Dr. Maxwell L. Anderson, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, announced Monday that he has stepped down as director of the DMA to take on the position of Director of Grant Programs at the New Cities Foundation in New York City. Walter Elcock, President of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, will serve as Interim Director and Board Vice President Catherine Rose will serve as Interim President. Anderson will continue to provide consulting services to the Museum during the transition.

“After nearly four years at the Dallas Museum of Art, I have decided to accept a compelling new opportunity at the New Cities Foundation, among the most innovative urban-focused enterprises in the world,” said Anderson. “It has been a great privilege to work alongside the Board and staff of the DMA, and to play a role in helping shape the Dallas Arts District Foundation as its chairman since 2013. My growing interest in how cultural districts can shape cities led me to this new, exciting opportunity in New York City.”

“Max is a visionary and an innovator, and we are proud of what the staff and Board have accomplished under his leadership,” said Melissa Fetter, Chairman of the Museum's Board of Trustees. “From increasing and diversifying attendance—rising to over 700,000 annually—to devising and launching DMA Friends, our innovative loyalty program, to securing the fifteen-year loan of the Keir Collection of Islamic Art, to raising over $40 million for the Museum's endowment and special projects, Max leaves the DMA with an impressive legacy on which we will continue to build. He will be greatly missed.”

During his tenure, Anderson expanded the international visibility and impact of the DMA, while strengthening the Museum’s ties to the North Texas region. By instigating a return to free general admission and pioneering a free loyalty program that has since become a model for institutions for fostering participation and engagement with art, Anderson has renewed the DMA’s longstanding commitment to access. Anderson also oversaw the inauguration of the DMA’s conservation studio, and has built new partnerships with universities in North Texas. Anderson’s support for cultural exchanges with international collections has raised the Museum’s international profile, most recently with the opening of the critically acclaimed exhibition Spirit and Matter: Masterpieces from the Keir Collection of Islamic Art, which has introduced North American audiences to one of the world’s leading Islamic art collections for the first time.

John Rossant, Chairman of the New Cities Foundation, stated, “It is a pleasure to welcome Max to the New Cities Foundation.  His experience in working with the Dallas Arts District and his decades of leadership in the cultural sector will add incalculable value to our endeavors.”

Anderson assisted Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in hosting the 2014 New Cities Summit in Dallas, a program of the New Cities Foundation, and has participated in its other Summits in Paris, Sao Paolo, and Jakarta. In his new role, he will be devising strategies to advance the Foundation's focus on innovation and digital media.

The Museum is forming a search committee, led by members of the Board of Trustees, to begin the process of appointing the next Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art.