Craft and Folk Art Museum director stepping down in December

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Maryna Hrushetska, who has served as the director of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles for nearly six years, will be stepping down from her role effective Dec. 30, the museum announced Monday. The museum said that an executive search, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, is currently under way with Museum Management Consultants Inc. in San Francisco.

Hrushetska joined the Craft and Folk Art Museum in March 2005 in the midst of a difficult time for the institution, which had gone through five directors in eight years. In one instance in 2004, Peter Tokofsky was forced to resign as director, prompting an exodus of board members.

The museum was founded in 1965 by Edith Wyle as a restaurant and crafts shop and was known as the Egg and the Eye. In 1974, it was relaunched as a nonprofit museum. The institution experienced a rough patch during the ‘90s and even shut down temporarily before being revived in 1999.

The museum said that during her six-year tenure, Hrushetska helped to stabilize the organization, overseeing 37 exhibitions and helping grow attendance by 67%, with a 38% increase in revenues. Hrushetska’s background was primarily in international finance before joining the museum.

A modest institution compared with its much larger neighbors on Wilshire Boulevard, the Craft and Folk Art Museum currently operates under the aegis of a 12-member board of directors and a professional staff.

The museum is currently hosting two exhibits: ‘Borderlandia: Cultural Topography by Einar and Jamex de la Torre’ and ‘The Birth of Coffee.’

A new director is expected to be announced by the end of December, the museum said.

-- David Ng

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