By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
EAST HARLEM — Julian Zugazagoitia, who oversaw a huge expansion of El Museo del Barrio during his tenure as CEO and director, will leave the museum this summer.
Zugazagoitia, 46, will take over as director for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri in September.
"I am thankful to the ever-increasing family of supporters who have made my years here enormously satisfying, and will count myself among El Museo's most passionate fans for the rest of my life," he said in a statement.
Over the nearly eight years he served as director, Zugazagoitia presided over a $385 million endowment as well as a $44 million rennovation of galleries, the New York Times reported.
A cosmopolitan leader who speaks six languages and studied at the Sorbonne Paris IV, Zugazagoitia increased the scope of art featured at El Museo to encompass all of Latin America.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum also recently underwent a rennovation under current director, Marc F. Wilson, who is retiring after 28 years on the job.
In its introduction to the new director, the Nelson-Atkins Museum provided a handy primer for welcoming Zugazagoitia—a pronunciation guide for his name.
That's Zugazagoitia (SZU-ga-sa-GOY-tee-ah).
