Ms Lara Goodband

I have over 25 years’ experience as an art curator in galleries, museums and unusual places and spaces. I am currently Contemporary Art Curator and Programmer at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter, a position funded by Arts Council England. On taking up this new role in October 2018, I immediately commissioned film maker Michelle Williams Gamaker to create a new film inspired by RAMM's Artic collections, titled 'The Silver Wave'. I curated the popular and critically-acclaimed 'Sea Garden' exhibition in 2019 which included work by Lucy Skaer, Mikhail Karikis, Dorothy Cross and Bryony Gillard amongst others. I am currently working on a new show for Autumn 2022 'Earth Spells: artists in the Anthropocene' wiht new commissions by Florence Peake, Emma Hart and Lucy Stein.

I initiated, curated and delivered major contemporary art exhibitions and education projects as part of Hull City of Culture. I was part of the Ferens Art Gallery curatorial team that enabled its position on the shortlist for Museum of the Year 2017. From 2011 to 2013 I directed international programmes for Cultural Olympiad including the award-winning Sea Swim project. My experience includes strategic planning and partnerships across cultural institutions as well as co-directing the large-scale, outdoor contemporary art project York Curiouser in 2014/5. As Director of Exeter Culture based at the University of Exeter I recruited a new steering group, developed its vision and brand and commissioned the new arts and culture strategy.

I studied English Literature/History of Art [EQUAL] at the University of York (1990-93) before a diploma in Fine Art and then an MA in History of Art at the University of Manchester. I have been an Associate of the Museums Association since 2000.