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Human Resources

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Visitor Relations

Our customer service professionals are trained to welcome and orient visitors to both AMOA-Downtown and AMOA-Laguna Gloria. Contact us: 512.495.9224 ext.213 (AMOA-Downtown), 512.458.8191 ext.258 (AMOA-Laguna Gloria), or e-mail.

Eric Garcia,Visitor Relations Manager/AMOA-Downtown
Judy Smith,Visitor Relations Specialist/AMOA-Laguna Gloria

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Facility Rental

Our Museum boasts two sites available for private events such as weddings, receptions, parties, and even corporate gatherings. Contact us: 512.458.8191 ext.255 or e-mail.

Erin Murphy Garcia, Facilities Rental Manager

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Museum Stores and Café Laguna

Our Museum Stores and Café staff make sure that we offer the very best selection of art-inspired gifts that not only provide important revenue, but also allow visitors to continue their experience with AMOA. Contact us: 512.477.0766 or e-mail.

Justin O'Connor, Museum Store Manager & Buyer

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The AMOA Staff is just a portion of the people who make us Austin's museum of art. Our mission and vision would not be possible without the year-round devotion of the Board of Trustees, Board of Advisors, Art School Faculty, Docents, The Austin Fine Arts Alliance, The Austin Fine Arts Festival Committees and Volunteers, Teachers, Interns, and the support of our Members, Donors, Sponsors, Visitors, Students, and the Austin community.

Management Team

Dana Friis-Hansen,
The Dr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Butler Executive Director

Dana Friis-Hansen, Executive Director since February 2002 and Chief Curator since 1999, works with the staff, board, and community members to fulfill the Museum’s mission to build and educate a broad audience for the visual arts.  Since his arrival, he has worked actively enhancing the Museum’s reputation through innovative and unconventional exhibitions and programs;  strategic planning, stabilization and future growth; and the rehabilitation of Laguna Gloria and expansion of The Art School Phase I and II.  As Chief Curator he continues to oversee the artistic vision and permanent collection. At AMOA's downtown facility, he has organized exhibitions including 22 to Watch: New Art in Austin (2002, 2005); Color Pattern Grid: Selections from AMOA and Austin Collections; and Again and Again: Cycles in Video and Light, among others.

As Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston from 1995-1999, he organized many important exhibitions of contemporary art, including Outbound: Passages from the 90s; Nic Nicosia: Real Pictures 1979-1999; Other Narratives; Abstract Painting, Once Removed; At Home and Abroad: 20 Filipino Artists; Hiroshi Sugimoto; and Richard Long, among others. For the 1995 Venice Biennale, he was co-curator of the highly regarded exhibition TransCulture. From 1991-1995 he served as Associate Curator for Nanjo and Associates, a contemporary art advisory office in Tokyo, Japan and from 1985-1991, he was Assistant Curator, then Curator of the MIT List Visual Arts Center, where he supervised the artist-in-residency program and organized changing exhibitions.  Friis-Hansen has a BA in Art History from Carleton College, Northfield Minnesota, and received a Helena Rubenstein Fellowship for the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

Friis-Hansen writes for books, exhibition catalogues and magazines, about contemporary art practice in Texas, the United States and abroad, and serves on numerous regional, national, and international panels and advisory committees, including the National Peer Council of the General Services Administration, the Downtown Austin Alliance, and the Golden Hornet Project, among others.

Judith Sims,
Senior Director of Education, Art School Director, & Laguna Gloria Site Director

Judith Sims has been affiliated with AMOA for 31 years. Under her direction, The Art School has presented an impressive array of course offerings for people of all ages, and has become the city’s leading non-accredited art school.  In addition, The Art School is one of the largest museum-affiliated art schools in the country. Key among her successes are the Laguna Gloria Renewal Project for which she successfully completed a capital campaign on time and budget in 2004; The Territory, the PBS video series airing statewide; numerous thematic film and video programs; and ArtReach, an outreach program serving children and adolescents who are in non-traditional educational settings.  Ms. Sims’ excellence in programming has garnered the Museum support from such prestigious national funders as the MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.  Ms. Sims’ educational background includes a Certificate from the Institute in Arts Administration, Graduate School of Business, Harvard University; graduate studies toward M.S. Degree in Continuing Education, the University of Rochester, New York; and a B.A. in History with Honors Graduate the University of Texas at Austin.

Curt Shinaberry,
Director of Finance & Administration

Curt Shinaberry joined AMOA in July of 2007 and brings with him extensive experience in accounting, facilities management and community relations. Most recently, Shinaberry served as a financial manager in a joint partnership between the State of Texas and the private sector. As Director, he will be responsible for ensuring the sound fiscal administration of the Museum, overseeing accounting, budgeting, earned income, and financial planning, as well as general administration and human resources, payroll and benefits. Shinaberry’s tenure includes fourteen years as the Vice President of Business Affairs for the Presbyterian Children’s Home, another Austin non-profit organization. There, he managed corporate assets in excess of $50 million and a $3 million annual budget. Shinaberry holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from West Virginia University and a Masters of Management from the J L Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.  He is active member of the community, both having served on boards and as a coach for various youth activities and sports.

Tom Jackson,
Senior Director of Development

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Bill Nichols,
Director of Facilities & Operations

Bill Nichols was appointed the Director of Facilities and Operations in 2007 after nine years at the Austin Museum of Art. Mr. Nichols manages AMOA’s information technology, safety and security. He helps create policies and procedures to ensure the Museum’s efficiency and manages maintenance, information technology and landscaping contracts for both the downtown location and Laguna Gloria. During his time at AMOA, Mr. Nichols has upgraded the museum’s security system technology and help Laguna Gloria gain wireless Internet access. He oversaw the design and construction as Laguna Gloria grew to include a digital arts studio, two new classroom studios, kiln firing space and the Gatehouse’s café, galley and museum store. Before joining AMOA, Mr. Nichols served as the Chief Preparator at the Amarillo Museum of Art where he arranged the traveling itineraries and transportation of art. Mr. Nichols received an Associate of Science degree from Amarillo College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from West Texas A&M University.

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