Dear Colleagues,

Please see this important announcement regarding the Snite Museum of Art from Maura Ryan, Vice President and Associate Provost. As always, thank you for your efforts to advance the important work of the Snite.

Best, Drew

Dear Members of the Snite Museum of Art Advisory Council,

It is with mixed emotions that I share with you news that Charles Loving recently announced his decision to retire as Director of the Snite Museum of Art and Curator of the George Rickey Sculpture Archives and the Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park, effective June 30, 2018.

As you know, the Snite has flourished during Chuck’s 18 years as Director. Its collection now comprises more than 29,000 works of art, including significant collections in Mesoamerican art, Old Master paintings and drawings, nineteenth-century French art, nineteenth-century photography, decorative arts, African art, and the art of Ivan Mestrovic and George Rickey. Under his guidance, the museum increased emphasis on acquiring, exhibiting and interpreting works created by African-American, Native American, Latino/a, as well as female artists. Chuck also has been a driving force in the museum’s outreach to the local and campus communities, creating the Ashbaugh Education Center and expanding the staff to four fulltime education curators. Today, the museum’s programs serve more than 15,000 public and parochial students annually through an array of social and educational offerings, including those for adults. More than 7,000 Notre Dame students visited the Snite as part of their coursework during the 2016-17 academic year.

More recently, Chuck presided over the installation of the 8.5-acre Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park, featuring artists from around the world in its inaugural Reclaiming Our Nature exhibition. In partnership with the Hesburgh Libraries, the Snite also received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support efforts that will provide unprecedented digital access to museum and library collections for teaching and research.

We begin our search for a new museum director at a particularly exciting time. Through the generosity of Ernestine Raclin and Carmen and Christopher Murphy, and members of the Snite Museum of Art Advisory Council, planning is underway for an extraordinary new museum building that will be located on the south side of campus facing Angela Boulevard. Joining the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park, Matthew and Joyce Walsh Family Hall of Architecture and O’Neill Hall of Music, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at Notre Dame will be a key part of an emerging arts district and a vibrant and welcoming symbol of Notre Dame’s commitment to the arts.

We will immediately initiate a national search to identify a person with the vision and experience needed to shape a new home for the arts and, more important, to further the vision for the arts at the heart of Notre Dame. I welcome your input in that process.

In the months to come, we will have ample opportunity to recognize Chuck’s extraordinary service and to express our gratitude for his contributions to the vitality of the arts at Notre Dame. In the meantime, please join me in wishing him well for his many years of service to our university and its outstanding museum.

Yours in Notre Dame,

Maura

Maura A. Ryan

Vice President and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs