Long Beach Museum of Art Director Resigns

Stephen Garrett, the embattled executive director of the Long Beach Museum of Art, has resigned from the post effective Sept. 1.

“I’m not leaving for negative reasons,” said Garrett, 65, formerly the head of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. “I think there are other things that I would like to do.”

He would not specify what those things might be.

But Linda McCullough, president of the museum’s board of directors, said the parting had been by mutual agreement resulting, in part, from tensions arising from various “challenges” faced by the museum in recent years.

“Stephen has overseen (a lot of) change and he added an aura of respectability to our museum that was much needed at the time he was hired,” McCullough said. “We are much stronger now. I think Stephen has helped the museum in many ways, but I think the museum is also looking for . . . added strength . . . in the areas of fund development, membership development, administration and community outreach.”

Another source who asked not to be named said that there had been “misunderstandings” between Garrett and the board recently regarding certain aspects of his leadership style. “He is superb in situations where concensus is called for,” the source said, “but he won’t knock heads together. I think the board wanted a stronger manager--someone who would exercise more overt control.”

Hired in 1984, Garrett oversaw the transition of the museum from a city-managed facility to one governed by a private nonprofit foundation. Among other things, board members said, his mandate included expanding programs and pushing for relocation from the museum’s present cramped location on Ocean Boulevard to a modern downtown facility more consistent with the city’s hoped-for image as a cultural center.