Dayton Art Institute Announces New Leader

Jessimi Jones, the former director at the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, was named the new director and president of the Dayton Art Institute on Sept. 2. She begins her new role Oct. 19, after spending six years leading Springfield’s museum.

During her time at the Springfield Museum of Art, Jones led a museum philosophy built on the idea that art belongs to everyone. During her time there, the institution reimagined its North Wing to create more participatory visitor spaces and attendance increased nearly 100 percent in the year following the museum’s reopening. The project was made possible by way of $7 million capital improvement campaign. 

Jones also widened the Springfield museum’s exhibition lineup and programming for the community, including “Black Life as Subject Matter II,” which Dayton artist Willis “Bing” Davis conceived of and curated. The exhibition merged art, dialogue, learning and connection among community members and received recognition as the Best Exhibition in Ohio by the Ohio Museums Association.

“I’m incredibly excited to join the Dayton Art Institute and lead an institution with such a rich history and such a strong foundation,” Jones said in a Sept. 2 press release. “I’ve always believed that museums are most meaningful when they are deeply connected to the people and the communities they serve, and I’m looking forward to getting to know DAI’s audiences, supporters and partners and working together to build on that foundation while crafting the museum’s next chapter.”

Prior to coming to Springfield, Jones was the director or education and public programs at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Philbrook Museum and Gardens, where she saw handled outreach and programming for school groups, families and members of the community. A native of Ohio, Jones grew up less than an hour from Dayton.

For more information, visit daytonartinstitute.org.

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