Mia's director will leave to head National Gallery

Kaywin Feldman, director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is leaving to become director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Feldman, who has led the Minneapolis museum since 2008, will assume her new job in March, becoming the first female director in the National Gallery's history.

Feldman took over at the institute, or Mia, in 2008. She said her time in Minnesota has been great, but the new job offers an attractive challenge.

"I am so happy about what's happened here, but I also think that I have a new platform to do it, and really the whole nation becomes the community at the National Gallery, which has over 5 million visitors a year," she said. "So it's really a great opportunity to work on a different scale."

She said she is sad to be leaving Minnesota, and the staff at Mia.

"You know, our attendance has doubled over 11 years," she said. "And I didn't do that, our staff did that. And it's really a testament to their drive and skill and curiosity. And I think one of the things I was able to do was give them the resources and the license to try things and experiment."

The Minneapolis Institute of Art announced that its board of trustees was meeting to begin discussing the search process for Feldman's successor, as well as a transition plan for the interim.

Feldman will become the first woman appointed as director of the National Gallery. She begins her new job in early March.