Studio in a School is delighted to announce that Shane Neufeld has been named Chair of our Board of Directors.
Neufeld, a painter and architect, brings a deep appreciation for the arts and a shared belief in the power of creativity to shape lives and communities. He has been a member of the board since 2015 and has recently held the role of Vice Chair.
Shane shared, “I am honored to serve as Board Chair at such an important moment in Studio in a School’s history. As we look ahead to our 50th anniversary, we have an extraordinary opportunity to build on Agnes Gund’s remarkable legacy and ensure that every child has access to the transformative power of the visual arts. I look forward to working alongside our dedicated board, staff, artist instructors, and supporters to strengthen Studio’s impact and bring the joy and possibility of art to more young people.”
He succeeds Dr. Hasna Muhammad, whose thoughtful leadership, dedication, and steadfast commitment to Studio’s mission guided the organization through a recent merger and a time of transition. We are deeply grateful to Hasna for her years of service, thoughtful guidance, and continued advocacy for arts education.
We are excited to welcome Shane into this leadership role as Studio looks toward its next chapter, building on nearly five decades of expanding access to visual arts education and creating opportunities for young people to learn, grow, and thrive through the arts.
ABOUT SHANE NEUFELD
Shane Neufeld is a painter and registered architect based in Brooklyn, New York. His practice unites painting and architecture through a shared exploration of perception, examining how light, color, materiality, and space shape our sense of place. In 2017, Neufeld founded Light and Air, an architectural practice spanning residential, commercial, institutional, and social impact projects. The firm’s widely published work includes Z House, Switchback House, and 4x4x4, a competition-winning proposal that reimagines Los Angeles housing for greater density while preserving its defining qualities of light, air, shared outdoor space, and greenery. The firm’s engagement with social justice and collective memory is also reflected in a competition-winning design for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Memorial in Richmond, Virginia.
Neufeld holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Amherst College, where he studied painting and literature and received the Wise Fine Arts Award, and a Master of Architecture from Yale University, where he received the Drawing Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two children.
