artnet News is pleased to welcome esteemed art critic David Ebony, longtime managing editor and current contributing editor of Art in America magazine, for a three-month contract as part-time news editor. Ebony, who is also a columnist for Yale Art Books and reviews art for the New York Observer, steps in following the departure of Benjamin Sutton, who artnet News wishes the best of luck in his new position at Hyperallergic.

New York’s Armory Show has tapped curator and writer Omar Kholeif, of London’s Whitechapel Gallery, to curate the upcoming sixth edition of “Armory Focus,” presented in collaboration with London-based non-profit Edge of Arabia, and highlighting art from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean (see “Omar Kholeif to Curate 2015 Armory Show’s ‘Focus’ Sector“).

With former leader Tom Finkelpearl firmly entrenched in mayor Bill DeBlasio’s administration as the New York City commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs (see “Tom Finkelpearl Promises to Make New York Livable for Artists“), the Queens Museum has hired Laura Raicovich of Creative Time as its new president and executive director (see “Queens Museums Names Laura Raicovich President“).

Charlie Hill is retiring from the National Gallery of Canada, where he has worked for 47 years, the past 35 as curator of Canadian art, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

Emma Lavigne, a curator at Paris’s Centre Pompidou, has been chosen as the new director of Centre Pompidou-Metz, succeeding Laurent Le Bon, now president of Paris’s Musée Picasso (see “Pompidou-Metz Director Appointed President of the Musée Picasso“), as reported by Art Forum.

Australia’s former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has been tapped to lead the New York-based Asia Society‘s new research institute for Asian issues and policy making, reports the New York Times.

Frieze Projects curator Nicola Lees will curate 2015 Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, the event’s 31st edition, reports e-flux.

Robin Clark. Photo: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Art historian Robin Clark has joined the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as director of its new Artist Initiative, reports ArtDaily.

New York-based studio-based artist residency program International Studio and Curatorial Program has named art historian and curator Susan Hapgood as its new executive director, reports Art Forum.

Tim Disney, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and grand-nephew of California Institute of the Arts founder Walt Disney, has been named the school’s new chairman, replacing Austin M. Beutner after eight years on the job, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center has promoted graduate curatorial fellow Leigh Arnold to assistant curator, reports ArtDaily.

Americans for the Arts will need a new National Arts Awards Chair for the 2015 National Arts Awards, as Maria Bell will not reprise the role for an eleventh year.

Independent curator Andrea Andersson will leave New York, returning to her native New Orleans to become the chief curator of visual arts at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, reports ArtDaily.

After an eight year stint leading British Museum’s Asia Section, Jan Stuart returns to the role of curator of Chinese art at Smithsonian‘s Freer and Sackler Galleries, a post she held from 1988–2006 that has just been endowed by an anonymous donor in honor of Melvin R. Seiden, reports Artfix Daily.

Tibor Navracsics
Via: Transatlantic Academy

The nomination of Hungary’s right-wing, artistic-freedom-limiting foreign minister Tibor Navracsics as education and culture commissioner (see “Right-Wing Politician Named EU Culture Commissioner“) has been rejected by the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee, reports Reuters.

Gerard Vaughan, currently a professorial follow at the University of Melbourne’s Australian Institute of Art History, and previously the director of Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria for 13 years, has been named director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, replacing Ron Radford (see “New Director for Australia’s National Gallery“).

Australia’s Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art has appointed Adam Lindsay, who previously worked in government broadcasting, to the new executive management position of assistant director, operations and governance, reports ArtDaily.

Stuart Murray‘s five year contract as CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has not been renewed, meaning his term will end November 1, reports Globe and Mail.

Frank Boehm, most recently the adviser for Milan’s Deutsche Bank Collection Italy, will be the new director at the Insel Hombroich Museum in Neuss, Germany, reports Art Daily.

Heritage Auctions has brought on Jeffrey M. Greer, formerly of the International Risk Management Institute, as its new vice president of marketing; and Holly Sherratt, formerly a Bonhams specialist, as its consignment director of fine art for its growing San Francisco office, as reported by the Art Media Agency and ArtFix Daily.

Jennifer Jones, a vice president in Christie’s estate department, and Melanie Boyne, a senior production manager at the artnet Price Database, have joined international art appraisal and advisory firm Winston Art Group, reports the Art Media Agency.