The Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College has announced the appointment of a new director. Dr. Anthony Bannon has been appointed to the post, a job he is very familiar with.
Bannon first served as Burchfield director from 1985 to 1996. Under his first tenure as director, the Burchfield Penney was marked by significant growth and pivotal acquisitions to the collection, including 1,485 objects from collector Charles Rand Penney. He also established key endowments and community partnerships that remain central to the Burchfield Penney’s exhibition and collections programming
“The Burchfield Penney Art Center is crucial to Buffalo State’s efforts to improve the quality of life in our community through the arts, and Anthony Bannon will be an exceptional leader in these efforts,” said Buffalo State president Aaron Podolefsky. “I know he will be a tremendous force for good in Buffalo’s cultural corridor and an able steward of the Burchfield Penney’s many treasures.”
For the past 16 years, Bannon he has served as executive director at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, in Rochester, New York.
During his tenure at Eastman House, Bannon led the creation of three postgraduate preservation schools, alliances with museums, universities, and collectors clubs in large U.S. cities, and many of the most well-attended exhibitions in the Rochester museum’s 65-year history. He also oversaw the digitization of collections and aggressive social-media campaigns .