US museums increasingly hire international directors despite Trump's 'America First' policy

Massimiliano Gioni, an Italian curator trained at the University of Bologna, has been appointed director of the New Museum in New York, continuing a trend of US museums hiring foreign-born leaders. Other examples include Austrian Max Hollein at the Met (since 2018), Swiss Christophe Cherix at MoMA, and Australian Melissa Chiu set to lead the Guggenheim Museum on September 1. Consultant András Szántó attributes this to a cultural tradition of importing talent and the historical European model of museums. Quentin Bajac, director of Jeu de Paume and former MoMA curator, notes a tendency to overvalue European credentials. While US universities place four in the top 10 of the 2026 QS World University rankings for art history, European candidates are seen as less specialized and more interdisciplinary. Unlike France's structured path via the Institut National du Patrimoine, US institutions offer flexible hiring. Higher salaries in the US also attract European directors. The phenomenon is more common in private institutions than in Smithsonian museums, though exceptions exist. Gioni links the trend to New York's cosmopolitan nature and contrasts it with Trump's anti-immigrant policies, noting that green card holders like himself face risks.