Rand Suffolk

Randall Suffolk is the Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., Director of the High Museum of Art. Since his arrival in 2015, he has championed a renewed commitment to community engagement, placing emphasis on collaboration, inclusivity, and access. To support these objectives, the Museum has reduced admission fees, greatly diversified its exhibition schedule, added more than 1,500 objects to the collection, worked collaboratively with nearly thirty community partners annually, and developed a variety of new programming to serve its increasingly diverse, multigenerational audience. Suffolk also led the development of a sweeping 2018 reinstallation of the Museum’s collection galleries.

Prior to joining the High, Suffolk served as director of Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he designed and implemented a comprehensive plan that aligned the institution’s programming with the interests of Tulsa residents. This led to a reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection galleries, increases in membership and attendance, and a dramatic change in visitor demographics, including five consecutive years with minority participation over forty percent of total attendance. The success of this institutional strategy and program was nationally recognized in a 2013 study led by independent researchers Anne Bergeron and Beth Tuttle in partnership with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), in which Philbrook was highlighted as one of six national models of community engagement. Suffolk was also instrumental in leading the development and opening of Philbrook Downtown, a 30,000-square-foot satellite facility opened in 2013. During Suffolk’s tenure, Philbrook acquired nearly 7,000 works of art, representing forty-two percent of the Museum’s permanent collection.

From 1999 through 2007, Suffolk was the director of The Hyde Collection Art Museum in Glens Falls, New York. His focus at the institution included building constituency, overseeing a museum expansion, and guiding the award-winning restoration of the historic Hyde House.

Suffolk has curated more than twenty-five exhibitions and has participated as a juror, panel member, or guest lecturer for a variety of art-related organizations and programs. He holds a Master’s degree in art history from Bryn Mawr College, a Master’s degree in higher education administration from Columbia University, and a BA from Connecticut College.