Leah Dickerman.
Photo: Museum of Modern Art, New York.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has a newly endowed position, the Marlene Hess curator of painting and sculpture, which will be held by Leah Dickerman, the museum’s curator of painting and sculpture since 2008.

Emily Orr has been appointed assistant curator of modern and contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. Orr,  a doctoral candidate in the history of design at the Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum in London, will be responsible for beefing up the museum’s modern and contemporary American design collection.

Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical studies has appointed Narayan Khandekar as its new director. Succeeding Henry Lie, who retired last year, Khandekar has been the senior conservation scientist in the Center’s analytical laboratory since 2001.

Anne Hawley, director of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, will step down after 25 years in the role (see Hate your job? Gardner Museum Seeks Director).

The Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago, Illinois, has announced that John Davis will serve a 3 year term in Paris as executive director of global academic programs and Terra Foundation Europe. Davis will take a sabbatical from his current position as professor of art and director of the Smithsonian internship program at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to take up the post. Additionally, he has a long history with the Terra Foundation, most recently serving as senior scholar at the Terra Summer Residency in Giverny, France.

Brian Wallis, deputy director of exhibitions and collections and chief curator at New York’s International Center of Photography since 1999, will leave the museum to become curator of the Walter Collection in Neu-Ulm/Burlafingen, Germany (see ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis Decamps to Walther Collection).

The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh has eliminated six full-time and one part-time staff position in an effort to level out its operating budget, which suffered from a $300,000 deficit (see Carnegie Museum of Art Eliminates Seven Staff Positions).

Michael Tomor is new executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida, effective April 15. Tomor previously directed the El Paso Museum of Art for 9 years and, in 2014, developed the “Modern Masters Series,” a two-year visiting masterpiece series with the Guggenheim, featuring the works of Picasso, Kandinsky and Chagall.

Michael Lynch.
Photo: West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

Hong Kong’s cultural quarter, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, is losing CEO Michael Lynch, who will depart this year for personal reasons (see Michael Lynch Quits Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District Authority). Lynch, formerly head of the Sydney Opera House, joined the art hub in 2011.

Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation has elected three new members to its board of trustees: John J. Aglialoro, Catherine L. Hughes and Gregory Charles Miller. Aglialoro is chairman of CYBEX, Hughes is founder and chairperson of Radio One, Inc., and Miller is director of 3^rd party editing at GlaxoSmithKline.

Suzanne Weaver has left Miami’s newly established Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), where she had served as interim director since September. The fledgling institution, which is building a new home in the Design District, has also expanded its leadership with the appointment of ten new members to its board of trustees.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) welcomes four new trustees: former Dodgers president Jamie McCourt, heiress and philanthropist Aileen Getty, investor and philanthropist Andrew Nikou, and art collector Chara Schreyer.

Shauta Marsh, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, has stepped down after almost 6 years with the institution.

Ohio’s Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) has appointed three new curators. Former director of administration for museum education at the Art Institute of Chicago David Stark will begin his role as chief curator on March 1.; Drew Sawyer, a curatorial fellow at MoMA and Ph.D. student at New York’s Columbia University, is the new associate curator of photography; and Ann Dumas, formerly the museum’s curator at large, has been named adjunct curator of European art.

The University of Tulsa in Oklahoma has announced that James Pepper Henry will direct its Gilcrease Museum. Pepper Henry arrives to Gilcrease after serving as director and CEO of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

Art Miami has promoted Grela Orihuela to director of Miami’s Art Wynwood contemporary art fair. Orihuela, known for her curatorial work in video, previously served as special projects manager and led the fair’s exhibitor relations department.

Margaret C. Conrads.
Photo: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, has recruited Margaret C. Conrads as director of curatorial affairs. Conrads joins Crystal Bridges from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bentonville museum also welcomes Robin Groesbeck as director of exhibitions and interpretive presentations. Groesbeck most recently served as senior director of exhibits and design at California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

The Amon Carter Museum has announced a new conservator of photographs, Fernanda Valverde, who previously served as the program chair of the master in conservation of documental heritage at the National School for Conservation in Mexico City.

The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, has appointed Dana E. Cowen as its new associate curator of European art. Cowen, who began her post on February 2, recently completed her Ph.D. in art history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and has strong curatorial ties with the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA).

Tommy Sowers has been elected to the board of directors of Americans for the Arts. Sowers was former assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Russia’s Ministry of Culture has confirmed the dismissal of Irina Lebedeva as director of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. She will be replaced by Zelfira Tregulova, former deputy director of the Kremlin Museum.

Zoe Weinberg has been promoted to fine art specialist at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. She has worked with the auction house as cataloguer and editor since 2011.

The board of the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation in London has appointed James Knox, previously managing director of the Art Newspaper, as its new director.

Art collector Philippe Cohen joins auction house Artcurial, and will represent the company in Tel Aviv, Israel (see Art Collector Philippe Cohen Leaves Paris For Tel Aviv To Represent Artcurial).