A new year will mean new leadership at the Dallas Museum of Art. Dr. Agustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, will step down Dec. 31, 2024.
Arteaga’s eight-year tenure has been significant. He led the museum through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, increased the diversity of visitors and members of the Board of Trustees, expanded the curatorial team and brought on key staff to the leadership team.
Throughout Arteaga’s tenure, he has championed several critically acclaimed exhibitions that have drawn new audiences to the museum, including México 1900–1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the AvantGarde (2017), which he also curated. Additional exhibition highlights include The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana (2018); Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow (2018-19); Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist (2019-2020); Speechless: different by design (2019-20); Van Gogh and the Olive Groves (2021-22); Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity (2022-2023); Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances (2022-23); Abraham Angel: Between Wonder and Seduction (2023-24); The Impressionist Revolution from Monet to Matisse (2024-2026); and Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations (2024). He also reinvigorated the permanent collections, with a reinstallation of the European Art galleries in 2019 and the Indigenous Arts of the Americas galleries in 2023.
The museum recently announced Frida: Beyond the Myth, an exhibition Arteaga co-curated, has been extended due to its popularity and will now close Feb. 23, 2025.
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Arteaga has been a community-minded leader, introducing programmatic and education initiatives designed to bring new and more diverse audiences to the museum. In 2017, the museum launched the Bilingual Initiative to ensure all exhibitions' interpretation materials are presented in both English and Spanish. He created a partnership with the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum at The University of Texas at Dallas to share works from the museum’s collection with new audiences in the suburbs of Dallas.
Arteaga and Board leadership worked with the City of Dallas to secure $20 million in bond funds for capital improvements and needed repairs to the City-owned facility. During his tenure, a financial reserve fund was also created for the museum.
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Last year, Arteaga led an international architecture competition to create a new vision for the museum’s campus. Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos (NSA) was selected from a pool of more than 150 submissions and is now working with DMA leadership and staff to create a design that will transform the museum. The next phase of this initiative, including unveiling the design and launching a capital campaign, will begin in the near future.
“As the museum embarks on an expansive transformation project and capital campaign, and considering the significant progress that has been made during my eight years of leading the DMA, working in collaboration with our staff and Board, driven by my passion for art and a strong sense of purpose to serve, I feel it’s the right time to transition and focus on pursuing these passions as a museum leader, curator and scholar,” said Arteaga. “Following an extraordinary response to our international architecture competition to reimagine the DMA, we have now laid the foundation to transform the Museum into one of the most exciting, engaging, and visitor-friendly art museums in the world. With this groundwork in place, it is the right moment to hand the reins to the next leader who will see this monumental multi-year project to fruition and lead the DMA into the future.”
Tamara Wootton Forsyth, the Marcus-Rose Family Deputy Director of the museum, will step in as Interim Director, working closely with Board President Gowri Sharma and Arteaga throughout the transition. Arteaga appointed her Deputy Director in 2018 and she has held a number of positions at the DMA over the past 23 years. A search committee, led by members of the Board of Trustees, will begin the process of appointing the next Director of the Dallas Museum of Art.
“We are grateful to Agustín for his many contributions to the Dallas Museum of Art, especially during a time of unprecedented challenges,” said Sharma and Jeff Ellerman, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the museum. “With a long list of curatorial and programmatic achievements and having put in place a talented leadership team, he is leaving the Museum in a position of strength as we look to the next chapter in the Museum’s trajectory. Our Board looks forward to working with the next leader of the DMA, along with our staff, donors, and City partners to realize the vision created under Agustín’s leadership.”
Learn more: Dallas Museum of Art
