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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Bill Moreno, the new executive director of the Claremont Museum of Art, stands in front of the newly-renovated Packing House where the museum will open soon. |
Back in March, the founding Board of Directors of Claremont Museum of Art announced its intention to open the doors to the new museum within a year.
In the meantime, the museum also focused on bringing in new personnel, the latest being Bill Moreno, who was recently appointed as the museum’s new executive director.
Even with a background in business and in art, Mr. Moreno said that he never thought that he would be in Claremont or be the executive director of a startup museum.
“It’s all serendipity,” the new executive director said. “I don’t think I ever woke up one morning and said that I wanted to be a director. It’s just what happened.”
Growing up in a home where his father was a commercial artist, Mr. Moreno was exposed to the culture of art at an early age. While he did not expect to become a museum director, he knew that he would be involved in the arts one way or another.
“My father was an artist so I think his influence on my life was pretty big,” he explained. “I grew up with that at home so my predisposition to being involved in the arts was strong.”
Before coming to Claremont, Mr. Moreno had spent more than 3 years at The Mexican Museum in San Francisco as its executive director. During his tenure, he raised $6.5 million for the museum’s new building program, guided the museum’s public relations efforts and was overall responsible for all aspects of museum management and fundraising.
“He’s a fascinating guy and we’re just exceedingly fortunate to land a veteran museum director like him,” said John Maguire, president emeritus of the Claremont Colleges Consortium. “He did a great job at the Mexican Museum.”
Graduating from St. Mary’s College with a degree in management in 1989, Mr. Moreno went on to work for Citibank for 12 years as sales and marketing director and a staff development manager. From there, he started William Moreno Fine Art in 1998 where he sourced and marketed contemporary fine art to corporations and individuals. Three years later, he became the director of Aguirre Gallery in San Mateo, an international fine art gallery that specializes in contemporary US and Latin American fine art.
“We did an extensive search for the position and when Bill was recommended to us, it just turned out that he had a superb background in regards to our requirements,” said Frank Chabre, Board Treasurer of Claremont Museum of Art. “His work in San Francisco and Silicon Valley gave him the edge over other candidates and it was clear that he was the one for the job.”
With the doors of the new museum set to open in February, Mr. Moreno is hoping that the museum will be a place that not only supports the art community but a place that the entire Claremont community can be a part of.
“This is an opportunity that we have to become engaged in the fabric of the community,” he said. “Art is for everyone at every level. We’re looking to bring that to the museum and have it be a community place.”
Already having received support from the community throughout the developmental process, Mr. Chabre believes that Mr. Moreno is the right person to continue building on that relationship. He also sees Mr. Moreno as being the one who will help the museum reach its goals of being a major regional museum with international significance that meets the needs of the Claremont community.
“Bill has worked in this field for a number of years so he knows how this area really functions,” Mr. Chabre said. “He has the know-how and the contacts to be able to pull together a team that can accomplish these objectives.”
Mr. Moreno looks forward to the challenges that lie ahead and what the future will bring for the museum through his tenure.
“My task at hand is to meet community people, get to know the art community and engage with them,” Mr. Moreno said. “This is a cool community that has an audience that is going to support and be receptive to the arts.”
—Landus Rigsby
