Here they are—the people behind Western New York’s most vibrant contemporary photography and visual arts center. Their shared commitment to serve artists and the artistic practice, engage audiences with exhibits and events of interest, and inform the larger not-for-profit cultural field as to what’s groundbreaking in the visual arts reaches approximately 300,000 people each year.
Our Team
Ben Hickey
Executive Director
Ben Hickey is the Executive Director for the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts in Buffalo, New York. Previously he was curator of exhibitions and Emily Cyr Bridges Endowed Professor of Art at the Hilliard Art Museum on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. With over one hundred exhibition credits, artists he has exhibited include Brian Kelly of the Marais Press, Letitia Huckaby, L. Kasimu Harris, Robert C. Tannen, Richard Landry, Pat Phillips, Sonya Clark, Hasan Elahi, Dawoud Bey, and James Surls.
Hickey’s most recent writing can be found in Beili Liu: Mend, a monograph published by the Art League Houston in celebration of Liu’s 2024 Texas Artist of the Year Award. Other essayists include, Bridget Bray, Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, Eddie Chambers, Katie Pfohl, and Kay Whitney.
In 2023 Hickey received a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Travel Grant to co-present research related to Marais Press on-campus collaborations at the 51st Annual Art Libraries Society of North America in Mexico City. Earlier in his career, he presented Reshaping Our Programming: The Artist in Residence Program at the New York Historical Society in conjunction with an Association of Art Museum Curators annual conference. He has also served as a panelist or consultant for Villa Albertine, the Joan Mitchell Center, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, PhotoNOLA, and the San Antonio Art League.
Earlier in his career, Hickey held positions at the Masur Museum of Art, California Museum of Photography, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County. He is an active member of the Association of Art Museum Curators, having served as a trustee from 2015 to 2020. He earned his master’s in art history from the University of California Riverside and his bachelor’s in history from Canisius University.
Nathan Ely
Education Director
Nate Ely has a BA in Cinema and Photography from Binghamton University, and an MFA from SUNY at Buffalo. Drawing on years of experience in event planning and photography, as well as college teaching and his studio practice, Nate works to expand and support CEPA’s educational outreach programs.
Although interested in many different facets of photography, the particular focus of his work is in traditional/experimental photography. He is interested in modes of photography that have all but vanished from our daily experience of cameras, as a means to reconnect students with the history and phenomena of photography.
Renée George
Administrative Manager
Renée George has a BA in English and Media Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an MFA in Studio Art from the University at Buffalo. Her work at CEPA Gallery focuses on organizational operations and initiatives that support the gallery’s exhibitions, education programs, and day-to-day functioning.
Hope Grunert
Education and Marketing Assistant
Hope Grunert has a BFA in photography from the State University of New York at New Paltz. At a very young age, Hope started taking summer camps at CEPA which turned into her involvement in CEPA’s Photography Works program and eventually a solo show in their Focus Gallery. She has a passion for storytelling and has worked with many Buffalo-based companies such as White Bicycle, Red Disk, and the Lexington Co-op.
Michelle Tomaino
Teaching Artist
Michelle Tomaino is an artist and photographer who enjoys mixed media, creative writing, and Photoshop.
Michelle had an internship at CEPA in September 2014 through the Western New York Employment Training Program. Since then, she has been a teaching artist for our youth programs as well as CEPA’s Alternative Perspectives Program.
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