Suzanne and Bud Selig have donated $2.5 million to Phoenix Art Museum, the museum's board announced in a March 19 statement.
Suzanne, a member of the museum's board of trustees, and Bud, former Major League Baseball commissioner, reside in Scottsdale. Their donation will be used to fund a chief curator position at the museum, a job that, in recent years, has been folded into the duties of the museum director.
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"Bud and I truly love Phoenix Art Museum and wanted our contribution to be applied toward something that is instrumental in the growth of this wonderful institution," Suzanne says in the release. "This museum holds a special place in our hearts and we hope our contribution allows it to develop into a museum that is recognized both nationally and internationally."
Separating the chief curator position from the director's duties will free up director Amada Cruz, who joined the museum in February, to focus on "fundraising and expanding the international visibility of the museum."
In the release, Cruz says, "As the first Chief Curator in over a decade, The Selig Family Chief Curator will develop an overall exhibitions and collections strategy that benefits the largest art museum in the Southwest. This position will allow our Museum to move to its next phase of expanded programming and enhanced visitor experiences."
The museum is now searching for a chief curator and it has yet to hire a contemporary art curator, a position that's been unfilled since Sara Cochran left Phoenix Art Museum in September 2013.
