British Museum Boss Turns Down Met
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British Museum director Neil MacGregor was approached to be the next head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but has opted to keep his London job for another five years, the British Museum said.
At a press breakfast, Chairman Niall FitzGerald said that Mr. MacGregor had agreed to lead the museum through 2012. Mr. MacGregor took over in 2002.
Referring to the Met, British Museum head of press Hannah Boulton later said, “He was approached by them, he had a conversation with them, but in the course of that conversation he ruled himself out of the job of running the Met.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
Mr. MacGregor — whose museum today announced a record 6.049 million visitors in the year ending March 31 — has been cited by the press as a possible successor to the Met’s retiring director, Philippe de Montebello. In interviews, including those with Bloomberg News, Mr. MacGregor has said he is eager to stay in London.
Asked today if he was offered the Met job, Mr. MacGregor said only that the Met’s search committee had “a very large number of conversations with people who were not candidates” about the Met’s future.
