After a nine month search, the Dallas Museum of Art - DMA has appointed a new Director: Agustín Arteaga, currently the Director of the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) in Mexico City. "We were looking for a candidate with a track record of professional and institutional achievement, and a great reputation working with curators and museum personnel; a relationship person, someone with a proven commitment to fostering internal and external relationships, meaning with personnel, donors, trustees, and institutional partners; and we believe Agustín contributes to all that," notes Board President Catherine Rose. Agustín Arteaga, who will step into his new position on September 1st, said that he accepted the offer to direct the Dallas Museum of Art in the United States because "it is not only a great honor, but a fantastic challenge to head one of that country's great institutions." The Dallas Museum of Art intends to continue with the policy of free general admission reintroduced by its previous Director, Maxwell Anderson, and seeks to expand its community outreach activities into the diversity of Dallas. This is precisely the reason why the Board proposed to search for a candidate representing diversity, which in turn motivated the international search. The board lauded Agustín Arteaga for his vision "to establish and plan" and how he "unites people" around a plan. The museum sees its new Director as a leader who will promote the growth and deepening of its collection and programs, involving diverse publics around a more profound meaning and understanding. Agustín Arteaga holds a PhD in Art History. Catherine Rose described Arteaga's passion for art as "remarkable" and noted his "faith in museums and in the role that a permanent collection and an exhibition program can play in a community, telling stories, creating meaning, and promoting participation for all members of the community." She says, "I believe that speaks to the role of a museum in the Twenty-First Century, and what a museum can and must be for its public." For now, says Agustín Arteaga, "it is very difficult to establish a fully fledged goal, but if I had to chose one, it would be to make the museum's art collection accessible to all, independent of gender, ethnicity, or belief… it will be hard work, and it can only be achieved if all concerned work together." The DMA informed that the selection of its new Director was an international process, entailing a prolonged, deliberate, intentional, and intellectual search. Before assuming his current position in Mexico City, Agustín Arteaga was the Director of the Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) in Puerto Rico. Before that, he was a founding director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericanode Buenos Aires (MALBA) Fundación Costantini, in Argentina, a contemporary art museum. Between 1994 and 1999, Arteaga was Director and Curator at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (MPBA) in Mexico City, which saw its number of annual visitors grow from 240,000 to more than one million during his tenure. According to the DMA press release, during Arteaga's tenure at MUNAL the Mexican institution's collection of over 7,000 works has grown with more than 35 gifts and strategic acquisitions, among them great works by Diego Rivera, Francisco Zúñiga, Gabriel Orozco, and Abraham Cruzvillegas. At the same time, attendance grew by 30%.