Former RISD director to run Florida museum

PROVIDENCE – Hope Alswang, the former director of the Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art, has found another job.
The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla., has hired Alswang as its new director and CEO. She starts April 15.
Alswang, 62, ran the RISD museum from 2005 to August 2009, when she resigned abruptly following some internal turmoil at the prestigious arts school. RISD leaders decided to close the museum for a month last August to deal with a budget squeeze.
The RISD Museum of Art was founded as part of the Rhode Island School of Design in 1877. Its permanent collection of more than 84,000 objects includes paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, costumes, furniture and other works of art from across the globe. The museum had a record high 150,000 visitors last year.
By comparison, the Norton recorded about 100,000 visits in the last fiscal year. &#8226