- November 23, 2024
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from: The Museum of Arts and Sciences
The New Year will bring a new face to the helm of the Museum of Arts and Sciences after the Board of Trustees announced on Thursday, Nov. 11, the departure of Executive Director Andrew Sandall at the end of the year. Sandall was appointed executive director of the almost 75-year-old Daytona Beach institution in May 2012.
“The board is grateful for Andrew Sandall’s work at the museum and all that has been accomplished in the past nine years with Andrew and our excellent staff and volunteers," said Katherine Miller, president of the MOAS Board of Trustees. “We are going to miss Andrew dearly, but we know he will be a great success at his new museum. We look forward to building upon the strong foundation at MOAS and are excited about what the future holds for us.”
Sandall arrived at the multidisciplinary museum, one of the largest in the state of Florida, after several years working in Orlando. Upon arrival, he immediately jumped into the challenge of overseeing the design, construction, and operation plan creation for the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, which opened to the public in February 2015. The construction project was only announced for the first time publicly on Sandall’s third day at the museum.
Construction projects would define Sandall’s time at the museum. These included leading the redesign and reconstruction of the museum’s flood-damaged Lemerand Wing, the construction of the Lohman Planetarium, the new entrance lobby, and the upgrade and redisplay of the museum’s Root Family Wing, including enclosing and adding climate control to the Train Station, allowing the museum’s collections to be displayed alongside the carriages housed within.
In addition to construction projects, Sandall was tasked with modernizing the museum’s programming and exhibits to better represent the local community in the 21st century. He was also entrusted with reshaping and rebuilding the staff team to better fit these needs and grow the museum’s role as a fixture of the local social scene for not just its educational events and programs, but also the debut of more adult-oriented programs such as the weekly Yoga in the Gallery classes at the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, the very popular quarterly wine tastings, and the growth of signature events for the museum including the annual Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra concerts, and more recently, the Asbury Short Film Concerts, that have become a yearly fixture in the community’s calendar.
“I am immensely proud of what we have achieved in my nearly-10 years here at MOAS.” Sandall said. “It’s quite something to think of how the museum has changed, both physically and programmatically, since I first arrived — not least the addition of the magnificent Brown Museum of Art on the campus, a project that defined the early years of my time here. It is wonderful to look at the museum as it is today and see it so vibrant and full of life, with programs and events that the local community seem to be really enjoying, and the most incredible team of staff, trustees, and volunteers who just amaze me with their endless passion and creativity, and who I know I will miss greatly.”
Sandall will be staying at MOAS until the end of 2021 to assist with the leadership transition and help prepare the museum for its impending reaccreditation by the American Alliance of Museums in 2022. He will then be leaving the area in early January to take his new post as president and CEO of The Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, the second largest museum in that state, and its only Smithsonian Affiliate. The MOAS Board of Trustees are already working on a transition plan that will involve appointing an interim director for the museum before embarking on a national search for Sandall’s successor, to hopefully be in place by summer 2022.
