As announced on July 10, Mayor Buddy Dyer has appointed Shannon Fitzgerald as the new Executive Director of the Mennello Museum of American Art (Website) and the Director of Public Art for the City of Orlando.
Fitzgerald is the current ED of Rochester Arts Center in Rochester, Minnesota, where she has worked for the last three years. Coincidentally, Fitzgerald is also the wife of current OMA Director and CEO, Glen Gentele.
The latter part of Fitzgerald’s job title, “Director of Public Art”, comes as a bit of a surprise as the City of Orlando hasn’t had a Director in that position for a number of years, and has been working with a contract employee during that time. Despite appointing her as the Director of Public Art, the City has yet to find any new dedicated source of funding for the public art program, as the City revealed to Bungalower earlier today, which means no big changes on the immediate horizon.
Current Mennello Director, Frank Holt, had held a retirement party back in January, celebrating 17 years with the museum since it had opened. Despite having said his farewells, Holt was asked to stay on a while longer in order to find a fitting replacement. Holt will now officially retire in the fall of this year.
Awesome news! Does she need an assistant?