AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM, DALLAS ANNOUNCES MARGIE JOHNSON REESE AS MUSEUM’S INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR


With deep knowledge of Dallas and more than 40 years of achievements in arts administration and cultural policy development, Reese will guide the museum during its national search for a new director


DALLAS (Jan. 29, 2025)
– The Board of Trustees of the African American Museum, Dallas is pleased to announce the appointment of Margie Johnson Reese, a nationally recognized arts management professional, as the museum’s interim executive director.

Reese, who has deep roots in Dallas, was appointed upon the recent retirement of Dr. Harry Robinson, Jr., the legendary founder of the museum 50 years ago. Reese assumed her duties Jan. 6, 2025.


Reese has a 45-year portfolio as an arts advocate and arts management professional with work spanning the U.S. and West Africa – including 16 years in Dallas. Her career has centered on the management of cultural resources, public art, cultural planning and development of public policy in the arts.


“Having Margie at the helm during this period means I can sleep at night; she has the right amount of passion for the museum and the necessary skills to assess the future needs of the organization,” said Dr. Robinson.


As interim director, she will oversee the administrative functions of the museum and work with the Board of Trustees to build strategies that focus on collections management, fund development, staff expansion and public programs. She will also serve as a consultant to the Board as they prepare to conduct a national search for a permanent museum director.  Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney will continue to serve as the museum’s deputy director.


Mentored by Dr. Robinson early in her career, Reese spent years honing her arts administration skills with stints at The Dallas Opera, the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and the Dallas Museum of Natural History. She is probably best known for advancing arts and cultural programs as director for what is now known as the City of Dallas’ Office of Cultural Affairs from 1995-2001 where she implemented the City Council’s cultural policy. During that period, her response to the need for equitable access to arts education for children across the city led to the development of Big Thought, a Dallas-based organization providing arts learning services for children and young people.  Additionally, Reese’s community engagement skills were instrumental in the development of Phase 1 programming for the construction of the Latino Cultural Center.


“Ms. Reese’s history working closely with Dr. Robinson as a trusted colleague makes her the ideal candidate to take on this important role,” states Board Chair Vonciel Jones-Hill.  “She clearly has the knowledge and expertise that we need, and her commitment to the arts is unwavering.”


Following her time in Dallas, Reese was appointed General Manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs in Los Angeles, where during her tenure she managed the city’s arts funding programs, including 17 city-owned youth art centers, and developed the iconic Charles Mingus Youth Art Center in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Her success in Los Angeles led to her role as a program officer for the Ford Foundation where she led grant-making for media and arts and culture projects in 14 countries along the West African coast. Not only did she strengthen the 34 national museums in Nigeria, but Reese brokered relationships between the British


Museum and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Lagos Nigeria. She continues to work as an Advisor to the International Council of African Museums, based in Nairobi, Kenya.


Following her work in West Africa, she returned to Dallas as vice president of programming for Big Thought.  Her Texas ties led her to Wichita Falls, where she conceived and built The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture that included the facilitation of a three-year teaching artists training initiative in partnership with Lincoln Center in New York. 


“I have had the privilege of witnessing Ms. Reese’s esteemed professionalism in all areas of cultural leadership and arts administration on a global scale,” said Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis, MA, MFA, Ph.D., former professor of African and African American art history & visual culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Her contributions have been immense, from advancing museum and gallery sustainability to promoting arts education, advocacy initiatives, and internships that have mentored future museum professionals, all while developing programs that have made a lasting impact on audiences.”

Reese founded MJR Partners, LLC and has served as principal consultant for 15 years. She has been an adjunct facility member at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, in their Master of Arts and Arts Administration Graduate program. She is a founding faculty member of the National Leaders of Color Fellowship Initiative, organized by Creative West. Reese has since mentored over 300 arts administrators of color across the U.S. and five of its territories.

Reese received the Selena Roberts Ottum Award from Americans for the Arts for her exceptional work in arts administration and the National Service Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education for her outstanding service and advocacy for arts education.


She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, and a master’s in fine arts in theater from Trinity University in San Antonio.


In being named interim executive director, Reese says the African American Museum has been a source of pride in Dallas for 50 years, and notes that despite the disparity in funding for Black-led cultural institutions across the country, the Dallas community “has clearly supported Dr. Robinson’s vision for this museum.“


“That support will continue to be one of the sustaining pillars of this organization, and our job now is to broaden that base of support and deliver on the promises of the mission,” said Reese. ”I am honored to elevate and secure the African American Museum’s role as an important component of the Dallas cultural system.”


For more information, go to aamdallas.org.


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About the African American Museum, Dallas
. The African America Museum, Dallas was founded in 1974 as a part of Bishop College. The Museum has operated independently since 1979. For more than 50 years, the African American Museum has stood as a cultural beacon in Dallas and the Southwestern United States. Located in Dallas’ historic Fair Park, the African American Museum is the only museum in the Southwestern United States devoted to the collection, preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials that relate to the African American experience. The African American Museum incorporates a wide variety of visual art forms and historical documents that portray the African American experience in the United States, Southwest, and Dallas. The Museum has a small, but rich collection of African art, African American fine art and one of the largest African American folk-art and decorative art collections in the United States. Learn more at aamdallas.org.

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