Maxwell Anderson, the director of the Dallas Museum of Art, has resigned his post to take a job as the director of grant programs at the New Cities Foundation in New York City. Anderson has been at the DMA for about four years. During Anderson’s tenure, attendance at the museum increased to more than 700,000 people annually and $40 million was raised for the museum’s endowment, according to a statement from Melissa Fetter, the chairman of the DMA’s board of trustees. Walter Elcock, president of the board, will take over as interim director.
The New Cities Foundation was founded in 2010 as a nonprofit to promote a “vision…of a world where cities drive economic, social and environmental progress.” In a statement, Anderson described the organization as “among the most innovative urban-focused enterprises in the world.” Anderson hosted a New Cities Summit—one of the foundation’s programs—in Dallas in 2014, along with the city’s mayor, Mike Rawlings.
“My growing interest in how cultural districts can shape cities led me to this new, exciting opportunity in New York City,” Anderson said of his new job.
Before heading to Dallas, Anderson served as director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (2006–11), the Whitney Museum in New York (1998–2003), and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto (1995–1998).