Displaying items by tag: melissa chiu

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has received a $2 million gift from trustee Joleen Julis and her husband, Mitch, museum officials announced. The donation is the largest gift from an individual ever made to the Smithsonian’s modern and contemporary art museum.

The donation will establish the “Future Fund,” a $4 million effort to re-design the museum’s lobby and sculpture garden, according to Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu.

The board of trustees of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden announced today that five new trustees have been elected to the Museum’s board. The new trustees are Haryanto Adikoesoemo, Jill Bernstein, Stéphan Crétier, Trinh D. Doan, and Jill Cooper Udall. The Hirshhorn has added a total of eight new trustees sincce Melissa Chiu became director in September.

Based in Jakarta, Haryanto Adikoesoemo is president director of PT AKR Corporindo Tbk, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Public Listed Companies Association, and a member of the Honor Council of APINDO, and the Young Presidents’ Organization.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has appointed Stephane Aquin from the Montreal Museum of Fine Art as its new chief curator.

Museum director Melissa Chiu announced the appointment Tuesday. Aquin is the second major hire for Chiu, who became director in September. She previously hired Gianni Jetzer as Curator-at-Large.

Aquin will lead a staff of six curators responsible for planning the exhibitions at the Smithsonian museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Aquin succeeds Kerry Brougher, who  served as the museum’s interim director before leaving in May to become director of the new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum in Los Angeles.

This city may not have a reputation as being on the cutting edge of the international arts scene, but Melissa Chiu may be about to remedy that in her new role as director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

In her first interview since assuming her post a month ago, Ms. Chiu outlined a plan to develop the Hirshhorn, whose reputation rests largely on its collection of American and European modern and contemporary art, into more of a showcase for experimental and international works.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has named Melissa Chiu, veteran director and senior vice president for global arts and cultural programs for the Asia Society Museum in New York, as its new director.

The Australian-born Chiu, 42, who will assume the position Sept. 29, succeeds former director Richard Koshalek, whose tenure was marked by controversy over funding for his signature Seasonal Inflatable Structure proposal. He announced his resignation a year ago.