Julia Marciari-Alexander, the Andrea B. and John H. Laporte Director of the Walters Art Museum, is pleased to announce the appointment of Eleanor Hughes as Deputy Director for Art & Program. In this new position, Hughes will provide strategic direction and leadership for a program of collection installations, special exhibitions, conservation and technical research of objects, and education/public programs that engages diverse audiences and builds support for the Walters. She will oversee a division encompassing the departments of curatorial (which includes exhibition planning/ design and registration), conservation, and education/public programs, and serve as a member of the museum’s senior management team.

“The Walters is leveraging our collections and historically significant buildings to engage audiences in exciting new ways,” said Marciari-Alexander. “Ellie’s dynamic programmatic vision, commitment to excellence, and dedication to collaborative team-based work will enable the Walters to create a more vibrant and meaningful experience for our visitors.”

Hughes comes to Baltimore from the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA), in New Haven, Connecticut, where as Associate Director of Exhibitions and Publications, and Associate Curator, she played a key role in formulating the overall program of exhibitions and publications presented by the Center. Hughes also oversaw an internationally touring program of exhibitions, many of which were co-organized with major national public museums in the UK, including Tate, National Portrait Gallery, V&A, and the Royal Academy of Arts, among others. She has also been involved in the Center’s ongoing planning to conserve, renovate, and reinstall the collections in the iconic Louis Kahn-designed building. Hughes joined the staff of the YCBA in 2005 and began managing the Department of Exhibitions and Publications in 2008.

A scholar of 18th-century British art who has actively engaged with contemporary British art and artists, Hughes has published widely and curated exhibitions at the Yale Center for British Art including: Pearls to Pyramids: British Visual Culture and the Levant, 1600-1830 (2008); Seascapes: Marine Paintings and Watercolors from the U Collection (2009); and Spreading Canvas: Eighteenth-century British Marine Painting (upcoming in Fall 2016). She has also served as co-curator and organizing curator for countless exhibitions and has produced numerous publications during her nearly 10 years at the Center.

“I am thrilled to join a museum with such a spectacular collection, dynamic public role, and commitment to scholarly excellence,” said Hughes. “It’s an honor to be asked to serve the Walters’ mission of engaging and strengthening its communities by collecting, preserving, and interpreting art.”

“In her capacity of associate director and curator, Ellie has shaped dozens of exhibitions and their associated publications with remarkable vision, intellectual acuity, and creativity,” said Amy Meyers, Director, Yale Center for British Art. “She is respected at home and abroad for her collaborative spirit, rigor, integrity, and energy.”

A graduate of Smith College, where she double-majored in History of Art and French Language and Literature, Hughes holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She will relocate to Baltimore in mid-July with her husband, Rodger Roundy, an artist, author, and teacher, and their two children