For Immediate Release
Contact: Amy Day
Tel: 515.271.0344 (o)
515.612.0775 (c)
aday@desmoinesartcenter.org
DES MOINES, IOWA (September 2024) – The Des Moines Art Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Kelly Baum, John and Mary Pappajohn Director of the Des Moines Art Center, has been admitted to the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), joining more than 200 peers from major art museums across North America. While the Art Center has previously been represented at AAMD, this is Baum’s first membership in the Association. As a member of AAMD, Baum will collaborate with fellow directors to address critical issues facing art museums and promote best practices in museum operations and programming.
“I am thrilled to join AAMD and partner with other museum directors from Canada, Mexico, and the United States,” said Baum. “AAMD is more than a professional organization: it is also a peer network, a brain trust, and a pacesetter that responds proactively to the most pressing challenges and greatest opportunities facing art museums today. AAMD plays a crucial role in shaping the future of art museums, and I look forward to contributing to its important work.”
“We are very happy to welcome Kelly Baum to AAMD,” said Christine Anagnos, Executive Director of the Association of Art Museum Directors. “A core strength of the Association is our diversity, bringing together art museums of different types, from different locations, led by directors with an array of backgrounds and experiences.”
Baum has served as the John and Mary Pappajohn Director of the Des Moines Art Center since early 2023. Before arriving at the Art Center, she worked as curator of modern and contemporary art for 23 years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Baum has already had a transformative impact on the Des Moines Art Center during her relatively brief tenure, instituting a series of key capital improvements, reimagining the permanent collection galleries, greenlighting a series of ambitious loan exhibitions, securing grants from major national foundations, recruiting new board members, and shoring up the institution’s relationship to its local and regional communities. In addition, Baum is leading the efforts to build an ambitious strategic plan to guide the museum through the next five years and to reimagine its overarching purpose, mission, vision, and values.
For additional information, contact Senior Director of Communications and Marketing Amy Day at 515-271-0344 or aday@desmoinesartcenter.org.
About the Des Moines Art Center
The Des Moines Art Center is a vibrant, AAM-accredited (American Association of Museums) institution located in the capital city of Iowa that welcomes over 300,000 visitors annually from across the country and around the globe. Its historic campus consists of three buildings designed by major architects of the 20th century—Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier—incorporated into the natural landscape of Greenwood Park. The Art Center is home to one of the strongest collections of 20th and 21st century art in the region, and it hosts a series of ground-breaking exhibitions and lectures each year featuring artists known regionally, nationally, and internationally. The experimental art for which the Art Center cares is reflected in its creative offerings, including a celebrated education program that prioritizes access and collaboration, an art school with studio classes for all ages, and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, situated on 4.4 acres in downtown Des Moines. The Art Center is committed to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are incorporated into every facet of its mission and identity.
About AAMD
The Association of Art Museum Directors advances the profession by cultivating leadership capabilities of directors, advocating for the field, and fostering excellence in art museums. An agile, issues-driven organization, AAMD has three desired outcomes: engagement, leadership, and shared learning. Further information about AAMD’s professional practice guidelines and position papers is available at www.aamd.org.
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