In Long Beach, Museum of Latin American Art president to step down

The Museum of Latin American Art will be losing its president and chief executive, Stuart Ashman, who has led the Long Beach institution for nearly five years.

Ashman said in an interview that he has accepted a leadership position at the Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe in New Mexico. He will depart MoLAA in July and assume his new job the following month.

Ashman and his wife have been looking to return to their home state, he said. Prior to joining MoLAA, he served as director of what is now called the New Mexico Museum of Art. He was also founding director of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe.

MoLAA hasn’t announced a successor for Ashman.

Founded in 1996 by Robert Gumbiner, a physician and avid collector, the institution had for years served primarily as a founder’s museum, focused on Gumbiner’s collection and vision.

Since Gumbiner’s death in 2009, the museum has attempted to broaden its scope to become an art institution that serves the public, said Robert N. Braun, museum co-chair.

MoLAA received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums last year. The board also broadened the museum’s scope to include Chicano art.

In 2012, the museum experienced financial difficulty, slashing its budget and laying off some employees, including its chief curator.

Braun said that the chief curator position still hasn’t been filled. “I think we’re at the next stage at the development of the museum,” he said. “I think we need to look more globally, and toward the local community as well as the nation.”

He said the museum has an annual operating budget of approximately $3 million.

MoLAA bills itself as the only art institution in the country exclusively dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art.

david.ng@latimes.com