{"id":12900,"date":"2025-08-21T02:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/12900\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T02:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:18:09","slug":"at-transformative-moment-dallas-museum-of-art-appoints-new-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/12900\/","title":{"rendered":"At \u2018transformative moment,\u2019 Dallas Museum of Art appoints new director"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Dallas Museum of Art<\/a> <\/b>prepares to embark <\/b>on a massive fundraising effort for its planned expansion, the organization has tapped art world veteran Brian Ferriso as its next director. <\/p>\n

Ferriso, 59, will succeed Agust\u00edn Arteaga, who stepped down <\/a> in December after eight years at the helm. Ferriso\u2019s first day will be Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

Ferriso will come to Dallas from the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, where he serves as director and chief co-curator. In that capacity, he raised over $140 million for a campus renovation that will be unveiled to the public in November. <\/p>\n

He will soon be tasked with steering the DMA through its own expansion, which could cost upward<\/a> of $150 million. <\/p>\n

News Roundups<\/p>\n

Catch up on the day’s news you need to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve long believed that museums can play a vital role within the civic and social fabric of a community, and as the city\u2019s museum, the Dallas Museum of Art is the perfect place for me to carry on this work,\u201d Ferriso said in a Wednesday news release that announced his appointment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel lucky to join at such a transformative moment and am excited to work hand-in-hand with the museum\u2019s dedicated staff and board \u2014 as well as city leaders, stakeholders, and the public \u2014 to help shape the evolving vision for the DMA.\u201d <\/p>\n

The museum\u2019s expansion will focus on integrating its downtown Arts District building with the surrounding area. The lead architects on the project\u2019s design team, Spanish firm Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos<\/a>, were recently joined by Field Operations<\/a>, the landscape architects behind New York City\u2019s High Line. <\/p>\n

Further details about the project\u2019s design and fundraising goals will come early next year, Aschelle Morgan, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a Tuesday email. \u201cFor now, the board continues to explore meaningful philanthropic partnerships,\u201d she also wrote. <\/p>\n

\""Ave"<\/p>\n

“Ave” by Mark Di Suvero is pictured on Ross Avenue Plaza outside the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown Dallas, Jan. 26, 2022. <\/p>\n

Tom Fox\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Over his 19-year tenure as director of the Portland museum, Ferriso sought to diversify the institution\u2019s collection, placing emphasis on acquisitions from artists of color. He also established an advisory committee and curator role for Native American art and expanded board representation to engage the Indigenous community. <\/p>\n

Moreover, to increase accessibility to the museum, he created an endowment that suppor\u200bts free admission for children 17\u200b and younger, school tours and families on select days.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian quickly rose to the top of the pool of candidates as a leader who has the right mix of experience, energy and vision to serve as the next director,\u201d the DMA\u2019s board chair, Sharon Young, said in the Wednesday news release. <\/p>\n

Ferriso is eager to foster connections between the DMA and the city. \u201cIt\u2019s really about being meaningful and impactful to your community,\u201d he said in a Tuesday phone call. <\/p>\n

He will be inheriting a museum that has made strides on this front. In 2017, the DMA launched a bilingual initiative that presents exhibition materials in English and Spanish. To court visitors, the museum has also offered free admission<\/a> to ticketed exhibitions on the first Sunday of the month as well as \u201cMeet Me at the Museum\u201d events that include brunch, jazz and late-night gallery access. <\/p>\n

But the museum has also weathered recent turmoil. An intruder<\/a> broke into the building in 2022 and damaged several artworks. In 2023, 20 employees were laid off and public hours were reduced, with the museum citing<\/a> a decline in attendance. <\/p>\n

When he arrives in Dallas, Ferriso plans to devote time to hear from the DMA\u2019s staff and board as well as the local community, noting that will be \u201creally important\u201d to do \u201cas the museum takes on the next exciting chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Want to enjoy North Texas museums for free? Here\u2019s where to go<\/a><\/p>\n

The African American Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art and Irving Arts Center are some of the places North Texans can visit for free.<\/p>\n

\"Nieto<\/a>Designers of New York\u2019s High Line join Dallas Museum of Art expansion project<\/a><\/p>\n

Landscape architects Field Operations to join the effort to reimagine the museum and better connect it to the Arts District.<\/p>\n

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.<\/p>\n

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Dallas Museum of Art prepares to embark on a massive fundraising effort for its planned expansion,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,12169,362,363,364,1079,11666,366,12168,18,117,19,17,4504,12167],"class_list":{"0":"post-12900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-access","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-dallas","14":"tag-dallas-museum-of-art","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-downtown-dallas","17":"tag-eire","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-museums","22":"tag-visual-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}