BritWeek T4C Artists Competition

Adam Gross is the Executive Director of Art Platform - Los Angeles, the contemporary and modern art fair for Los Angeles. Prior to his Directorship, he was integral to the Development team at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where he helped MOCA navigate one of the most challenging periods in its history through his work developing patrons and major gifts for the institution.

Prior to his post at MOCA, Adam was a private art dealer and consultant, working with corporations and individuals on collection building and management, curating exhibitions, and supporting arts-related marketing initiatives. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in contemporary art history from UCLA and over 15 years in the arts in Los Angeles working with galleries, auction houses, private and corporate collections, and non-profit arts organizations, Adam brings a unique local perspective to the Art Platform institute. Before embracing his passion for the arts, he worked in finance and banking in the US and Europe.

Ciara Ennis is the director/curator of Pitzer Art Galleries at Pitzer College and was the curator of exhibitions at the University of California Riverside/California Museum of Photography, particularly of Still, Things Fall From the Sky (2005), Ruby Satellite (2006) and Eloi: Stumbling Towards Paradise (2007).

After moving from London to Los Angeles, Ciara was project director for Public Offerings, an international survey of contemporary art, at MOCA, Los Angeles in 2001. Thereafter, she became associate curator at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, where she initiated the Project Room and programmed a series of experimental exhibitions with such artists as Urs Fischer, Simon Leung, Mark Leckey, Johan Grimonprez and Eduardo Sarabia. She has been director of Pitzer Art Galleries for the past four years, and during that time she has curated a number of exhibitions, including: Antarctica (2007); Narrowcast: Reframing Global Video 1986/2008, co-curated with Ming-Yuen S. Ma (2008); Veronica (2009); Capitalism in Question, co-curated with Daniel Joseph Martinez (2010); Euan MacDonald: Kimball (2011), Synthetic Ritual, co-curated with Gabi Scardi (2011); and Liz Glynn: No Second Troy (2012).

Ciara’s curatorial practice blurs fact with fiction and focuses on storytelling as a means to explore the fluidity and fragility of identity, revealing the subtleties of the social, political, and the cultural issues that impact our lives. She received her MA in curating contemporary art from the Royal College of Art, London.

Peter Mays is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) and its premiere La Cienega exhibition space Gallery 825. He believes LAAA is now poised to launch the next phase of the 86-year-old organization's expansion and commitment to Los Angeles' emerging artists. Since joining LAAA in June 2005, he has implemented cultural exchanges with Korea, Germany and China, initiated collaborative programming with institutions like Harvard, MoCA and Otis, as well as with artists Tim Hawkinson and Lita Albuquerque, secured the very best curators to jury LAAA exhibitions, increased LAAA's career development programs and direct services by 30% and created LAAA's public art program which was selected as one of the top public art works completed in 2010 by Americans for the Arts.

Beyond his commitments at LAAA, Peter has curated exhibitions throughout Southern California for various arts, educational and civic agencies. He was recently honored at the LA Art Show with the Art to Life award sponsored by Art & Living Magazine, Sotheby's International Realty and A&I for his work on behalf of emerging artists and emerging artists communities. As chairperson of the West Hollywood Arts and Culture Commission and its Art on the Outside public art effort, Peter leads the city's nationally regarded outdoor public art programming which has been praised in Art Forum and the New York Times. He helped to launch the region-wide LA Arts Month effort from 2009-2011 when he served on Planning Committee and the Program Committee. He also serves on LAUSD's National Study Group which is charged with informing the nation's second largest district as it plans the next 10 years of K-12 Arts Education. Peter has co-chaired the Education Committee for the Board of Directors for the MOCA Contemporaries and he remains an active member of many other arts leadership groups including the Fellows of Contemporary Art and the Executive Arts Leaders Forum.

Prior to his appointment to LAAA, Peter served as the Director of Development and Supplementary Educational Services for the Galef Institute, a Los Angeles based educational non-profit organization. At the Tierra del Sol Foundation in Sunland, California, he oversaw an expansive arts program that served the needs of hundreds of developmentally disabled adults. Other relevant experience includes: Chairman of Steering Committee, Community Technology and Discovery Center, Los Angeles; writer, Digital Arts for Young Adults online curriculum; Gallery Director, Clark Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and contributing writer and art critic, Pittsburgh Buzz. Peter has an MFA and is also an experienced curator, painter, printmaker, book illustrator and graphic designer whose artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums.