Presenters

Marianne Lamonaca is a leader in the field of non-profit arts management and curatorial affairs. She served as Associate Gallery Director and Chief Curator at Bard Graduate Center, NYC; Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Education at The Wolfsonian-FIU; and Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Brooklyn Museum. She has published and taught courses on twentieth-century decorative arts, design history, and curatorial practice. She holds an M.A. from Parsons The New School for Design and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Marianne is an affiliated fellow of the American Academy of Rome and the recipient of a 2001 Presidential Award for Achievement and Excellence from FIU. She is President Emerita of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators and AAMC Foundation. 

Eric Davis serves as the Coordinator for the Humanities Edge program at Florida International University (FIU). He obtained an associate degree from Miami Dade College in 2010 and continued his studies at FIU, earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication in 2013. Since graduating, Eric has been a full-time employee at FIU. He has gained extensive administrative experience in Higher Education, serving in various roles within the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education (CASE), including Office Specialist overseeing the Writing and Rhetoric program for the Department of English and systems trainer and department scheduling liaison on the CASE Enrollment team. For seven years, Eric managed the day-to-day operations of FIU’s Global First Year cohort, a program designed for international students spending their initial college years in the United States. Most recently he served as a post-award coordinator in the Office of Research and Economic Development. With a proven track record of service, Eric remains committed to being a valuable asset to the higher education community.

Kirk has over 20 years’ experience as a grants administrator and director of operations.  Most recently he facilitated project development for the Annie E. Casey Foundation Mission North Star grant program, a consortium of multi-stakeholder community-based partnerships organized through Miami Dade College to identify service, system and policy opportunities for strengthening economic opportunity pathways for young adult parents. Prior to that he coordinated outreach, recruitment and program development for the National Science Foundation STEM-Mia grant program at MDC. Prior to his work in higher education, he served as an artist manager in New York City working closely with various recording artists including the Ramones, Talking Heads, Deborah Harry and Blondie, after which he served as Director of Operations and Development for the Winter Music Conference. During his 18-year tenure at WMC, the conference developed into a preeminent global platform for the advancement of the music industry and one of Miami Beach’s premier annual week-long citywide cultural events, attracting more than 2,000 artists and 50,000 participants from over 70 countries each year.  His community advocacy, leadership and public service engagements include serving on the Board of Directors for Miami Beach United and he is currently serving his third term as Dade Heritage Trust nominee on the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board by appointment of the City Commission. He also previously served as a panel member for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Festivals grant program. Kirk studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Clotilde M. Picart-Laguer is a Career Specialist and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Communications at FIU with more than 20 years of experience in labor law. Ms. Picart-Laguer’s educational background includes a Juris Doctorate and master’s in labor relations from Interamerican University, and a bachelor’s degree in systems of justice from Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Puerto Rico. She served as an administrative judge in labor matters and represented the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in labor and torts disputes and real estate endeavors. In addition, she was a solo-practitioner in family and labor matters representing the interests of marginalized individuals before the judicial court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Victoria Allende was born in Mendoza, Argentina and has lived in Miami, Florida since 1997. An alumnae of Miami Dade College, Victoria graduated from Florida International University with a BA in Art History in 2014. During her time at FIU, Victoria was the curatorial intern at the Frost Art Museum and was member of the Miami Emerging Museum Professionals. Victoria began her career in the arts profession working as the Gallery Assistant at the prominent Cuban Art gallery Cernuda Arte in Coral Gables, Florida and was later the Content Specialist for the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) in Downtown Miami, Florida. Since 2017, she has been the Fine Arts Coordinator for Miami International Airport’s Division of Fine Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Rosabel Gomez is the Object Collections Registrar at HistoryMiami Museum. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Florida International University. She’s worked in the museum field since 2016, primarily in education, collections, and public programming. She is passionate about the educational enrichment and support that museums can bring to a community.

Buenos Aires–born, Miami-based Diego Waisman is a visual artist that explores themes of social and economic displacement, identity, and exile. Waisman utilizes documentary photography, video, and installation to build connected narratives about overlooked social topics. He holds an animation degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, a bachelors in studio art from the University of Miami and a Master of fine arts from Florida International University. In 2022, Waisman received the Green Space grant, which funded and exhibited his installation This Community, and the 30th Annual Emerald Coast National Best-in-Show, organized by Northwestern Florida State College.

In 2023, he participated in the Urban History Association’s 10th Biennial, where he presented a paper on his recent research and creative work around issues of affordable housing in South Florida. He is a Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator fellow and has received scholarships from the Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation and the Faena Art. Additionally, Waisman is a finalist for the Pathways 2024: The Carlos Malamud Prize, organized by the Rollins Museum of Art and the University of Central Florida Art Gallery. His first monograph, Sunset Colonies, is a visual meditation on Miami’s vanishing mobile home communities. The book will be released by the University Press of Florida in Fall 2024.

Althea (Vicki) Silvera is the department head of Special Collections in the Green Library at FIU. She received her library degree from the University of Western Ontario. She has been at FIU for more than twenty-five years. She previously served as university archivist, FIU's records management liaison officer, and curator for the Gallery at Green Library. She came to FIU in 1987 from Occidental College in California. Silvera has also worked with the Archives of Jamaica, the National Library of Jamaica, and NHPRC's Garvey Papers Project (UCLA). During her tenure as head of Special Collections, the department has received donations of more than $5 million.