Choosing the Artists
“Artists don’t just see the world as it is—they see what it could be.”
— Susan Petersen
Susan Petersen has joined the Board of Directors of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MoCA)—a decision grounded not in proximity or prestige, but in purpose.
In her introduction of contemporary artist Halim A. Flowers at the International Society of Barristers 2024 Annual Meeting in Aruba, Petersen spoke candidly about a moment of reckoning: the weight of leadership, the noise of the world, and the realization that endurance sometimes requires a new circle. “I don’t give up,” she said. “I’ll just find a new circle. And I think I found my people—the artists.” What drew her was not art as ornament, but art as transformation. Artists, she observed, do not merely see the world as it is—they see what it could be. They take pain and turn it into beauty. Struggle into meaning. Pressure into possibility.
That belief now informs her role at MoCA.
As its newest board member, Petersen brings the same clarity, discipline, and conviction that define her trial work to one of Cleveland’s most influential cultural institutions. Her commitment is rooted in the idea that progress—whether in justice or in culture—requires perspective, imagination, and the courage to see beyond the present moment.
Through MoCA, she supports artists who challenge assumptions, tell necessary stories, and help communities envision what comes next.
Leadership, after all, is not confined to one room.