New Director of Wichita Art Museum (original) (raw)

Wichita Art Museum

Wichita, KS

316-268-4921

http://www.wichitaartmuseum.org/index2.html

Charles K. Steiner: New Director of Wichita Art Museum

Charles K. Steiner is the new director of the Wichita Art Museum effective January 7, 2000. Steiner accepted the position after an extensive 10-month national search.

Al Higdon, search committee chair, said, "We were really gratified with the number of highly qualified applicants, nationwide, for this position. Charles K. Steiner is an ideal match for Wichita and the Wichita Art Museum. His management experience in New York and Princeton have well prepared him to serve as our director. He is highly respected and greatly admired by staff, docents, volunteers and community donors in Princeton," Higdon said.

Steiner comes to Wichita from The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey where he served for 14 years, first as the assistant director from 1986-1990, and most recently as the associate director. During his time at Princeton, Steiner worked in ail aspects of the Museum including programming, staff supervision, fundraising, as well as exhibition and building coordination. Before Princeton, Steiner worked in New York at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as an assistant museum educator and then as associate museum educator.(left: Charles K. Steiner, photo courtesy of WAM)

Steiner brings a wide range of skills and talents to Wichita. He has had work published in Museum News and Access to Cultural Opportunities: Museums and the Handicapped, is a noted lecturer, worked as a consultant and is an artist. Steiner has also received honors from Princeton University, the Edward Albee Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rockefeller Foundation. He holds a bachelors degree in fine arts from Cornell University and a masters in fine arts from The George Washington University.

"Looking ahead to next year, our board has established broad goals for the future," Mike Oatman, president-elect, Board of Trustees, said. "We stopped short of detailing specific strategies to accomplish those goals, pending the arrival of our new director who will work closely with the board in completing a focused strategic plan for growth. We're looking forward to that next step with Charles Steiner," Oatman said.

Steiner's wife, Mary B. Shepard, has served as the Museum Educator at The Cloisters, the branch museum of The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art of medieval Europe, for the past 14 years. The couple has two children, Frances, 12 and Hope, 6.

Read more about the Wichita Art Museum in Resource Library Magazine.

rev. 12/23/10

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