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First a new building, and now a new director.
The Portland Art Museum has announced Michael J. Anderson as its next leader, starting Oct. 12. Anderson joins PAM from his current position as president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
His official title at PAM will be the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer director at the Portland Art Museum, a result of the Schnitzer family’s $13.5 million gift from 2025.
PAM has selected Anderson after a nine-month national search to replace Brian Ferriso, who served as PAM’s director for almost 20 years. Ferriso led the institution through a massive capitol campaign and $111 million renovation of its downtown campus, which reopened in November. He left that same month to lead the Dallas Museum of Art. A group of three PAM leaders has been serving as co-interim directors since.
Anderson, 47, has been the president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art since 2019, but before that worked as the museum’s director of curatorial affairs and film curator. He holds a doctorate in art history and film studies from Yale University and a master’s in cinema studies from New York University.
In its announcement of Anderson as the new director, PAM touted his accomplishments in Oklahoma City such as expanding the permanent collection by 30%, making the galleries bilingual to better serve the Spanish-speaking community, and forging relationships with Tribal Nations and Native artists across Oklahoma through exhibitions, partnerships and public programs.
In a phone call Aug. 10, we asked Anderson about those accomplishments, but also other critical details, like what neighborhood he plans to live in and which restaurants he likes. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
WW: How much time have you spent in Portland?
Michael J. Anderson: I really haven’t. When I interviewed for the position, that was the first time I had actually been to Portland. The same was true when I first interviewed in Oklahoma City. I’m originally from Minnesota. My brother-in-law actually lives on the Oregon Coast, so that was also an opportunity to see his place for the first time. I’m new to Portland.
You are new. What were your impressions?
Beautiful city, beautiful region. I’ve had fantastic food at every meal.
The museum is wonderful. I was so pleased by the way that it felt after the campus transformation. It’s just such a great place. You’re very lucky to be there, and I feel like I’m very lucky to be moving out there.
In the statement PAM sent out, you said you were thrilled to be joining the museum “at this extraordinary moment in its history.” Can you expand on that a little bit and what you meant?
Sure. It’s, obviously, the oldest museum in the Pacific Northwest and has a great collection, and they’ve done wonderful exhibitions that all of us in the museum field have paid attention to for years. But with this campus transformation, it really does kind of take that next step up. It’s certainly a world-class facility to go along with the creativity and the ambition of the curatorial program.
My background is in both art history and film, so I’m extremely excited to be coming on with the Tomorrow Theater and the Whitsell Auditorium opening. So, I really think it’s a museum that can do truly unique and remarkable things.
Can you see any immediate challenges coming up for the museum that you’ll probably have to tackle right away?
It’s a little early to say that, but I think a lot of the challenges are the same with many organizations and many institutions. Here in Oklahoma City, we’re also in downtown Oklahoma City and we’ve had challenges since COVID with more and more people working remotely or in different parts of the city. So we have less foot traffic, and I trust that the same will be true there.
I see a great staff that has been there in key positions for many years. I’ve gotten the chance to meet many of them over the last few weeks and they’re great. It’s not a museum that I have to come to and rebuild the organization. I’m really excited to be working with a team that’s already flourishing and just help support them in doing that next great thing with the museum.
Can you think of anything on your résumé, either in Oklahoma or before, that has prepared you especially well for this moment?
One thing we did here at this museum is, our educational offerings were pretty nonexistent, and so we had to rebuild them. We really focused on access. We created bilingual labels and translations throughout our museum. We opened a free family space. We instituted free children’s admission. We worked with nonprofits in the blind and low-vision community to provide enhancements for that community.
We do a lot of work outside of the museum, with different hospital systems in the region and the state. We actually do virtual field trips with schools that can’t make it to our city.
I can’t say that we’ll do all or any of those things in Portland, and certainly Portland’s already doing a few of those things. But rebuilding our education program, I think, prepares me well for for the next chapter at PAM, which I know will be a lot about connecting and serving the community.
Brian Ferriso made a lot of changes to the museum, some very visible, some more internal. Do his feel like big shoes to fill?
Absolutely. Completing the campaign that he did...he’s a beloved leader. The search committee and staff all speak very highly of him. His stamp is all over that institution. So they’re huge shoes to fill. I’m excited to bring what I can to the museum. But, you know, I’m really proud to be taking on the institution that he helped build and did a fantastic job with.
OK, personal questions now. What was the best meal you ate while you were in Portland?
Paadee was great. We also had really good pizza at Apizza Scholls.
Who were you here with?
I was here with my wife. We love good food, and we’re really excited for that part of moving to Portland.
What does she do? Is she moving her job too?
She actually works with me at this museum so she will be working remotely. She’s the director of film programming, and she’s curating a big video exhibition here in the spring.
Final invasive question: Have you already decided on a neighborhood to live in, and are you renting or buying?
We’re going to rent at first, relatively close to the museum, somewhere that’s walkable. From there, we’ll decide if we are westsiders or eastsiders. We’ll try to figure out where we belong.
