The Assemblage Art Fund is proud to announce the jurors for the 2026–2027 cycle of the Assemblage Art Fund. Each brings a distinct perspective grounded in curatorial practice, community building, artist advocacy, multidisciplinary studio practice, and public engagement—reflecting the spirit and values of Assemblage.

Amanda Jirón-Murphy is an arts leader based in Washington, D.C., whose work focuses on curatorial and artist advocacy projects. She is currently Curator and Residency Program Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, a role she has held since 2022. From 2012 to 2019, Jirón-Murphy was the Gallery Director at Hamiltonian, where she directed and curated exhibitions, art fairs, and projects for an international roster of emerging and mid-career artists. She has contributed to the arts ecosystem as a juror, guest curator, speaker, and panel moderator at numerous venues across the United States, including the Hirshhorn Museum, the Smithsonian’s Luce Foundation for American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Art Enables, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. She holds a B.A. in Art History from John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, and an M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Art and Connoisseurship from Christie’s Education in London, England.

Jun Mabuchi is a cultural producer, ceramicist, and DJ based in Brooklyn, NY. For the past eight years, he has worked with the artist-led nonprofit For Freedoms, curating exhibitions and producing public programs and nationwide public art initiatives. His practice moves between art, community, and memory, engaging people beyond the confines of institutional spaces. Mabuchi’s approach is deeply informed by the sensibility of his motherland, Japan—an influence that surfaces in his attention to material, ritual, and stillness. Grounded in land-based work, sound, craft, and tradition, he is drawn to practices rooted in place, process, and cultural continuity.

Sarah Russin is the Executive Director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), the longest-running contemporary space for emerging artists, curators, and cultural workers in Los Angeles. Since 2014, she has expanded upon LACE’s experimental spirit and legacy of presenting groundbreaking and socially engaged art. She is a founding member of the LAVA Coalition (Los Angeles Visual Arts)—formed in 2020 as a group of small visual arts organizations in LA providing mutual support, shared fundraising, professional development, and advocacy for the sector. Prior to LACE, Russin served as Assistant Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Otis College of Art and Design, and previously oversaw recruitment and special programs for ArtCenter College of Design. She holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Jaclyn Wright is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work incorporates photographic archives, in-camera collages using a large-format view camera, performance, and installation. She has received grants and awards from Aperture x the Creator’s Lab Fund, OD Photo Prize, PhMuseum, and the Kodak Film Photo Award. She has been named a Foam Talent, a Utah Visual Arts Fellow, and an artist-in-residence at Light Work. Recent exhibition venues include The School | Jack Shainman Gallery (Kinderhook, NY), Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation (Germany), Open Door Gallery (UK), the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City, UT), Artists’ Fair Kyoto (Japan), Light Work (Syracuse, NY), Halsey McKay Gallery (East Hampton, NY), Filter Space (Chicago, IL), and the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her monograph, High Visibility (Blaze Orange), was published by GOST Books in 2023. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Foam Magazine, Hyperallergic, Contact Sheet, and Matte Magazine. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from Indiana University and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The Assemblage Art Fund is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program, which funds experimental, artist-driven work through a national network of partner organizations. UMOCA is proud to be one of 36 organizations across the U.S. participating in this initiative to support new work by visual artists working outside traditional institutional frameworks.