Executive Director

Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D., executive director of the Albany Museum of Art

Andrew J. Wulf, Ph.D.

Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D., has served as executive director of the Albany Museum of Art since Oct 4, 2019.

Wulf, who came to Albany from Santa, Fe, N.M., where he served as executive director of the New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, in Santa Fe, N.M., from 2015-2019. Prior to that, he was supervisory museum curator for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, a division of the U.S. National Archives, from 2010-2015.

A guest curator and lecturer at the Museum of Design in Atlanta in 2016, Wulf has led the development of original museum and special collections-based public programming, exhibitions, and publications for nearly two decades. He was curator of exhibitions, special collections, at the University of Southern California, from 2004-2010, and at USC’s Fisher Museum of Art. Wulf interned as a curatorial assistant for the Museum Department at Skirball Museum and Cultural Center in Los Angeles (2004-2005), and volunteered as an assistant educator, Membership Department for Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom (2002-03), while a graduate student at the V&A and at the Courtauld Institute.

Wulf said he is especially excited to lead the AMA at a time when preparations are being made to move to the former Belk Department Store at 128 and 146 W. Broad Ave. The $34 million renovation project will more than double the space of the museum and allow it to bring back its permanent collection, which has been in storage since the devastating storms of January 2017. Half of the collection returned from the High Museum of Art in October 2020, and the remainder arrived from the Chicago Conservatory in April 2022. The return was celebrated during the summer of 2022 with Homecoming, a special museum-wide exhibition of artworks from the permanent collection.

“To have this challenge ahead of us to create a brand-new version of the AMA is a museum director’s dream,” he said. “In terms of the future, I think the sky’s the limit on what this museum can be and do for Albany and the region.

“I really feel that art museums, more than any other type of organization, represent one of the few public environments where courageous conversations can happen via art. We’re a place where people can slow down. We encourage contemplation. The AMA already is a place where all Albanians, Georgians, Americans and visitors can find themselves and discover new ideas and get their creative juices flowing.”

A graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute Executive Education Program for Museum Leaders, Wulf earned his Ph.D. from the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He holds an M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from USC; Graduate Certificates in The Arts of Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Europe, and The Visual Arts in Europe: 1720-1920, from Victoria and Albert Museum, London; an M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University; an M.A. in English (Poetry) from the University of New Hampshire, and a B.A. in International Relations/French Literature from the University of Southern California.