Overview
- Crystal Bridges announced in late June that Courtenay Finn will serve as chief curator for both the museum and its performing-arts wing, the Momentary.
- Finn is slated to begin on August 24, 2026, and succeeds Austen Barron Bailly, who was promoted earlier this year to deputy director of curatorial affairs.
- She joins from the Orange County Museum of Art, where she helped acquire more than 100 works for the permanent collection and co-curated the 2025 California Biennial.
- The hires follow a 114,000-square-foot campus expansion opened earlier this month and come alongside the recent appointments of Ryan Owen as chief development officer and Shayne Hart as chief communications and marketing officer.
- The new leadership team is positioned to expand exhibitions, increase acquisitions and more closely integrate visual and performing programs on the museum’s larger campus, which could mean larger shows, new commissions and deeper community outreach.