Museums & Institutions
Amon Carter Museum Taps Tech-Savvy Exec as Its New Director
Museum vet Robert Stein spent years modernizing data strategy at the National Gallery of Art.
Museum vet Robert Stein spent years modernizing data strategy at the National Gallery of Art.
Jo Lawson-Tancred ShareShare This Article
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth just tapped Robert Stein as its new executive director and CEO, suggesting innovation plans may be on the horizon.
As chief information officer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., since January 2023, Stein has played an instrumental role in integrating new advancements in A.I. and data analytics into the museum’s strategy.
In an email, Stein predicted that technology will continue to have a “profound” impact on cultural institutions over the next decade. “It’s important that the Carter can leverage it successfully while maintaining firm ethical boundaries and centering humanity in our work,” he said.
Stein was also chosen for his “understanding of what it takes to lead a complex, mission-driven institution,” said Mark Johnson, vice president of the Carter’s board. The Texas museum’s former director Andrew J. Walker stepped down last August, after 14 years; Stein takes up the reins on November 9.
The museum did not provide salary details, but the job listing for a “visionary leader” noted a compensation range of $380,000 to $450,000.
Prior to his tenure at the National Gallery, Stein held leadership roles at several regional museums, including as deputy director and chief experience officer at Milwaukee Art Museum between 2021 and 2022. Between 2012 and 2019, he lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, first serving as deputy director of the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), between 2012 and 2016, and later as senior advisor at the National Center for Arts Research, Southern Methodist University until 2019, during which time he was also executive vice president of the American Alliance of Museums.
At the DMA, and previously at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which Stein joined as chief information officer in 2006, he was involved in establishing free admission, significantly boosting attendance in both cases.
The Carter, known for its sterling American art collection, was founded in 1961 with the mission of providing free access to all. It has undergone a period of transformation over the past decade, reopening in 2019 after extensive renovations.
At a time when American art is becoming increasingly politicized, the museum has sought to represent a variety of experiences, acquiring and exhibiting work by Indigenous, Black, and Hispanic artists.
Stein said that the study of American art is of growing importance and one he looks forward to furthering. “Our nation is struggling to understand its identity in the world today,” he said, adding that the pairing of works from the past with those from the present “creates meaningful opportunities for dialogue and new scholarship.”