The Chinati Foundation in Marfa is looking for a new executive director, again. The job description includes some interesting basic facts about the once-mysterious desert art-mecca: their endowment is currently valued at approximately $12.4 million. Chinati is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 18 voting directors. The annual operating budget is approximately $2.1 million.
The new director is supposed to be an inspiring leader with fundraising and management expertise, who will help shape a new 5-year strategic plan for the evolving org, as it prepares for “the generational transition of leadership and staff from those who had first-hand knowledge of Judd.” Among the new director’s desirable skill’s is “tact, and a sense of ease and comfort with the local Marfa community and potential donors, supporters and artists.”
In other Chinati news, they’ve just hired Martha Oestreich as their new Director of Development. Oestreich was Development Director at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin and Founding Executive Director of Development for the Division of Diversity at the University of Texas at Austin.
Along with the new community garden and children’s classes, another sign in the thaw in the once-forbidding Chinati mystique is the recent announcement that visitors can now experience Donald Judd’s works at their own pace, without an official minder: Judd’s 15 outdoor works in concrete will be accessible Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.. The two former artillery sheds housing Judd’s 100 works in mill aluminum will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 1-4 p.m.