EL PASO, TX.- The City of El Paso and the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department has announced the appointment of Edward Hayes, Jr., as the new Director of the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA).

“After an extensive nationwide search for the best candidate to lead the El Paso Museum of Art, we are tremendously excited to welcome our new El Paso Museum of Art Director Edward Hayes,” said Deputy City Manager Dionne Mack. “In his new leadership role, he will provide strategic vision, artistic direction, and executive and administrative leadership for the EPMA to build on its rich legacy, collections, and unique strengths—further advancing its excellence and impact in the region and world.”

Hayes is a bilingual art museum professional with more than 15 years of experience working as a curator, exhibitions manager, and director of traveling exhibitions. He was most recently the Exhibitions Senior Manager for the McNay Art Museum in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, where he managed the museum’s robust exhibitions program, spearheaded traveling projects, and co-organized select exhibitions that explored the bicultural experience through art.

Prior to returning to Texas, Hayes was at International Arts & Artists (IA&A) in Washington D.C., a nonprofit dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and access to the arts internationally. At IA&A he was Director of the Traveling Exhibitions Service which has produced and toured art exhibitions for more than 25 years in all 50 states, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Hayes has managed a program of more than 25 exhibitions touring annually and launched ten new exhibitions into the marketplace including Cultural Encounters: Art of the Asian Diasporas in Latin America & The Caribbean, Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936 – Present, among others.

Hayes holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006) and a Master of Arts in Art History from The University of Texas at San Antonio (2010). He was born in San Diego; grew up in San Antonio, Texas and has close ties to Mexico where his mother’s family resides. Before moving to San Antonio, he lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Quito, Ecuador, where his father was stationed.
Hayes begins his new role as the Director of the El Paso Museum of Art on June 20.