Dallas Museum Director AgustÍn Arteaga to Depart

Agustín Arteaga, who has led the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) since 2016, will relinquish the role of director there on December 31. The museum, which announced his departure on November 4, did not offer details regarding his plans but affirmed that a search for a successor will begin soon. The DMA’s deputy director, Tamara Wootton Forsyth, will serve as interim director. Arteaga’s departure comes just after the DMA obtained $20 million in city bonds for infrastructure improvements to its forty-year-old building, and ahead of a major planned expansion, which Arteaga’s successor will now shepherd.

“As the museum embarks on anexpansive transformation projectand 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,” Arteaga said in a statement.

Arteaga arrived to the DMA from the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City, which he had led since 2013. During his eight-year tenure at the DMA, he diversified the Texas institution’s audience and its board. The museum established a $1 million fund for Latin American art and hired its first curator of Latin American art on his watch, both in 2019. Arteaga navigated the turbulent waters of the Covid-19 crisis, which forced the museum to close for several months, and reckoned with a 2022 break-in in which several artworks were damaged. Last fall, he oversaw significant staff layoffs and the museum’s decision to close on Tuesdays, both of which the DMA put down to declining attendance, increasing inflation, and a lack of government funding.

“We are grateful to Agustín for his many contributions to the Dallas Museum of Art, especially during a time of unprecedented challenges,” said DMA board chair Gowri Sharma in a statement. “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.”