PUMA announces Mark Coetzee
as Program Director for PUMAVision
and Chief Curator of PUMA.Creative
http://creative.puma.com
The Sportlifestyle company PUMA is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Coetzee as Program Director of PUMAVision and Chief Curator of puma.creative, effective February 1, 2009.
Coetzee will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. His appointment and location emphasizes PUMA’s special commitment to the African continent as Coetzee realizes and expands puma.creative projects planned in Africa guided by PUMAVision—especially in 2010 the year of the World Cup.
“PUMAVision is PUMA’s way of uniting all initiatives that come under the heading ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ and giving them a coherent direction and framework,” says PUMA Chairman and CEO Jochen Zeitz. “It comes from a vision of a world that is better than the one we know now—a world that is safer, more peaceful and more creative. Through the programs of puma.safe (focusing on environmental and social issues), puma.peace (supporting global peace), and puma.creative (supporting artists and creative organizations), that vision becomes practical reality.”
In December 2008, puma.creative partnered with the Rubell Family Collection (RFC)—the preeminent contemporary art museum and collection in Miami, Florida—to support the exhibition “30 Americans.” Mark Coetzee had been Director of RFC since 2000 before accepting this position with PUMA. He also served as Director of the museum’s Contemporary Arts Foundation and Curatorial Training Program. While at RFC, Coetzee published numerous exhibition catalogs and books and organized over thirty exhibitions, many of which travelled to museum venues throughout the United States and the world.
Concurrent with his positions at RFC, Coetzee served as Adjunct Curator at the Palm Springs Art Museum in California, and was a lecturer in critical theory, criticism of art and contemporary art practice at New World School of the Arts (NWSA), Florida’s renowned visual and performing arts program. In addition, Coetzee served as Co-Director of the NWSA Honors Program.
PUMAVision unites PUMA’s corporate social responsibility activities and initiatives, guiding PUMA’s work, partnerships and engagements worldwide. The programs of puma.safe, puma.peace and puma.creative reflect PUMA’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility and define the partnerships and initiatives PUMA will support and pursue.
Media Contact:
Yves Coulter – Int. Senior PR Manager – PUMA AG – +49 9132 81 2705 – yves.coulter@puma.com
Kerry Youmans – Account Director – KCD Worldwide – +1 212 590 5122 – youmans@kcdworldwide.com
PUMA
PUMA is one of the world’s leading sportlifestyle companies that designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. It is committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by supporting Creativity, SAFE Sustainability and Peace, and by staying true to the values of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in decisions made and actions taken. PUMA starts in Sport and ends in Fashion. Its Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include categories such as Football, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. The Black label features collaborations with renowned designers such as Alexander McQueen, Yasuhiro Mihara and Sergio Rossi. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Tretorn and Hussein Chalayan. The company, which was founded in 1948, distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 9,000 people worldwide and has headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany, Boston, London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.puma.com
