Edgar Miramontes has taken on a new position at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. (photo by David Esquive/UCLA)

UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture Dean Brett Steele will appoint Edgar Miramontes to the position of executive and artistic director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), effective August 2023. Miramontes comes to CAP UCLA from REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater), a multidisciplinary center for innovative visual, performing and media arts founded by California Institute of the Arts, where he has served as deputy executive director and curator since 2019, and associate director from 2013-2019.

Miramontes’ appointment follows an international search, and he succeeds Kristy Edmunds, who left CAP UCLA in 2021 after ten years at the helm to become the director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

With more than 18 years of experience, Miramontes is a strategic arts leader, curator, producer, teacher, administrator, fundraiser and festival organizer. In his current role as Deputy Executive Director and Curator of REDCAT, he has been responsible for international, national and regional programming and management with an emphasis in dance, theater and performance. During his tenure, Miramontes co-curated and co-produced the “Getty-led Pacific Standard Time Festival: Live Art LA/LA” (January 2018), an international celebration of art and performance throughout greater Los Angeles, with more than 200 Latin American and Latinx artists and performers creating events at more than 25 indoor and outdoor locations. Miramontes also curated and produced the annual New Original Works (NOW) festival of new performance works, premiering 80 new projects and supporting over 300 artists.

“Edgar’s appointment aligns with the start of an exciting new chapter for CAP UCLA that includes the eagerly anticipated opening of the UCLA Nimoy Theater,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “We look forward to having a distinguished alumnus at the helm of our flagship performing arts program, joining other campus leaders who are dedicated to advancing the arts at UCLA and further elevating our university’s standing as one of Southern California’s great cultural centers.”