Nora Burnett Abrams, curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver since 2010 and its director for the past five years, has resigned to become the next director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Her last day at the MCA Denver will be April 1, 2025.

Abrams said it is “with a range of emotions” that she and her family make the move.

“I have had the honor of calling MCA Denver home for the past 15 years, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she said. “The unparalleled creative energy that emanates from this museum and across the city of Denver continuously inspired me.” 

Abrams played a critical role in guiding the museum through the prolonged pandemic closure before getting the opportunity to be more fully active in conceiving, establishing and implementing her curatorial vision and partnerships with artists, lenders, donors, and the national and international contemporary arts communities.

“I believe so deeply in MCA Denver and the work we do centering artists, prioritizing teens and their creativity, and collaborating with the incredible staff and board who make the magic happen,” she said. 

Abrams was known for bringing a global perspective “and exemplifies passion for MCA Denver’s mission, including a deep interest in and commitment to exploring unconventional approaches to contemporary arts, curating and exhibitions, cultural production, and programming,” the museum said in a statement. “Under Abrams’ leadership, MCA Denver (has sought) to embody, in everything that we do, our core values of being inclusive, human-centric, adventurous and excellent.”

Notable exhibitions have included “Cowboy” (2023), “Basquiat Before Basquiat” (2017), as well as the first survey of Senga Nengudi’s R.S.V.P. sculptures (2014). She curated the first U.S. exhibition of Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie and an in-depth study of Ryan McGinley’s earliest photographs and never-before-seen Polaroids.

In 2022, Abrams oversaw the museum’s reopening of the 100-year-old Holiday Theater as a performance and programming space located across the street from Denver’s North High School. It  has been used to advance the museum’s mission and generate new opportunities for local artists and the museum’s creative partners, including Denver Film, which just used the Holiday as its anchor for the 47th Denver Film festival.

MCA Denver’s leasing of the Holiday — a 100-year-old theater on Denver’s Northside — was established through a landmark arrangement with the Denver Cultural Property Trust.

“I’ll always feel proud of our ambitious and timely exhibitions, MCA MAX MIX fashion shows, inspiring teen programs, launching our second space at the historic Holiday Theater and so much more,” she said.

Abrams was chosen for the Boston job after a year-long search led by ICA board co-chair Bridgitt Evans.

“In Denver, Nora has elevated expectations for how a museum can embed its work in its community and engage audiences,” Evans said. “She has an ambitious vision for programmatic excellence combined with cultural and civic relevance, and we look forward to bringing that vision to Boston.”

Abrams’ curatorial career began at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she worked on the “Sol LeWitt on the Roof “and “Robert Rauschenberg: Combines” exhibitions. She has taught art history at New York University and lectured throughout the country on modern and contemporary art. She holds art and history degrees from Stanford University and Columbia University, and holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

The MCA Denver Board has begun a search for its next director, but no timeline has been announced.