Jenelle Esparza was appointed as the new Head of Education in April 2023, having served as Interim Head since January 2023. As an educator and interdisciplinary artist from South Texas, Esparza brings a unique perspective and lived experience to this role.

Esparza began her career in art education in 2012, with a special focus on arts workshops, lectures, research projects, and presentations. She joined the McNay Art Museum in 2016 as a museum educator, where she was instrumental in engaging diverse communities with innovative programs and quickly established herself as an invaluable asset to the museum.

As an artist, Esparza examines the lesser-known history of cotton and labor in South Texas and explores the parallelism between landscapes and human bodies as organisms that record experiences through the environments and events that shape us. Her work has been exhibited in institutions such as the DePaul Art Museum (Chicago), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville), and Artpace (San Antonio).

Esparza was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. She received her B.F.A. in Photography in 2010 from University of Texas at San Antonio.