Following a tumultuous year for Detroit in which the city finally emerged through bankruptcy proceedings, the Detroit Institute of Arts has promoted a new leader from within its ranks. Salvador Salort-Pons, the museum’s executive director of collection strategies, was named DIA director, president and CEO effective October 15.

Salort-Pons replaces former longtime director Graham Beal, who retired June 30.

Gene Gargaro, chair of the DIA board and chair of the search committee, said in a statement, “Salvador’s scholarship, extensive knowledge of the DIA, his international experience and his management skills make him the ideal choice to lead the DIA in the coming years. His success in overseeing one of the most important European art collections in the country was among the many factors that made Salvador such an appealing candidate to the search committee.”

Gargaro noted that two of DIA’s leading priorities are to expand its tri-county and statewide outreach and to increase its endowment.

Among notable shows Salort-Pons curated for DIA are “Fakes, Forgeries, and Mysteries: Five Spanish Masterpieces,” and he served as the in-house curator for the show “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus.”

Prior to coming to Detroit, Salort-Pons was senior curator at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, assistant professor at the University of Madrid, and exhibition curator at the Memmo Founation/Palasso Ruspoli in Rome.

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