NC Museum of Art director leaving job. See where she’s going.
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The director of the North Carolina Museum of Art will be leaving this month to become the inaugural director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emerates, state officials announced Tuesday.
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Valerie Hillings, who became director in 2018, oversaw significant growth at the NCMA campuses in Raleigh and Winston-Salem and led the largest private fundraising campaign in the state museum’s history, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said in a news release.
“I leave the North Carolina Museum of Art enormously proud and grateful,” said Hillings, who is also CEO of the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation Inc.
“We weathered a global pandemic; reimagined, reinstalled, and grew the People’s Collection; designed and initiated transformational capital projects at the Raleigh and Winston-Salem campuses; and expanded statewide outreach initiatives to serve a larger and more representative audience,” she said. “The state of the North Carolina Museum of Art is strong and its future bright.”
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a museum of modern and contemporary art, is scheduled to open Dec. 11, the release stated.
“Valerie Hillings’ vision and leadership will be felt long into the future,” DNCR Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell said in the release. “She never forgot that the North Carolina Museum of Art belongs to the people of North Carolina. We celebrate her tenure and wish her all the best as she assumes this exciting new role, which is a testament to her reputation.”
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Before joining the museum, Hillings held senior positions for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation in New York and internationally.
Katherine White, NCMA deputy director since 2018, will serve as interim director following Hillings’ departure on Aug. 19, the release stated.
The collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art, at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh spans over 5,000 years, from antiquity to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the South.
This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 8:21 AM with the headline “NC Museum of Art director leaving job. See where she’s going..”
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