Emma Boast

Emma Boast is a senior program associate in the Office of the President, where she manages the grantmaking for The Monuments Project initiative.

Prior to joining Mellon, Emma worked at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency for the Greater Boston area, where she facilitated cultural planning projects and spearheaded social justice-oriented initiatives in partnership with artists, community-based organizations, and regional funders. She also spent five years as the founding director of exhibitions and programming at the Museum of Food and Drink in New York City, where she curated and produced groundbreaking exhibitions and educational programs at the intersection of history, culture, and science. As a public historian, Emma has also engaged in curatorial work with the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago and cultural policy development with the City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, where she worked with City staff to develop a citywide strategy and policy for monuments and other commemorative works.

She holds a BA with highest honors in art history from the University of Chicago and an MA in public humanities from Brown University, where she was a curatorial fellow at the Brown Arts Institute.