NEW CURATOR FOR LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL; FORMER PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTOR TO RUN ART INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK

Liverpool Biennial has appointed Lorenzo Fusi as curator for its lead exhibition, “The International.” He will develop the program for the next edition of the festival, which takes place in 2010. Fusi will be working alongside curators from the Bluecoat, FACT (Foundation for Art and Contemporary Technology), Open Eye Gallery, and Tate Liverpool under the leadership of Liverpool Biennial artistic director, Lewis Biggs. Fusi, who takes up his role in May, is currently curator of SMS Contemporanea in Siena, Italy, and until 2008 he was chief curator at the Palazzo delle Papesse.

In other news, the former director of the Portland Museum of Art has a new job in Utica, New York, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Daniel O’Leary, who is currently directing the restoration of Winslow Homer’s studio in Prout’s Neck, has been appointed president of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica. The institute is a regional fine-arts center that includes an art museum, a school of art, and a performing-arts center. O’Leary headed the Portland Museum of Art for fifteen years before retiring to devote his full attention to the Homer project. Museum officials say he has raised $5 million toward the restoration project’s $8.3 million goal. O’Leary starts his new position Monday, but he will continue to be involved in the Homer Studio Project through July, according to the Associated Press. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan, O’Leary holds a doctorate in art history as well as an MBA in marketing and management.