87:, Amada Cruz drew ire from staff and community members for policies they felt would disproportionately harm unhoused individuals: the installation of boullards and the hiring of a private security company. In September, in response to these policies, a group of community members and staff called for a boycott of the museum. In October, Amada Cruz signed onto a letter from the Downtown Seattle Association, on behalf of the museum, calling on the city council to increase the police budget and subsidize private security for nonprofits, despite staff comments and the recent termination of Seattle Art Museum's contract with Star Protection Services, due to an employee's inappropriate conduct.
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of the
Phoenix Art Museum. In 2015, she was named by W magazine as one of the 11 most powerful museum directors. Cruz has been embroiled in several controversies over the course of her career, including alleged discrimination of unhoused individuals at the Seattle Art Museum, allegedly creating a hostile work environment at the Phoenix Art Museum, and terminating the employment of an Asian American museum curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
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curator. While director of the
Phoenix Art Museum, some said her actions and treatment of staff had a negative impact on donations and employee retention. Cruz worked to reverse the Phoenix Art Museum's growing financial deficits and streamlined its operations. However upon six months of Cruz's arrival more than a dozen employees left and over a year more than 100 volunteers resigned because of alleged treatment by Cruz and her staff. The total
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Frank. Cruz brought in two important art donations, one of 20-century
Abstract Expressionist and European modernists and a group of works by Alexander Calder. She spearheaded a two-year project, funded primarily by a $ 1 million Mellon Foundation grant, to transform the American Art galleries through an inclusive collaborative approach with SAM staff, artists, and advisors from the Seattle community. In June 2021, as CEO and director of
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Cruz has also worked as a grantmaker and was the founding
Program Director for United States Artists in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for all programming activities of a Ford and Rockefeller Foundations initiative. She also has been Executive Director of Artadia: The Fund and Dialogue in New
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from
February 2015 through mid 2019. Cruz has been a bold museum leader, who has prioritized equity as a contemporary art curator and a museum director, as well as fiscal sustainability. In 2018, she received the annual Virginia Cardenas Award for her outreach to communities of color while director
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Cruz arrived at the
Seattle Art Museum just before the pandemic and successfully steered that institution through the crisis. She created a staff and board Equity Task Force, which became a permanent board committee. She also appointed its first Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Priya
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At the
Phoenix Art Museum, Cruz was hired to make bold, strategic changes after the 32-year tenure of its previous director. She encouraged collaborations with other art groups and empowered curators to organize traveling exhibitions. She hired Gilbert Vicario, the museum’s first Latinx chief
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citing a "lack of diversity" among the 20 artists who were scheduled to take part. Immediately after cancelling the planned show, Cruz eliminated the position of the show's curator, long-time museum employee Eik Kahng. Specifically Cruz became
Director in October 2023 and cancelled
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Cruz's "tenures at previous institutions were punctuated by controversy." SBMA did not provided a reason for Kahng's termination. In the summer of 2024, Cruz instituted free admission for local residents on every second Sunday of the month.
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111:, citing the aim of making the museum "more inclusive and more reflective of Santa Barbara County's diverse community." Chief Curator Eik Kahng conceived the exhibit as a reimagining of art historian Michael Fried’s 1965 show
115:, considered a precursor to Fried's 1967 historical essay "Art and Objecthood." The SBMA exhibit was to open summer 2024. Kahng was dismissed and Cruz appointed herself to Kahng’s position. According to
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Amada Cruz was hired to lead the SBMA after the 15-year tenure of her predecessor. She is only the second woman to lead the institution and the first Latina. After arriving at the
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for the 2018 fiscal year was 454; eight months later it was 353, a 22 percent decrease. She left to become CEO of the Santa
Barbara Museum of Art in October 2023.
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102:(SBMA), Cruz again caused controversy by cancelling a long planned exhibit exploring the legacy of art historian
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684:"New Santa Barbara Museum of Art Director Cancels Show, Citing Lack of Diversity, and Terminates Curator"
281:"New Santa Barbara Museum of Art Director Cancels Show, Citing Lack of Diversity, and Terminates Curator"
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746:"Santa Barbara Museum of Art Offers New Free Admission Days to Locals | Arts & Entertainment"
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at the
Smithsonian Institution; Acting Chief Curator and Manilow Curator of Exhibitions at the
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York City, which awarded grants to visual artists in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago.
