COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Columbia Museum of Art has named Karen Brosius, as its new director. She will start the jb next month. Karen Brosius was previously director of media relations for Altria Group, Inc. - formerly The Philip Morris Companies. During the past two years, the museum has run on deficits of $100,000. The museum’s annual budget is $2.3 million. For the past 30 years, Altria/Philip Morris has been one of the major arts funders in the nation for the past 30 years, providing funding for art exhibitions, museums and dance companies. The New York headquarters house a branch of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Karen Brosius was born in Geneva, N.Y.. She holds a master’s degree in music history and worked at New York’s Morgan Library. She will be the second director at the museum since 2002. Margaret Skove, the previous director, had to resign in January after working there for 11 months.

According to the museum, it had around 15 applicants for this position. Accoridng to the museum’s board chairman Carroll Heywar, only four of the candidates were seriously considered. The other finalists were not announced by the museum.