NEW HEADS FOR BELLEVUE AND OKLAHOMA MUSEUMS

The Bellevue Arts Museum has announced that Mark Crawford will step in as interim executive director, beginning October 20, reports the Seattle Times’ Sheila Farr. Former executive director Michael Monroe announced last month he would leave the job for a curatorial position at the museum. Crawford most recently served as CEO of the Talaris Foundation, a Seattle organization that supports parents and caregivers. He has also worked in theater management at Seattle’s ACT and Portland’s Center Stage. The museum had abruptly closed down, short of cash, in 2003, less than three years after opening its twenty-three-million-dollar Steven Holl–designed building across from Bellevue Square Mall. Monroe led the reopening of the museum as director and chief curator.

The Oklahoma City Business News_ reports that Glen Gentele has been appointed to head the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, succeeding Carolyn Hill, who announced in January she would step down as president and CEO at the end of the year. Elected for the post today, Gentele will assume his duties on January 1. Currently, Gentele directs the open-air Laumeier Sculpture Park in Saint Louis. He also holds a joint appointment as a professor of modern and contemporary art at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis.