About

Jo Reinert is a multidisciplinary creative and museum professional based in Southern California, specializing in experiential curation, interdisciplinary engagement strategies, arts synthesis, and collection stewardship. Reinert is the City of Lancaster's Arts, Museums, and Public Art Manager, where she oversees the strategic and creative direction of the Lancaster Museum of Art & History, the MOAH:CEDAR arts center, the Western Hotel Museum, and the Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center at Prime Desert Woodland Preserve. Reinert manages the City of Lancaster's public art initiatives, including the City's expansive mural program, outdoor sculptures, and community art projects.

Reinert's curatorial projects explore the design of space as an immersive intervention, endeavor to give voice to historically underrepresented narratives and experiences, and integrate emerging technology as a tool for interdisciplinary engagement. Reinert believes in the power of art museums as civic spaces, where the arts serve not only as aesthetic experience but as a catalyst for dialogue, belonging, and transformation.

Reinert's current curatorial projects include Anne Samat: Avatars (January 22 – May 31, 2026) and SYMBOLS OF GREATNESS: RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORY (January 22 - June 13, 2026), at the Ulrich Museum of Art. Reinert curated groundbreaking exhibitions Abhidnya Ghuge: I See, I See, I See (July 22 – December 6, 2025) and Devan Shimoyama: Rituals (January 23, 2025 - June 14, 2025), which opened in 2025 at the Ulrich Museum of Art. Previous curatorial projects include Listening Devices: The Photographer and New Perspectives (January 23, 2025 - July 12, 2025, co-curated with Vivian Zavataro), [RE]POSE: Leisure Bodies and Empowered Postures (Ulrich Museum of Art, July 29 - December 7, 2024), Dream Machine: Fantasy, Surreality, and Play (Ulrich Museum of Art, August 26 - December 7, 2024), Fully Dimensional: Artists of the Outdoor Sculpture Collection (Ulrich Museum of Art, January 25 - June 15, 2024), Ulrich Museum of Art; Nebraska Rocks: A Mid-Century Music Scene featuring the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame (Elkhorn Valley Museum, November 15, 2019 - February 15, 2020), which resulted in Nebraska's only permanent Music Hall of Fame exhibit; Folk Art of Mexico: Selections from the Boeckman Collection of Mexican and Latin American Folk Art (Elkhorn Valley Museum, December 4, 2018 - March 23, 2019), and Dress Code: Frills, Fashion, and Function (Elkhorn Valley Museum, November 16, 2018 - April 27, 2019). Reinert has contributed curatorial research and interpretive writing to numerous exhibitions, such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Tom Golden Collection (Tyler Museum of Art, 2016) and Ansel Adams: Early Works (Tyler Museum of Art, 2015).

Prior to her current position, Reinert served as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Ulrich Museum of Art. She served as Executive Director and chief curator of Elkhorn Valley Museum in Norfolk, NE, and previously worked in different capacities at the Tyler Museum of Art and San Antonio Museum of Art, as well as with private collections.

Reinert has presented at the Kansas Arts Network Annual Conference, the Midwest Art History Society Annual Conference, the Mid-America College Art Association Annual Conference, the University of Texas at Tyler Art History Symposium, and the Ulrich Museum of Art, in addition to guest speaking at various community venues. She has presented as a guest lecturer on topics related to curatorial practice, interdisciplinary arts engagement, and object-based learning. Reinert holds an MA in Art History from the University of Texas at Tyler, and a BA in Art History with a Studio Art minor, UT Tyler.

(Photo credit: Dimitris Skliris Photography, 2024)