Two years after publicly confronting sexual harassment allegations, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has a new leader.
The museum's chairwoman said in an interview on Tuesday that she was the right person for the institution at the time.
The museum is committed to furthering D.E.I., and hopes that her gender will be seen through their lens. It's critical that we build on our efforts to date to reach out to the community.
The institution is still healing from controversy and will be led by a 41-year-old man. The New York Times reported in 2020 that a young male manager had been accused of mistreating several women. The museum's former director apologized to his staff after the museum was criticized by government officials and employees unionized. Rub decided to resign last summer after 13 years of service.
At the National Gallery, she focused on justice and equity with a commitment to reconciliation.
"I am passionate about human-centered leadership and really interested in building that strength so people can see the value of the work they do and the value of their own lived experience."
She continued, "coming into those conversations with a willingness to make space and be there for them and have eyes open is what this moment is about for me as a leader."
She said that the Philadelphia Museum had been one of her favorites because of its collection of 240,000 art works, including those by Brancusi, DuChamp, Rodin and Jasper Johns. "I used to misplace myself in the galleries." It is one of the few places where you can enjoy art in a museum in a good way.
Some will question the museum's decision not to appoint a person of color at a time when cultural institutions are trying to increase diversity. The director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, who is white, replaced the leader of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Miller said that the museum had cast the widest possible net to find the best candidate.
Miller said that Suda's communication skills were important to the institution. The Philadelphia Museum of Art was faulted by current and former staff members for failing to openly deal with the problems involving a former education manager, Joshua Helmer, who resurfaced as the director of the Erie Art Museum before being forced out of his job.
Helmer doesn't want to talk about his treatment of women or his relationships with them, though he said he always followed museum policy.
She received her bachelor's degree at Princeton University, her master's degree at Williams College and her PhD at New York University. She started her career in the medieval department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She was an assistant curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario when she returned to Canada.
The museum has three females directors. The museum had two directors from 1978 to 1982: Anne d'Harnoncourt and Jean Boggs.
The Philadelphia Museum has had to make staff and budget cuts due to the Pandemic. The museum has an operating budget of $62 million and is close to finishing a fund-raising drive that will bring its endowment to $560 million.
The first part of the expansion and renovation was finished last year.
After a 2020 cultural assessment, the museum committed additional resources to areas in need of repair. The institution has confronted its problems head on. Efforts are being made to improve communications and transparency.
Is the problem solved? She said absolutely not. Is it possible that we will work on them? It's absolutely true.
She said that it was a new chapter in a new world. We need to start thinking outside the box. We can't go back to the way things were. This is happening right now.
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