SFMOMA, appoints Christopher Bedford as its new director

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has appointed Christopher Bedford to lead the museum as its new Helen and Charles Schwab Director. Transitioning from Neal Benezra who has been Director since 2002, Bedford will start in June, joining SFMOMA from his current position as Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), which he has held since August 2016.
The search committee comments, “We have found in Chris a brave, empathic, inclusive and passionate leader; he is at a point in his career that combines impressive achievements with an open mindset and the ability to listen, learn and evolve with and for our community. He prioritizes collaboration, dialogue and engagement across leadership, staff and audiences — values and skills that are exactly what we were looking for. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Bay Area and to SFMOMA, and we are eager to work with him in support of an exciting future for the museum.”
Bedford directed the Baltimore Museum of Art since 2016, where he generated some controversy for his stance on the vision of museums to acquire primarily works by male and white artists, advocating for a more inclusive policy, more in line with the views of current contemporary art.