RIT/NTID names new director for Dyer Arts Center

An artist and curator with a 20-year history of highlighting works by artists with disabilities has been named director of the Dyer Arts Center at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Fran C. Flaherty, the first gallery director who is Deaf Asian American Pacific Islander, began her tenure Aug. 22.

As founder and former curator of the Anthropology of Motherhood project, an ongoing curation of artwork and design exhibited annually in Pittsburgh, as well as several traveling exhibits, Flaherty also serves as a consultant for a new initiative at the Office of Public Art in Pittsburgh, helping to include works of Deaf and Disabled artists in the public art realm. She also was the founder and manager of the Digital Arts Studio at Carnegie Mellon School of Art and has worked extensively with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, developing their Digital Fabrication in the Arts curriculum.

Flaherty earned a dual degree in studio arts and history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh and the Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines.

She has exhibited her works and curated exhibits featuring works of Deaf and Disabled artists throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines, and she has published articles on the importance of including Deaf and Disabled artists’ works to achieve greater cultural understanding.

“What encourages me the most about this position is the ability to combine higher-level artistry with Deaf Studies,” Flaherty said. “I also am focused on directing my practice toward the intersectionality between Deaf, Disabled, and hearing cultures. I’m excited to enter a new phase of my curatorial practice at NTID’s Dyer Arts Center.”

In 2020, Flaherty was one of 10 artists in the Making Our Differences Our Strengths billboard project, a partnership between Westmoreland Diversity Coalition and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The project helped populate billboards across Westmoreland County, Pa., with messages of tolerance and inclusiveness.

“We are indeed thrilled to have Fran join the Dyer Arts Center, picking up the momentum of our previous director, Tabitha Jacques, and moving the center to even greater exposure and maturation,” said Gerry Buckley, NTID president and RIT vice president and dean.