Christie’s Communications Chief Deidrea Miller Exits After Just Two Years in Role

Deidrea Miller, whom Christie’stappedto lead the communications department of its Americas division in October 2021, is leaving the blue-chip auction house after a little more than two years on the job,Artnewsreports. Her departure leaves Christie’s with just a single Black executive: London-based Natasha Moore, who is global head of talent and equity, diversity, and inclusion. The auction house has made efforts in recent years to diversify its staff, among them its 2022 shift away from an internship program that admitted only those able to supply an internal reference to one that allowed any rising college junior or senior to apply.RelatedMARTHA DIAMOND (1944–2023)MAJOR US MUSEUMS SUFFER CYBERATTACK FALLOUT “I’m proud of my work at Christie’s and the unprecedented publicity we achieved for its major sales in New York,” Miller toldArtnewsin a statement. “It’s been a privilege to be able to pursue my passion for the arts and reach new audiences through storytelling.” A spokesperson for the auction house told the publication, “We wish her all the best.” Neither Miller nor Christie’s offered a reason for her departure. A veteran of the PR industry, Miller had arrived to Christie’s from Brunswick Arts, where she was director, advising clients including New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Humlebaek, Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

She had previously served as deputy communications director for New York City Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. Her hiring by Christie’s was reflective of a wider shift within the art-auction industry, away from old models of courting select wealthy buyers and toward engaging digitally with younger audiences. That change was spurred by the pandemic, which saw most sales move online, and by the rise of bitcoin and NFTs; trading in the latter surged from $82 million in 2020 to $17 billion the year Miller was hired. NFT values plummeted by some 90 percent in 2022; the market has yet to recover..