January 2009
The Portland Museum of Art has announced that Mark Bessire has been hired as the new Director of the Museum. Since 2003, Bessire has been Director of the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, best known for its Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection. Bessire will begin his new position at the Portland Museum of Art on 2 March 2009.
Previously, Bessire was Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine, from 1998 to 2003. He organized many exhibitions there including The Photography of Ike Ude and Eracism: William Pope.L, which traveled nationally and was accompanied by an MIT Press Publication.
In naming Bessire as the new Director, Hans Underdahl, President of the Board of the Portland Museum of Art, said, “I am delighted that the Search Committee chose and the full Board endorsed the decision to invite Mark H. C. Bessire to be the new Director of the Portland Museum of Art. After extensive study of the challenges and opportunities that the Museum will have in the years ahead, it was decided that Mark had the best combination of leadership and practical skills to achieve them.”
In accepting the position, Bessire stated, “I am honored to be selected as Director of the Portland Museum of Art. I look forward to the opportunity to lead the Museum at this critical point in its history.”
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