Museum Terminates its New Director After Only 20 Days on the Job

SAN ANGELO, TX — It didn’t last long. Alex Freeman was heralded by the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Board as the best replacement for retiring and long-time museum director Howard Taylor on August 9. We confirmed with the Museum board and with Freeman that he was terminated by a majority vote by the board just 20 days after Freeman took command. Freeman’s final day with the title of president is August 31.

No one on the museum’s board will tell us what went wrong while speaking on the record. Whispers from inside the board indicate the board was not happy with Mr. Freeman’s demeanor with his staff. Freeman’s letter to the board revealed an aggressive approach to museum operations. Regardless of the exact reasons, the results of our investigation can be summed up politely by stating that, ‘It was not a good fit.'

In an open letter to the board, Freeman acknowledged Texas is a “Right to Work” state where an employee can be fired at-will. Freeman did not reveal the reason he was told for his sudden termination.

“However, I believe I’ve practiced sound and ethical judgment throughout the year and over my career,” Freeman said of his work ethic.

We have seen several instances of outsiders attracted to San Angelo to assume highly visible positions who do not mesh well. Freeman had a tall order to fill of the shoes of Mr. Taylor who was a pioneer in the San Angelo arts community, serving as the museum’s director for 38 years. 

Some can ascribe these situations as fallout from our community’s growing pains. The San Angelo community has grown since 2000 from 90,000 in population to over 120,000. We are witnessing similar growing pains in other San Angelo institutions creating difficult successions

The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce has hired and lost two chamber presidents since 2016 who chamber leaders thought could fill the shoes of the late Phil Neighbors. Neighbors held that position — as the Chamber’s humble servant — from 2006 until his death at the age of 64 in 2016. Offering hope for the museum board, the chamber’s third hire was the charm. Current Chamber President Walt Koenig, an outsider, made huge strides engaging the community while putting his own mark on the Chamber organization and membership. We think San Angelo appreciates Koenig’s service but the Chamber board had a tough time finding the correct fit.

The Destination Marketing Organization head Diann Bayes, another outsider, left San Angelo last November after she failed to convince the San Angelo City Council to maintain her budget. Bayes transformed the marketing processes and imaging of San Angelo into “Discover San Angelo,” leaving a high bar to surpass. The Chamber, which runs the DMO with a contract with the City, has so far consumed nine months to find her replacement and is so far unsuccessful. (Disclaimer: The author is the current board chair of the DMO).

The City of San Angelo is also having trouble filling key positions related to community engagement. City of San Angelo Development Corporation Director Guy Andrews resigned abruptly in July 2022. Despite an aggressive search, a new head of COSA-DC has not been found. The prognosis for finding a new director is so bad that some City leaders are looking at restructuring COSA-DC so that it does not require a full time director.

"The mission of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts shall be to establish and maintain a museum in order to house and exhibit a permanent collection of art as well as to provide space for traveling exhibitions, for the purpose of the enjoyment and education of the general public in San Angelo, Texas, the rural communities of the Concho Valley, and the state of Texas,” stated the Museum’s mission statement. The museum was founded in 1981 and the signature covered wagon museum building was built in 1999.