BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM PROMOTES INTERIM DIRECTOR; NEW BOARD PRESIDENT AT MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM

Mark Crawford, the interim executive director of Bellevue Arts Museum since October 2008, became the museum’s permanent executive director and chief executive officer on Monday, reports the Seattle Times. Crawford was managing director at Portland Center Stage. In Seattle, he has been associate managing director at A Contemporary Theater and executive director at the Committee for Children. In his new post, he will oversee the museum’s operations, finances, fund-raising, and publicity efforts.

In other news, Raymond R. Krueger, a lawyer with Michael Best & Friedrich, was elected president of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s board of trustees, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel_’s Mary Louise Schumacher. Krueger has been the chairman of the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation and is chairman of the Milwaukee River Revitalization Council. He succeeds W. Kent Velde, president of Lakeview Equity Partners, as board president. New board members include Chris Abele, Randy Bryant, Stephen Einhorn, Anthony S. Krausen, Joan Lubar, Richard L. Schmidt Jr., and Frederick Vogel IV. At its annual member’s meeting, the museum also announced that it finished its 2008 operating year, which ended in August, before the economic downturn of last fall, $801 in the black.