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Program Overview:
As North Texas continues to grow, its cultural landscape is evolving as well. In addition to meeting the needs of a new generation of North Texans, the museums of Dallas and Fort Worth are welcoming new directors who are ushering in a different kind of museum visitor, one who sees the world through a rapidly shifting cultural lens and, perhaps, through a reconsidered architectural lens as well. Whether leading a capital building project or rethinking what it means to engage with a museum collection in a revered space, this panel discussion will explore insights from the three newest museum directors in North Texas and how their perspectives are shaping the arts and experiences of 21st-century museum visitors. Moderated by Kate Aoki, AIA, NOMA of Golden Egg Creative, our Panelists are Carlos Basualdo, Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center, Brian Ferriso, Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, and Halona NORTON WESTBROOK, PhD, Director of the Modern Art Museum Fort Worth in this intriguing, enlightening and unique program. Free, open to the public, no reservations needed.
Program Participants:
Carlos Basualdo is the Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center. From 2022 to 2025, Basualdo served as Marion Boulton (Kippy) Stroud Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some of his Philadelphia exhibitions include Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, which represented the United States at the 2009 Venice Biennale and received the Golden Lion for Best National Participation; Dancing Around the Bride; Barbara Chase-Riboud: The Malcolm X Series; and Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror. He has also curated Tropicália: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture and served as a co-curator of Documenta11 and a member of the curatorial team of the 50th Venice Biennale, where he organized The Structure of Survival.
Basualdo has held curatorial positions at MAXXI in Rome and the Wexner Center for the Arts and has taught at IUAV University of Venice and Penn Design at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a 2013 Fellow of the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York City. As Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center, he oversees one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary sculptures in the world, the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, featuring more than 300 masterpieces by Calder, de Kooning, di Suvero, Giacometti, Hepworth, Kelly, Matisse, Miró, Moore, Picasso, Rodin, Serra and more. The Nasher Sculpture Center presents rotating exhibitions of works from the Nasher family collection as well as special exhibitions drawn from other museums and private collections. The Center also presents The Nasher Prize, an award dedicated to excellence in contemporary sculpture, honoring a living artist whose work has had an extraordinary impact on the medium.
Brian Ferriso is The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, a role he assumed in December 2025 after nearly two decades as Director of the Portland Art Museum (PAM). With almost 30 years of museum leadership experience, Ferriso has demonstrated success in advancing ambitious capital projects, strengthening collections, and expanding community access. During his tenure, he more than doubled the museum's curatorial staff and increased the endowment by $40 million Under his leadership, PAM served as the co-presenting institution for the space in which to place me (2024), Jeffrey Gibson's exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale—the first solo presentation by an Indigenous artist for the U.S. Pavilion. Ferriso also oversaw a $140 million campus expansion, which added nearly 100,000 square feet of public and gallery space to the PAM campus. He championed acquisitions by women and artists of color and expanded Native American representation in the museum's collection and leadership. Prior to his role at PAM, Ferriso was the Executive Director and CEO of the Philbrook Museum of Art, and earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Bowdoin College, a master's degree in arts administration from New York University, and a master's degree in art history from the University of Chicago.
The DMA is an inclusive, welcoming space for everyone to see its global collection of more than 25,000 works spanning 5,000 years of history and a range of world cultures. It is one of the largest art museums in the United States. The DMA provides educational programming for all ages, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary events, and dramatic performances. Under Ferriso's leadership, the DMA is advancing a transformative building project that will reimagine the Museum's campus, enhance the visitor experience, and strengthen its connection to the surrounding Arts District. The project represents a significant investment in the DMA's future, positioning the Museum to better serve its growing audiences and the Dallas community for generations to come.
Halona Norton-Westbrook, Ph.D., began her tenure as Director of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in July 2025. She served as the Director and CEO of the Honolulu Museum of Art from 2020–25, and prior to that was Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. Norton-Westbrook is a visionary museum leader with a proven track record of institutional transformation and audience expansion. At the Honolulu Museum of Art, she doubled annual attendance from pre-2020 levels, secured millions of dollars in gifts to the museum's endowment and significantly expanded the institution's fundraising efforts. Managing a staff of 150 employees, she led the museum through a successful American Alliance of Museums reaccreditation, developed its first comprehensive strategic plan, and guided a restoration and expansion of its historic art school.
Norton-Westbrook is a passionate advocate for museums and the vital role that they play in providing access to the arts, fostering greater empathy, connection, and creativity in the lives of individuals and communities as a whole. She has extensive expertise in modern and contemporary art as well as the formation, history, and evolution of museum collections in the twentieth century. Raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Norton-Westbrook earned a BA in American History and Studio Art from Mills College in Oakland, California, an MA in Art History from Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and a Ph.D. in Museology from the University of Manchester.
Moderator:
Kate Aoki, AIA, NOMA, is an architect and founding partner of experience and exhibition design firm Golden Egg Creative. With degrees in textile design and architecture, Kate is fortunate to practice in a profession that satisfies both her passion for fine art and the design of space. After spending more than a decade working in the architecture field, Kate shifted to a position as the Head of Exhibition Design at the Dallas Museum of Art where she developed a deeper appreciation for inclusion and public spaces. As Director of Design for Golden Egg Creative, Kate designs connective spaces in ways that engage visitors while inviting them to learn more about objects they experience and the communities in which they thrive.
Kate has dedicated much of her time to participating on art and architectural committees as well as teaching design studios as an adjunct professor for architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington's CAPPA. She has a longstanding relationship with the Dallas chapter of the AIA, where she served as President in 2023, and the Texas Society of Architects as a member of the Government Affairs Steering Committee. Kate is a member of the Board of Directors of The Dallas Architecture Forum, where she founded the Design Society. Now as a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kate is excited to be learning more about the rich cultural history and practices of the Southwest.

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