The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has named Kate Haw its new director, effective May 27. Haw replaces Liza Kirwin, acting director since John W. Smith resigned in 2011 after five years in the post to become director of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
Haw is currently vice president for development at the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C., a position she has held since 2011. She was executive director for development and administration at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in New York City and Skowhegan, Me., from 2006 to 2011. For six years previous to her time at Skowhegan, she worked in various capacities at New York’s American Federation of Arts, including as curator, as director of major gifts and corporate/foundation relations, as director of development and as acting director of external affairs.
The Archives, which has research centers and offices in Washington, D.C., and New York, collects and preserves primary source material documenting the history of the visual arts in th
