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Asian Art Museum Names New Director, Soyoung Lee

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Asian woman stands smiling in grand white stone stairwell
Dr. Soyoung Lee is the newly appointed director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum. She will begin the job in April 2025. (Ian Chin)

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum will soon have a new director and CEO. The museum announced today the appointment of Soyoung Lee, who most recently worked at the Harvard Art Museums as chief curator.

Way back in April 2023, current director Jay Xu announced his plans to step down this year, giving the museum board plenty of time to launch an international search for his successor. Xu has led the Asian Art Museum since 2008.

Prior to her work at Harvard, Lee spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as its first curator of Korean art. Her most recent exhibitions at Harvard include Future Minded: New Works in the Collection and Earthly Delights: 6,000 Years of Asian Ceramics. Since 2024, she has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, where she recently gave a talk on the history of collecting Asian art in American museums, and discussed the future of collecting Asian and Asian diaspora art.

“What a singular honor to be leading this premier institution, and in the beautiful city of San Francisco,” Lee was quoted saying in today’s announcement. “It is thrilling to imagine charting an audacious path for the future of Asian and Asian diasporic art and culture — for everyone to experience.”

The Asian Art Museum has grown considerably during the 17 years of Xu’s leadership, both in terms of its collection and square footage. In 2019, the museum raised $100 million to refurbish and expand exhibition spaces. The resulting 13,000-square-foot Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion opened in 2021 with an interactive teamLab exhibition.

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Lee steps into the position during a difficult time for Bay Area arts institutions. The Contemporary Jewish Museum initiated layoffs and closed its doors to the public on Dec. 15, 2024 for what it hopes will be a year-long reconfiguring of its expenses. In its 2023 tax filings, nearby San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reported a deficit of over $30 million.

While the Asian Art Museum is partially funded by the city of San Francisco, the majority of its $38 million operating budget comes from contributions. It showed a $7.5 million deficit in its most recent tax filings.

Lee steps into the role in April 2025.

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