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421:"How Seattle Art Museum is working to make its American art galleries more inclusive"
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is the director and CEO of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She was director of the
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576:"Nightmare at the Phoenix Art Museum: Docents Are Fleeing, Donors Drying Up"
257:"Nightmare at the Phoenix Art Museum: Docents Are Fleeing, Donors Drying Up"
461:"Collective of Seattle Art Museum Workers Call for a Boycott of the Museum"
235:"Collective of Seattle Art Museum Workers Call for a Boycott of the Museum"
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Born in Havana, Cuba, Cruz studied Art History and Political Science at
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715:"Artists Protest Museum's Cancellation of Michael Fried-Inspired Show"
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in New York, where she subsequently worked as a Curatorial Assistant.
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Her other museum positions have included posts as Associate Curator,
447:"The Seattle Art Museum's Latest Installation: Hostile Architecture"
299:"Artists "Stunned" After Museum Nixes Reimagined Michael Fried Show"
216:"The Seattle Art Museum's Latest Installation: Hostile Architecture"
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in Chicago; Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies Museum at
633:"Santa Barbara Museum of Art Appoints Amada Cruz as New Director"
489:"The Decolonize SAM movement is gaining momentum, not going away"
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Art, Katrina Carl for Santa Barbara Museum of (July 14, 2024).
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Cruz's first museum position was as a curatorial intern at the
71:; and as the former Executive Director at San Antonio-based
530:"PHOENIX ART MUSEUM HIRES NEW CURATOR OF CONTEMPORARY ART"
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Liscia, Valentina Di; Stromberg, Matt (January 26, 2024).
504:"Our Turn: Expect even more change at Phoenix Art Museum"
23:until October 2023 and was The Sybil Harrington
606:"Seattle Art Museum leader announces departure"
369:"Seattle Art Museum leader announces departure"
8:
777:Directors of museums in the United States
713:Di Liscia, Valentina (January 29, 2024).
396:"SAM Leadership Update: Thank You, Amada"
163:"Annual Dinner & Art Auction - Xico"
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138:"Phoenix Art Museum names new director"
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318:"Amada Cruz Named Director of Artpace"
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725:from the original on January 31, 2024
394:Museum, Seattle Art (July 31, 2023).
109:Three American Painters: Then and Now
61:Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
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787:Cuban emigrants to the United States
586:from the original on March 26, 2023
344:"Artadia Names Amada Cruz Director"
682:Hayden, Tyler (February 1, 2024).
279:Hayden, Tyler (February 1, 2024).
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27:& Chief Executive Officer of
574:Pela, Robrt L. (March 6, 2019).
316:Huber, Mary (August 14, 2012).
75:, an artist residency program.
528:Desk, News (August 18, 2015).
502:Cohn, Jim Patterson and Mike.
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637:The Santa Barbara Independent
631:Staff, Indy (July 28, 2023).
54:Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
189:"11 Talented Women To Know"
100:Santa Barbara Museum of Art
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65:Museum of Contemporary Art
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113:Three American Painters
782:Women museum directors
662:Santa Barbara Magazine
342:Villarreal, Ignacio.
508:The Arizona Republic
694:on February 9, 2024
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42:New York University
559:has generic name (
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85:Seattle Art Museum
29:Phoenix Art Museum
21:Seattle Art Museum
658:"Cruz in Control"
610:The Seattle Times
580:Phoenix New Times
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373:The Seattle Times
261:Phoenix New Times
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616:February 2,
557:|last=
400:SAM Stories
771:Categories
193:W Magazine
124:References
36:Early life
17:Amada Cruz
142:azcentral
750:Noozhawk
723:Archived
584:Archived
549:cite web
534:Artforum
167:xico.org
25:Director
93:docents
73:Artpace
48:Career
757:2024
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561:help
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