Dennis Scholl Joining ArtCenter/South Florida As President & CEO

It is a gamechanger to have a nationally-recognized arts executive and entrepreneur take the helm of ArtCenter/South Florida at such a pivotal moment. Dennis Scholl, previously Vice President for Arts at the Knight Foundation in Miami, will be joining ArtCenter/South Florida to become the President and CEO on September 1st, 2017. Known as one of Miami’s top contemporary art collectors, he has also served on the boards of several museums such as the Pérez Art Museum Miami, where he remains a trustee. Mr. Scholl is known for launching and scaling arts programs and enterprises, including having led Knight Foundation’s arts program to national prominence. The visual arts are his personal and professional passion. In addition to being a collector of, and friend to, local artists, he has helped build the contemporary collections of several museums, including the Guggenheim, the Tate Modern and the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

Dennis Scholl, former vice president of the Knight Foundation, will become the ArtCenter’s President/CEO on Sept. 1st.

At ArtCenter, his focus will be on using the resources from the sale of their landmark building in 2014 for $88 million, which was originally purchased in 1988 for $684,000. This record-breaking sale left ArtCenter/South Florida with the largest visual arts endowment in South Florida. They now want to create a holistic space for Miami artists where they can learn from the best in their field, find a studio, obtain direct support for their work and experience ground-breaking exhibitions. “Dennis has certainly shown that he can build institutions, and that’s what we were looking for,” said Kim Kovel, ArtCenter’s board chairwoman. “We have to transition from a starving arts organization to one with resources, and say ‘What can we do that other arts organizations can’t?'” Executive Director Maria Del Valle of ArtCenter/South Florida helped transform the local visual arts community, she has agreed to stay on through the transition.