 2005 to 2008. She was appointed the Head of the School of Performing Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts/University of Melbourne, and after one year became the Deputy Dean for the College.

Concurrently, Edmunds worked as the inaugural Consulting Artistic Director for the now critically-heralded Park Avenue Armory (PAA) in New York (2009–2012). Curating the initial three years of programming, she established the formative identity of the PAA with commissioned work by artists such as Ann Hamilton, the final performance event of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Tune-In Festival with Philip Glass, and many others. In recognition of her contribution to the arts, Edmunds was named a Chevalier (Knight) de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2016. In 2019, United States Artists awarded her the Berresford Prize, which recognizes cultural practitioners who create and nurture the conditions for artists to thrive.

Edmunds is currently Director of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). She was previously the Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) and since joining the organization in 2012, has established it as one of the leading presenters of contemporary performance on the West Coast. CAP UCLA is dedicated to the advancement of the contemporary performing arts in all disciplines — dance, music, spoken word, and theater, as well as emerging digital, collaborative, and cross-platforms — by leading artists from around the globe.