Seasoned arts administrator Allison Wong has been relieved of her position as Deputy Director at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Wong was a link to local artists and to the former Contemporary Museum in Makiki.
The Honolulu Museum of Art has eliminated the position of Deputy Director, citing effects of the pandemic and a new strategic and operational plan. Allison Wong has held the position since July 2011. She is no longer with the museum.
Wong was Executive Director of the Contemporary Museum in Makiki Heights when it merged with HoMA in 2011. She assisted the museum through a series of directorship changes in the last ten years.
As part of the organizational restructuring, HoMA Executive Director Halona Norton-Westbrook says the museum has created a Chief Operating Officer position. Norton-Westbrook says a consultant, a former COO with the Toledo Museum of Art, will be hired during a two-month transition period, beginning this month.
Norton-Westbrook arrived at HoMA in January 2020 from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. Then the pandemic hit and by April last year, full-time HoMA staff were reduced by a third and all part-time and seasonal workers were let go.
A new exhibit, "Joyful Return," highlights key contemporary acquisitions in the HoMA collection.
The museum is expected to finalize a strategic plan in June
