Tania Willard, 2025. Photo: Billie Jean Gabriel Photography, beaded hoop earrings by Matilda Shae Joe @beadingitrealgal
The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory is pleased to announce the appointment of Tania Willard as associate professor and director/curator of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, commencing in January 2026.
Willard is an award-winning mixed Secwépemc and settler artist, curator, and educator who is currently assistant professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, where she also serves as director of the UBC Okanagan Gallery. Reflecting on her appointment at UBC Vancouver, Willard says she is honoured to be able to work with the faculty and staff of AHVA and the Belkin in Musqueam territory. She plans to focus on art that pushes the boundaries, programming that addresses equity and access, strategies for improving the infrastructure for collections, and looking to the future of the cultural district at UBC Vancouver campus.
Tania Willard received an MFA from UBC Okanagan in 2018. Her curatorial work includes Unceded Territories: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (2016), co-curated with Karen Duffek, and the touring exhibition, Beat Nation: Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (2012–14), co-curated with Kathleen Ritter. She was a curator in residence with grunt gallery and Kamloops Art Gallery. In 2016, Willard received the Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art from the Hnatyshyn Foundation, the 2020 Shadbolt Foundation VIVA Award, and was named a 2022 Forge Project Fellow. Her work with BUSH gallery was recognized through the Ruth Foundation for the Arts Future Studies award (2022). Willard’s artistic projects have been exhibited widely and collections of her work include the Vancouver Art Gallery, Kamloops Art Gallery, Burnaby Art Gallery and more.
