Woodmere museum finds a new director

The Woodmere Art Museum, the idiosyncratic collection housed in a rambling Victorian structure on six acres at the top of Chestnut Hill, has a new director/chief executive officer.

William Valerio steps down Friday as assistant director for administration of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to take the leadership of the 70-year-old museum, whose focus is artists of Philadelphia and the region.

"It's hard to leave, because of course I love the Philadelphia Museum of Art and it's one of the special places on the planet," he said. "On the other hand, when this opportunity arose, I had to think long and hard about whether I wanted to be a museum director in my life, and I did, and I decided I needed to start."

Valerio, 46, officially takes his new job Monday, but already has been involved in decisions. The museum has been operating without a director since the beginning of the year. Michael W. Schantz, chief of the museum since 1981, announced a year ago his intention to leave.

Born in Bologna, Italy, raised by artist/writer parents in Park Slope, Brooklyn, before its gentrification, Valerio holds a master's degree in art history (with a 17th-century specialization) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's from Williams College. He earned a doctorate in art history from Yale University in 1996, and was a curator at Queens Museum of Art in New York, where he became interim director of exhibitions.

Drawn to Philadelphia in 2002 by Wharton's MBA program, he worked on various projects for the Art Museum as an intern even before graduating in 2004. As a senior member of the Art Museum administration, Valerio has focused on marketing, government affairs, and other matters.

He finds at Woodmere at least one important pre-existing relationship. Marguerite Lenfest, wife of former Museum of Art board chairman H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and one-half of the region's most generous philanthropic team, is a Woodmere board member and donor.

Valerio - still "learning Chestnut Hill, the collection and the building in all its quirks" - will develop a business and artistic plan after revisiting all the museum's earned revenue sources. This summer the museum instituted a $10 fee for special exhibitions, to help compensate for a downturn in philanthropy and a smaller contribution from the endowment. The museum is otherwise free.