Joyce Zemans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April 21, 1940
Joyce Zemans | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joyce Pearl April 21, 1940 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Education | BA (French) (1962) and MA in art history (1966) from University of Toronto with additional courses at the University of London Courtauld Institute (1961) |
| Known for | first woman to serve as York University`s Dean of Fine Arts and as director of the Canada Council for the Arts (1988-1992) |
| Spouse |
Frederick H. Zemans (m. 1960) |
| Awards | Order of Canada (2003) |
Joyce Zemans CM (born April 21, 1940) is a Canadian art historian, curator, cultural policy specialist and academic.[1] She is known as the first woman to serve as York University`s Dean of Fine Arts and as director of the Canada Council for the Arts (1988-1992).
Zemans received her BA in French (1962) and her MA in art history (1966) from the University of Toronto, with additional courses at the Courtauld Institute University of London (1961).[1] She was hired as a lecturer in art history (1966–1975) by OCA in Toronto, chaired the Department of art history (1970–1972) and served as founder and the first chair of the Department of Liberal Arts Studies (1973–1975).[1] She was then hired by York University in Toronto as Associate Professor of Art History (1975–1995) and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts (now the School of Arts Media Performance and Design) (1975–1981), and as Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts (1985–1988).[2]
From 1988 to 1992, she was director of the Canada Council, Ottawa.[1] The author of the history of the council has written: “Ask …. about Joyce Zemans' time at the Canada Council and they will say "equity". It was under her leadership that Council began to take racial equality and Indigenous art seriously.....Zemans' tenure at the council is often associated with her efforts to expand...programming to Indigenous and culturally diverse communities".[2]
In 1992, she returned to teaching at York, then as acting director of the graduate program in art history (1994–1995), later developing the diploma in curatorial studies. In 1995, she was honoured with a University Professorship. She was appointed Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies (1995–1996).[1] In 1994, she became co-director of the MBA Program in Arts, Media and Entertainment Management in York's Schulich School of Business and served as co-director and director of that program for over 25 years, retiring in 2020 as Senior Scholar; University Professor Emerita.[1][3]
