Pace Gallery, the New York-based operation with locations in London, Geneva, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Silicon Valley, has hired Andria Hickey for a newly minted post, senior director and curator, with a curatorial charge that is new for the enterprise.

“It’s not necessarily a traditional gallery role,” Hickey told ARTnews of her new position, which she begins in September after relocating from her current position as senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. “It’s about working closely with artists and having somebody in-house who can really focus on exhibitions, research, publications, and working with artists in their studios as they develop projects. That’s the way I like to work in any institution, and it’s exciting that I can do it in a new platform.”

Prior to joining MOCA Cleveland in 2016, Hickey worked as a curator at the Public Art Fund in New York and, before that, at Art in General. For three years until 2010, she was a curatorial fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Hickey said the arrangement came about in part after projects she worked on involving Pace artists Barbara Hepworth and Adam Pendleton, and of particular interest to her is the shop’s future new home in New York—an eight-story building currently under construction on West 25th Street—and its global world. “I’m excited that Pace is building this fantastic new headquarters in Chelsea that will have exhibition space but also theater space for lectures and performances, and it’s well represented in different parts of the world,” she said. “There’s a great opportunity to dig into different locations and learn more about the art communities there.”

In a statement, Pace’s president and CEO, Marc Glimcher, said, “Over the last ten years, Pace has expanded its presence across the world, both through new gallery spaces in cities like Palo Alto, Geneva, and Seoul, as well as major art fairs and biennials from Hong Kong to London to Mexico City. As we’ve grown, we’ve learned how vital it is that in each and every community Pace engages with, we share the unparalleled level of artistic innovation and superior quality that has distinguished Pace since its founding nearly 60 years ago. We are thrilled to have Andria join Pace to continue to advance a global program grounded in ambition and inspiration.”

Hickey said the gallery’s lineage, which dates back to Arne Glimcher (Marc’s father) founding it in 1960, figured in her decision as well. “I’m interested in the way they look at their history and the relationship between the artists they represented early on and a more forward-looking contemporary program,” she said. “How do you carry that rigor into the landscape of contemporary art? I’m excited to work with the artists they represent and also see who are the artists who might want to join the gallery.”

Asked about distinctions between her not-for-profit past and the commercial status of a gallery operation, Hickey said she thinks the nature of her work will remain largely the same. “The idea of FuturePace”—a recent initiative to “re-examine the role of public art, architecture, urban planning, and regeneration,” as the gallery states it—”is exciting, particularly because of my interest in public art. And Marc has an interesting perspective on how to support artists and how to nurture them over time, and Arne is the perfect role model for that. My goal as a curator is to support artists and facilitate their projects in the best way I can.”

There will be differences, though, she said. “Even though the art world is much more fluid now than it was even ten years ago, I have still have such a great deal to learn,” she said of the increasingly blurring line between commercial and non-commercial realms. “I do think that the structure of museums at this point in our contemporary art landscape are influenced by and entwined with the same interests that are present in for-profit environments. But I think this position is unique and forward-thinking because it places the art dialogue inside the space of support for artists, so it takes the gallery context to another level.”