The College's Hood Museum of Art, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this year, is welcoming a new director to lead the museum into the next decade.
Brian P. Kennedy, who most recently served as the director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, will replace current director Derrick Cartwright on July 1.
Kennedy served as the assistant director at the National Gallery of Ireland in his hometown of Dublin for eight years prior to his directorship in Australia. Kennedy expanded the gallery's traveling exhibitions and loans, arranged for several major shows of art abroad and developed exhibitions while at the National Gallery of Australia.
Provost Barry Scherr spoke highly of Kennedy's past accomplishments and outstanding imagination.
"Brian Kennedy impressed all those he met at Dartmouth with his intellectual vigor, the depth and breadth of his knowledge and his enormous enthusiasm and energy," Scherr said. "We are all looking forward to seeing the museum flourish under his leadership."
Scherr added that there were many candidates for the position, including several finalists.
Kennedy said he is looking forward to working at the Hood Museum and has expressed plans to build on the Hood's past achievements and promote visual arts on campus.
"It is a remarkable institution which has had an outstanding record of ambitious efforts to realize its mandate as a great teaching museum," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said he was particularly drawn to several aspects of the Hood, including its relationship to the rest of the Dartmouth campus.
"I have been most impressed by the professionalism of the Hood staff, the breadth and quality of its collections, the elegance of its building and the support that the museum receives from Dartmouth students, faculty, staff and alumni," Kennedy said.
The Hood Museum, recognized by the American Association of Museums as a national model, is one of the oldest and largest college collections the country according to the Hood's website. The first references to a museum on the Dartmouth campus were made in 1772. Today, the collection includes 60,000 objects.
Kennedy has extensive experience managing large collections. The National Gallery of Australia, where he served since 1997, holds over 110,000 works, including significant collections of Australian indigenous art.
Kennedy has also proven himself as a lecturer and public speaker and has written a number of books and articles, most notably focusing on Irish art and artists. In addition, he has authored and co-authored several exhibition catalogues.
"I am honored and delighted to have been invited to lead the Hood Museum into its third decade," Kennedy said.
