Pérez Art Museum Announces Endowment of Director Position
- wgclients01
- 18 hours ago
- 4 min read
“We are thrilled by the growth of Miami’s arts community and ecosystem, and PAMM has been at the forefront of making the city a world-class arts destination,” said Sandra and Tony Tamer. “We are strong supporters of Franklin Sirmans’ outstanding leadership and look forward to even more growth of Miami’s preeminent arts institution under his guidance.”
Franklin Sirmans
“This generous gift is not only a testament to the Tamers’ remarkable commitment to the arts but also a powerful investment in our community's cultural vibrancy,” said Franklin Sirmans, Sandra and Tony Tamer Director at PAMM. “Their dedication to enriching lives through art is felt nationwide, and we are truly privileged to have their support here at PAMM. With their generosity, we can continue to inspire, educate, and connect people from all walks of life.”
Sandra Tamer has served on PAMM’s Board of Trustees since May 2015 and as board secretary for the last four years. She is a philanthropist and an active supporter of numerous causes focused on education and economic development.
After receiving her master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), Sandra worked as an engineer at Hewlett Packard and IBM. Sandra currently serves on the board of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change at Columbia University. The Institute empowers the next generation of leaders to address social and environmental challenges. In addition, she is a member of the Investment Committee of the Institute’s Fund for Social Ventures.
Sandra also serves on the board of directors of Action Against Hunger (ACF), a recognized global leader that focuses on the intervention and fight against children malnutrition, and the restoration of food security and self–sufficiency in at-risk communities. In addition to serving on the board of trustees at PAMM, Sandra also serves on the board of trustees of Rockefeller University in NY, and the National YoungArts Foundation in Miami. She also serves on the Chairman’s Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NY and is a member of the museum’s Education Committee and Contemporary Arts Committee.
Sandra and Tony Tamer
Tony Tamer is a business executive and the founder and executive chairman of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm. He previously held positions at Bain & Company, Hewlett-Packard, and Sprint Corporation. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. His undergraduate degree is from Rutgers University.
Tony currently serves on the board of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change at Columbia University, and on the Dean's Council of the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the NY Presbyterian Hospital, and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Rescue Committee. Tony helped launch and is the founding chairman of COOP Careers, a nationwide non-profit that provides lower-income and first-generation college graduates with the skills and support to overcome underemployment and gain
meaningful careers in the digital economy.
Franklin Sirmans has been the director of PAMM since fall 2015. Since coming to PAMM, he has overseen the acquisition of more than a thousand works of art by donation or purchase. Sirmans has pursued his vision of PAMM as “the people’s museum,” representing a Miami lens, by strengthening existing affiliate groups such as the PAMM Fund for Black Art and creating the International Women’s Committee and the Latin American and Latinx Art Fund. Sirmans has organized Toba Khedoori (2017) and he was co-curator of The World’s Game: Futbol and Contemporary Art (2018).
Before his role as the director at PAMM, Sirmans served as the department head and curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He also served as the Artistic Director of the 2014 Prospect New Orleans biennial exhibition, P3: Notes for Now. As a curator, writer, and editor, Sirmans has established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary art. At LACMA, he curated Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada, as well as Fútbol: The Beautiful Game and oversaw major retrospectives by Glenn Ligon and Blinky Palermo. Previously, he organized exhibitions that originated at the Menil Collection such as Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964-1966 and Maurizio Cattelan: Is There Life Before Death? and NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith, which traveled to MoMA PS1 and the Miami Art Museum. He is the former U.S. Editor of Flash Art and Editor-in-Chief of ArtAsiaPacific, and he has written and edited numerous artist and exhibition catalogues.
ABOUT PAMM
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), led by Sandra and Tony Tamer Director Franklin Sirmans, promotes artistic expression and the exchange of ideas, advancing public knowledge and appreciation of art, architecture, and design, and reflecting the diverse community of its pivotal geographic location at the crossroads of the Americas. The 41-year-old South Florida institution, formerly known as Miami Art Museum (MAM), opened a new building, designed by world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron, on December 4, 2013, in Downtown Miami’s Maurice A. Ferré Park. The facility is a state-of-the-art model for sustainable museum design and progressive programming and features 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space with flexible galleries; shaded outdoor verandas; a waterfront restaurant and bar; a museum shop; and an education center with a library, media lab, and classroom spaces.