TACOMA, WA.- Tacoma Art Museum congratulates Stephanie Stebich in her new role as The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the of Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. effective April 3, 2017. Stebich is currently the Executive Director at TAM, where she has been for almost 12 years.

Under Stebich’s leadership, TAM has become a national leader for regional museums and is recognized as a leading institution focused on Northwest art and artists. During her tenure, TAM’s collection has grown immensely. The museum’s focus on exhibitions and programs dedicated to the art and artists of the Northwest has helped to garner six key collections and expand the museum’s square footage with an expansion in 2014 and another scheduled for 2018. Notable collections added during Stebich’s tenure include the Anne Gould Hauberg collection; Erivan and Helga Haub’s gift of the Haub Family Collection of Western American Art; the gift/purchase of the Paul Marioni Collection; the promised gift of the Rebecca and Jack Benaroya Collection; the promised gift of Vasiliki and William Dwyer Collection; and the bequest of jewelry by designer Mia McEldowney. With these collections and transformative gifts, TAM has become a premier destination for western American art and American studio art glass.

In July, 2017, the groundbreaking of the new Benaroya wing will further expand TAM’s exhibition space by 25 percent. With the Benaroya collection – in conjunction with TAM’s current collection of studio art glass –TAM will hold one of the top five museum studio art glass collections in the nation.

In addition to growing the collection, TAM also welcomed many groundbreaking and celebrated exhibitions under Stebich’s leadership, including Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible; American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell; Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture; Matika Wilbur’s Project 562; Eloquent Objects: Georgia O’Keeffe and Still-Life Art in New Mexico; Edvard Munch and the Sea; Art AIDS America; and 30 Americans from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami.

TAM has also merited significant financial achievements during Stebich’s tenure, including doubling the endowment to more than $35 million. The museum was awarded a number of prestigious grants from organizations including National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and two Andy Warhol Foundation grants. Stebich also oversaw the $15.5 million design and construction of the Haub wing, delivering it on time and on budget. In the public relations and media arena, TAM has received unprecedented and first-time coverage in national journals, newspapers, and websites including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Huff Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Art in America, Art Ltd., Art Daily, Hyperallergic and many others, as well as increased consistent coverage in regional and local media including Seattle Times, The News Tribune, The Olympian, Kitsap Sun, Seattle Met, Seattle Magazine, South Sound Magazine, KING-5, KOMO, KUOW, KNKX and many more.