LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has named Franklin Sirmans department head and chief curator of contemporary art, the Los Angeles Times reports, succeeding Lynn Zelevansky. He will begin in January. Sirmans comes to LACMA from the Menil Collection in Houston. Beyond his curatorial expertise, Sirman has worked as an editor at Flash Art and Art AsiaPacific magazines; he will also contribute to LACMA’s publications.

HOUSTON—Linda Shearer has been named executive director of Project Row Houses in Houston, Artnet reports. The nonprofit, which was started by artist Rick Lowe, offers an artist residency, among other things, and often hosts art installations. Shearer has previously worked as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, and as interim director at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston.

NEW YORK—Lucy Mitchell-Innes has been named president of the Art Dealers Association of America, Lindsay Pollock reports on her blog. The New York dealer, who is co-director of the Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery and formerly the head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, will be the organization’s first female president. She succeeds Roland Augustine, whose three-year term has come to a close.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Obama has appointed three officials to his Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Margo Lion, whose experience in theater ranges from running a non-profit to producing for the stage, will serve as co-chairman with George Stevens Jr., a writer, director, and producer of movies and TV. Working alongside Lion and Stevens as vice chairman is Mary Schmidt Campbell. She is currently the dean of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

NEW YORK—The American Federation of Arts has announced that Maura Reilly will join its staff in the role of senior curator, ArtDaily reports. Most recently, Reilly held the same role at nonprofit Location 1; before that, she worked as a curator at the Brooklyn Museum. She is also an experienced scholar and writer who's taught at Tufts University and authored articles for Art in America.

SAN FRANCISCO—Jeannene Przyblyski has been named dean of academic affairs at the San Francisco Art Institute, the San Francisco Examiner reports; she will replace Okwui Enwezor, who is leaving to pursue more curatorial and writing projects. Until July, Przyblyski served as arts commissioner to the city. At the same time, she will also act as executive director of the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets, a think tank that melds arts and urbanism, and work as an artist and consultant for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. 

NEW YORK—Eugene Lang College at the New School for Liberal Arts has named Eve Mosher its fall 2009 visiting artist for the school’s visual arts program. Mosher is best known for her interactive works that place emphasis on the environment and the public and has been a recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and New York Department of Cultural Affairs. Past visiting artists at Lang College include Alyce Santoro, Ralph Lemon, Martha Rosler and Marni Nixon.

SANTA FE, N.M—The New Mexico Museum of Art has named Mary Kershaw its new director, Newsday reports. Kershaw will replace Marsha Bol, who exited to run another New Mexico museum earlier in the year. Currently, Kershaw serves as director of collections for England’s York Museums Trust, which includes the York Art Gallery. She will begin her tenure at the New Mexico Museum in January.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Todd Behrens will leave his job as curator of the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Fla., this week to assume the same position at the Sioux City Art Center, the Lakeland Ledger reports. Behrens, who holds degrees in art history from the College of William and Mary and the University of Florida, has been with the Polk since 1999; he previously worked at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood.

Farewells
NEW YORK—Poet Jim Carroll died Sept. 11 as a result of a heart attack, the New York Times reports. He was 60. From a very young age, Carroll was an acclaimed writer, publishing such works as The Basketball Diaries, which chronicled his high school years and was later turned into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He was also a fixture in the downtown poetry scene in New York, working among such writers as Allen Ginsberg and Frank O’Hara. After rock performer Patti Smith invited him onstage to perform his poetry to music, he began recording albums with his Jim Carroll Band in the early 1980s. Carroll’s last book of poetry was released in 1998, and he also recorded a number of spoken-word albums later in life.