SANTA FE, NM.- George G. King, director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, announced Monday, May 11, 2009 that he is resigning to take a new position as Executive Director of the American Federation of Arts (AFA) in New York City, New York. King has spent 11 years at the O’Keeffe. He will remain in the post until the end of July.

"It has been a privilege for me to direct the Museum since April 1998. With an outstanding board and staff, the Museum has quickly become a highly respected and admired institution for the work it does. I shall miss working here but the time has come for fresh leadership. I will always hold Santa Fe and all it has to offer very close to me,” commented King.

“George has done a great job as director of the O'Keeffe Museum and we will miss him very much. He leaves the Museum in great shape and well-primed to continue its growth and increasing importance in the world of art,” stated Saul Cohen, Board President.

King is credited with maintaining the Museum’s national profile and developing programming of the highest quality. During his tenure the Museum’s art collection has grown from under 100 works to over 3000, and the Museum has co-organized exhibitions with the National Gallery in Washington D.C, the Whitney Museum in New York, among others. Under his guidance, the Museum has received major funding from national foundations for its programs, and was awarded in 2008 the Presidential Committee for the Arts and Humanities Coming Up Taller award for the Art and Leadership Programs for Girls and Boys. He has grown the Museum’s endowment to $23 million dollars, and seen the Museum become steward of both of O’Keeffe’s New Mexico homes. With King’s leadership, the O’Keeffe Museum was the youngest museum to receive accreditation from the American Association of Museums (AAM). He is the first art museum director in New Mexico to be invited to join the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and served on that organization’s board for two years

Before coming to the O’Keeffe Museum, King was director of the Katonah Museum of Art for 10 years.

In his next endeavors, King will direct the AFA, a not-for-profit organization, which initiates and organizes art exhibitions and provides educational and professional programs in collaboration with the museum community. The AFA was established by an act of Congress in 1909, and is one of the oldest art organizations in the country, serving nearly 300 museum members in the U.S. and abroad. King looks forward to the centennial celebration of the AFA, and leading it into its next 100 years.

The Board of Directors will begin a nationwide search for a new director.