Former MoNA board president resigns

Gary Molyneaux, board president of the Museum of Northwest Arts for the last two years and the longest continuous serving board member, resigned from MoNA’s board of trustees last Thursday. “As long as one or two individuals become focal points leading away from the mission, as I have always said, it is time to make way for different voices,” Molyneaux wrote in his resignation letter to Michele Hurteau, new president of the MoNA board of trustees.

Molyneaux’s resignation follows the February resignation of executive director Christopher Shainin. Shainin’s resignation followed a contentious community workshop seeking ideas on the museum’s future. While the more than 60 people were not united around any one position, several people, including former board members, called for Shainin and Molyneaux’s resignations that night.

Hurteau wrote in an email: “Gary worked very hard for MoNA, believing strongly in the mission. He felt that now was the right time for him to go and make room for other voices.”

Molyneaux joined the board in 2013. He is a retired manager of planning and program development, King County International Airport. He continues as an adjunct professor in the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University department of aeronautics.

Additionally, Friday is Education Director Jasmine Valandani’s last day. She had announced her resignation in a letter to the museum’s docents in March. She cites personal reasons, writing it “does not reflect on the current affairs of the museum.”

Since November, at least six staff have resigned or been laid off. Shainin’s tenure ended March 31.

The board is negotiating a contract with Joanna Sikes to be interim executive director

Some 13 board members left the board in 2017 through resignations or end of term tenure. Six resigned en masse in December.

Shainin has taken a position to lead arts, heritage and cultural advocacy for Washington State.