With the unannounced departure at the end of 2014 of Eleanor Goldhar, who followed Betsy Ennis down the ramp, the Guggenheim has lost two top-ranking communications veterans in rapid succession. Whether this is symptomatic of a broader institutional malaise or merely an unfortunate coincidence may become clearer if other key players leave the building.
Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim’s deputy director and chief of global communications, Goldhar came on board seven and a half years ago and was the journalist’s go-to person for information on her institution’s complex global initiatives, including two controversial (as yet unbuilt) projects—planned satellite museums in Abu Dhabi and Helsinki.
If the workers-rights situation in Abu Dhabi doesn’t further improve (as discussed by me at the end of this post), the PR spokesperson’s task of promoting the project could become irremediably problematic. That said, I have no knowledge as to whether this may have actually been a factor in the departures.
I discovered that Eleanor had left when I emailed her some queries today and got this curt automated reply: “Eleanor Goldhar is no longer with The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.”
Ennis, the Guggenheim’s director of media and public relations and a 15-year veteran there, announced last July that she was joining Andrea Glimcher (formerly of Pace Gallery) in Hyphen, a new art-consulting venture.
For now, the Guggenheim’s acting deputy director of global communications (as I was informed in Goldhar’s automated reply) is Tina Vaz, who had served under Goldhar for the past year as director of communications for global initiatives. Vaz today informed me that Eleanor “is still in New York and is taking some time off before jumping in to new projects. Betsy’s former position remains open.” (Ennis’ job as director of media and public relations had long been advertised in the classifieds section of ArtsJournal’s homepage, but recently came down.)
Maybe the job descriptions are now being rewritten, in light of recent developments.