board Member

Eric Pryor is an arts and cultural leader with more than 30 years of senior leadership experience across nonprofit arts, education, museum, and community-based institutions. Throughout his career, he has advanced mission-driven organizations through strategic planning, fundraising, board development, community partnerships, and inclusive leadership. His work is grounded in a belief in the power of the arts to support individual expression, lifelong learning, equity, and community transformation.

Pryor most recently served as President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he led the historic museum and school through a period of strategic transition, institutional advancement, and renewed focus on art, art making, and arts education. Prior to PAFA, he served as President of the Harlem School of the Arts from 2015 to 2022, leading a multidisciplinary organization that provides young people and families with access to high-quality instruction in dance, theater, music, and visual arts.

Earlier in his career, Pryor held senior leadership roles including Executive Director of The Center for Arts Education in New York City, Executive Director of the New Jersey State Museum, President of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, and Executive Director of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s Center for Arts and Culture in Brooklyn. Across these roles, he has strengthened governance, expanded visibility and community engagement, led fundraising and capital efforts, and championed broader access to arts education.

Pryor holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Wayne State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. He also completed Columbia University’s Executive Leadership Program for Nonprofits.