SUSANA TORRUELLA LEVAL
P ROFESSIONAL B IOGRAPHICAL S KETCH
Susana Torruella Leval was Director of El Museo del Barrio, the nation’s leading
Puerto Rican, Latino and Latin American Museum, for eight years (1994 –2002), after serving there as Chief Curator for four years. She was named Director Emerita of El Museo del Barrio by the Board of Trustees in May 2002.
As Director El Museo del Barrio, Ms. Torruella Leval oversaw the renovation of its exhibition galleries and Heckscher Theater, the presentation of around 100 exhibitions, and the quadrupling of the museum’s budget and staff. During her tenure, El Museo del Barrio received the New York State Governor’s Arts Award in
1999. Her leadership helped secured key institutional grants: National Arts
Stabilization Grant, 1993; Institute of Museum Services Grant, 1996; Lila Wallace
Reader’s Digest five year award for Collections Accessibility, 1997; a Capital
Project and Earned Income grant from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone,
1999; and a $1 Million Endowment grant from the Ford Foundation, the first in El
Museo’s history, in 1998. Ms. Torruella Leval secured over $4 million in capital funds from the City of New York between 1996 and 2000, and raised $900,000 in relief funds after 9/11 from The Mellon Foundation and The Carnegie Foundation.
Ms. Torruella Leval, born in 1944 in Buenos Aires and raised in Puerto Rico, was trained as an art historian. She worked as an art writer and curator of Puerto Rican,
Latino and Latin American contemporary art in New York City since 1970. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Manhattanville College in
1966 and an M.A. from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts in 1973, completing all doctoral coursework there.
Ms.Torruella Leval rece ived the Hunter College President’s Medal for the Arts in
May 1995 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Pace University in May
2000. She has been honored by several important Latino community awards:
‘Outstanding Service to the Community’ Award from the National Conference of
Puerto Rican Women, NYC Chapter (1995); ‘Community Excellence Award’ from the Puerto Rican Family Foundation (1997); the East Harlem ‘Good Scout’ award from the Manhattan Council of the Boys Scouts of America (1998); ‘Mujeres
L atinas’ of achievement mention from El Diario/La Prensa; ‘East Harlem
Community Service Award’ from Hope Community Church (2002), and a
‘Certificate of Achievement’ from The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration,
New York Regional Office (2002). She served as Chair of the Cultural Committee of
Community Board #11 in 1997-98.
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Since the mid ‘80s, Ms. Torruella Leval has served as a panelist for different programs of the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and IMLS, the Institute for Museum and Library Services. She has taught at The Cooper Union (1992-95) and in the Museum Studies program at New York
University (1995) and has been part of the Advisory Faculty of the Center for
Curatorial Studies at Bard College. In Fall 2008 she was Adjunct Faculty at the
Steinhardt School of Visual Arts Administration at NYU.
In 2001-2, Ms. Torruella Leval served as Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group
(CIG), an association of cultural organizations housed in City-owned buildings
, and as Vice President and President Elect of the Association of Art Museum
Directors (AAMD). She has served on the following Boards: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1988-93 and 2002-present; the American Academy in Rome (1993-
96); the Alliance for the Arts, (1998); the American Association of Museums (AAM),
1998-2000; the Municipal Arts Society (2000); and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, (1998-2001.) She has been a member of the Overseers' Committee to Visit the Art Museums at Harvard College (1998- 2001) and of the Visiting
Committee of the Getty Center in Los Angeles (1999 –2001).
In July 2002, Susana Torruella Leval was appointed by Governor Pataki to the
New York State Council on the Arts, where she served until December 2006.
Also in July 2002, Mayor Bloomberg appointed her to serve on the Panel for
Educational Policy of the City of New York, where she served until March 2004.
Ms. Leval is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of
Art since September 2002 and a member of the Board of the Museum of Jewish
Heritage since 2003. In 2006 she joined the Board of Trustees of Dreamyard and of The Aperture Foundation. In 2008 she joined the Advisory Boards of
CENTRO, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and of the virtual Mirror of Race Project.
Personal:
Susana Torruella Leval is married to Judge Pierre N. Leval, U.S. Court of
Appeals, Second Circuit. They have a daughter, India.
Languages: Spanish, English, French
Working knowledge of Italian and Portuguese