temple university

My First 100 Days as Director

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This week marked my first 100 days as the Director of Temple Contemporary!

From day one, I’ve been committed to listening—deeply and widely—to the Temple community and our neighbors along the North Broad corridor. As both Director and neighbor, I wanted to hear your vision for the future of arts and culture in our area.

So I asked two simple but expansive questions:

  1. How should Temple Contemporary make the public feel—including you?

  2. What would make this place an unforgettable destination for Temple University and North Philadelphia?

If folks were already familiar with the gallery, I added a third:What have you loved about what we’ve done in the past?

To make space for these conversations, I offered a variety of meeting times—afternoons, evenings, mornings, even select Saturday slots. Beyond those scheduled chats, I had dozens of impromptu dialogues with artists, students, faculty, and community members, both in Philly and beyond.

I traveled to Los Angeles for Frieze to reconnect with personal influences and soak in how contemporary art functions in other cities. I visited regional institutions like Haverford College and Fleisher Art Memorial to see how other teaching-based galleries are building public engagement.

Meanwhile, I began seeding new initiatives:

  • WE MAKE: Emerging Heritage, Forgotten Futures – a public history workshop to preserve Temple Contemporary’s archival legacy

  • A short introductory video, now available below, offering a glimpse into who I am and what drives this next chapter.

A few things I’ve learned so far:

  • Joy, justice, and genius are shared values across faculty, staff, and neighborhood audiences.

  • The vision for a cross-disciplinary, integrative gallery space resonates widely—but making it real will require shifts in practice and investment.

  • Themes of public memory, play, and wonder offer strong connective tissue between our values and our future programming.

More to come soon about how I’ve arrived at these insights—and what they may mean for short- and long-term goals.

Until then,
Dr. Matt
Director, Temple Contemporary