Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, will step down from her role on April 1, 2025. The decision comes as part of a new organizational structure that splits the responsibilities of the director and CEO into separate positions. George Lucas, the museum’s founder, will now take on the primary responsibility for content direction, focusing on the institution’s curatorial and artistic vision.
Jim Gianopulos, former chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, will serve as the museum’s interim CEO while a search for a permanent CEO is underway. In a joint statement, Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, expressed their gratitude for Jackson-Dumont’s leadership over the past five years. “Sandra’s transformative leadership over the past five years has been essential to preparing the museum for its opening,” they said.
“Her dedication to advancing narrative art and realizing our vision has helped lay the groundwork to establish the museum as a vital cultural resource for Los Angeles and a future destination for visitors from around the world.”
The Lucas Museum, located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, has faced several delays in its opening.
Leadership transition at Lucas Museum
Initially postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the opening was pushed back again in late 2022 to ensure the building underwent proper readiness and remediation processes.
The most recent delay, announced in December, has shifted the opening to 2026. During her tenure, Jackson-Dumont made significant strides in promoting diversity and inclusivity within the museum’s leadership. She appointed six women, five of whom are people of color, to key positions.
Additionally, she oversaw notable acquisitions for the museum’s collection, including Robert Colescott’s 1975 painting “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware River: Page from an American History Textbook.”
As the museum continues to take shape, anticipation grows for its opening and the unique cultural experience it promises to offer under George Lucas’s curatorial vision. The museum aims to showcase the art of storytelling and narrative in various forms, drawing from Lucas’s personal art collection and the Separate Cinema Archive, which features 37,000 objects from African American film history. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is being designed by MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, with Hathaway Dinwiddie serving as the general contractor and JLL as the construction manager.
Once open, the museum is expected to become a vital cultural resource for Los Angeles and a destination for visitors from around the world.