Deana Haggag (she/her) is an arts administrator, cultural worker, and strategic advisor. She is currently a Program Officer in Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation.

Prior to joining the foundation in May 2021, she was the President & CEO of United States Artists, a national arts funding organization based in Chicago, IL. During her tenure, USA saw unprecedented growth, expanding its Fellowship award program, launching the Berresford Prize, and developing coalition efforts to advance support for individual artists most notably including Artist Relief, a $25 million COVID-19 emergency fund, and Disability Futures, a multi-disciplinary initiative supporting disabled creative practitioners. Before joining USA in February 2017, she was the Executive Director of The Contemporary, a nomadic and non-collecting art museum in Baltimore, MD, for four years. At The Contemporary, she was credited for reviving the museum and turning it into a vital cultural institution in Baltimore. During her tenure, she grew the museum’s budget and staff, helped commission award-winning artist projects, and created a number of resources to bolster the cultural community in the region.

In addition to her leadership roles, Deana is a strategic advisor to cultural foundations and philanthropic initiatives including the Ruth Foundation for the Arts and Chanel Next Prize. She also lectures extensively, consults on various art initiatives, contributes to cultural publications, and has taught at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Towson University. She is on the Boards of MoMA PS1 and the Pillars Fund, as well as on the Editorial Advisory of Art&.

She has completed the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program in 2020, Stanford Impact Program for Arts Leaders in 2018, and was a Salzburg Global Fellow for Young Cultural Innovators in 2015. Among other honors, she was most recently named a 2020 YBCA 100 Honoree. She has been profiled or featured in Artnet News, CNN, Cultured Magazine, The Cut, Departures, Elle Decor, New York Times, The Observer, Town & Country, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more. She received her MFA in Curatorial Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA from Rutgers University in Art History and Philosophy.

She currently lives on Munsee Lenape land, known today as Brooklyn, New York.

Photo: Braxton Black, 2019