Arts Administrator; former Executive Director, Onassis Foundation USA
New York and Athens
An arts administrator with over 30 years of professional experience in New York and Europe, Amalia Cosmetatou enjoys working with brilliant minds, creative talent and diverse audiences. She is inspired by the power of art to transform and connect individuals and communities.
As founding director of the Onassis Cultural Center NY, Amalia has been responsible for more than 20 exhibitions of ancient, medieval and contemporary art and over 100 humanities programs, in collaboration with major art institutions. Her projects for the Onassis Foundation USA have focused on contemporary resonances of Hellenic culture. The award-winning exhibition “A World of Emotions” that she organized in 2017 took ancient Greece as a paradigm to explore how emotions are expressed or shaped by social and cultural factors.
Prior to joining the Onassis Foundation USA, Amalia worked at Christie’s and the National Gallery in Athens, and served as art consultant at a private bank and art galleries. She holds an MA in fine arts from the University of Manchester and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and a BA in French Literature from the University of Athens. She is a proud alumna of the Getty Leadership Institute for museum leaders at Claremont Graduate University. Her latest project is to edit her grandfather’s memoir spanning the 20th century. She also volunteers for non-profits in Greece. Amalia loves to cook for friends, to give new life to old furniture, and is always ready for a good hike!