Folk Art Museum Picks New Director

September 5, 2012, 12:45 pm

By ROBIN POGREBIN

The American Folk Art Museum in New York, which almost went out of business last year because of financial struggles, has appointed a new director, the museum announced Wednesday.

The board selected Anne-Imelda Radice, who recently served as director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that supports the work of libraries and museums. She will start next week.

Struggling under a deficit and disappointing attendance, the museum was forced to close its new flagship building in Midtown in 2011 and move to its smaller current location at Lincoln Square in Manhattan. After considering dissolution and the transfer of its collections to another institution, the museum deci ded to continue operating with the help of financial infusions from trustees and the Ford Foundation.

Despite this rocky recent history, Dr. Radice, who has a doctorate in art and architectural history, said she was optimistic about the museum's prospects.

“The kind of consolidation they were able to accomplish, the way they protected the collection, the high quality of the work that they've done under difficult circumstances to me is inspiring,” she said in a telephone interview. “I'd very much like to be a part of bringing the museum to the next level.”

“Just because it doesn't have the square footage right now,” she added, “doesn't mean it doesn't have a wider and larger footprint in the world.”

Dr. Radice also served as acting assistant chairman for programs at the Humanities Endowment; chief of staff to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education; and chief of the creative arts division of the U.S. Information Agency. She wa s previously the first director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and an assistant curator at National Gallery of Art.