The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) announced on Thursday the appointment of a new director: Julie Rodrigues Widholm, the current director and chief curator of the DePaul Art Museum (DPAM) in Chicago.
Widholm comes into Berkeley with high marks. During her five years at DPAM, the museum experienced a 40% increase in attendance and a tripling of its annual budget. She also oversaw the addition of 500 artworks to the museum’s collection “with a particular emphasis on work by underrecognized artists from marginalized groups,” according to BAMPFA’s press release.
Widholm succeeds BAMPFA’s exiting director Lawrence Rinder, whose history with the museum stretches back to the 1980s and whose role as director began in 2008.