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=Jenny Dixon=

Jane (“Jenny”) Hoadley Dixon (b. October 1, 1950) is an American advocate for the arts who has tirelessly sought to affirm the importance of the arts in civic society. As a change agent, Dixon has undertaken initiatives at four New York City cultural organizations—the Public Art Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum—that have stabilized and expanded the scopes and reach of each. Her work has also focused on individual artists as vital contributors to society. Dixon is currently Director Emerita of the Noguchi Museum and Trustee Emerita of the Public Art Fund.

Early Life and Education
Dixon was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and raised in Pointe Claire, Quebec and in Riverside and Stonington, Connecticut. She attended Saint Margaret’s School in Waterbury, Connecticut, and received Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture and Bachelor of Arts in Art Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She also earned a Masters in Business Policy from Columbia University, New York, NY.

Public Art Fund
In 1977, Dixon became the inaugural director of the Public Art Fund, which was created from the consolidation of two organizations driven by Doris Freedman: City Walls and the Public Arts Council, where Dixon had worked as Freedman’s assistant. Freedman had envisioned a Percent for Art law that would require New York City to allocate one percent of capital project funding to commissioning works of art – a law that would both support artists and place artworks in the public sphere, outside museums and galleries. . Dixon studied similar programs throughout the United States and initiated, designed, and drafted the enacting guidelines for the law. Her role “was critical in the legislative process.” During her 11 years at the Public Art Fund, Dixon oversaw the sponsorship of more than 100 public art installations throughout New York City and initiated programs and activities that increased awareness of public art broadly. These activities included developing a nationally distributed quarterly newsletter on the subject and appearing at regular speaking engagements.

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
From 1986 to 1997, Dixon was executive director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. During her tenure, she expanded the organization’s activities, including establishing a grant program to support small and emerging Manhattan-based arts organizations and an artist in residence program, initially sited in the World Trade Center, that became a core program of LMCC on Governor’s Island. Under Dixon, the organization’s annual budget increased 600%, and within a year of her departure from LMCC, the staff expanded from four to 17.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts
After a year and a half working as an independent consultant, during 1998-1999, Dixon became executive director of the Bronx Museum of the Arts. In her first year, she retired a deficit of 20% of the annual budget and ended the year with a surplus. To facilitate a renovation of the museum – which would include a new 2,500 square foot exhibition gallery – Dixon secured $11.2 million in capital funding from New York City. She also organized the museum’s first exhibition to travel abroad, “One Planet Under a Groove,”  co-curated by Lydia Yee and Franklin Sermans. On Dixon’s final day of work at the Bronx Museum, she secured a $1 million Ford Foundation stabilization grant.

Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum
In 2003, Dixon became director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, a subsidiary of the Foundation. The year after arriving at the museum, Dixon consolidated the foundation and museum, and what had been a private foundation became the public Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum. The renaming coincided with the museum’s reopening following a $13.5 million renovation. Dixon told The New York Times, “We want to refine, deepen and preserve the spirit of Noguchi, to give his work the diligence it deserves.” During her 14-year tenure, the museum was accredited by the New York State Board of Regents and the American Alliance of Museums. She also reshaped the foundation and museum into an outward looking institution. Under her direction, the museum organized numerous critically acclaimed exhibitions,        expanded its exhibition program to contextualize Noguchi and his work; exhibited works by other artists; developed traveling exhibitions and educational programming, and expanded the board of directors to include members who could offer professional advice and development assistance. She also secured nearly $20 million from the City of New York, enabling the museum to stabilize its facilities, while at the same time more than doubling the annual operating budget. Under Dixon’s guidance, the museum secured gifts of Noguchi ceramic works, making it home to the largest collection of the artist’s ceramics in the world. In June 2017, Dixon announced that she would retire from the position at the end of the year. Malcolm C. Nolen, Noguchi Museum’s board chair, said, “When Jenny came to the museum it was a beautiful, peaceful place, but a somewhat static one, and closed to the public for almost half the year. Today, it is a vital part of New York City’s mosaic of arts organizations, with an international reputation.”

"Artists in the City"
From 1980 to 1985, Dixon was a producer and host of WNYC radio’s “Artists in the City,” a weekly program that introduced listeners to artists working throughout New York, providing its audience with a greater understanding and awareness of the city’s visual arts scene. Dixon produced more than 200 shows, including a 1985 interview with Richard Serra during the height of the controversy over “Tilted Arc,” the Federal Plaza installation that led to a bitter fight between local government employees and those defending the rights of artists.

Teaching
Throughout her career, Dixon has taught at institutions in the greater metropolitan area. She was an Associate Professor of Art History at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art (1994-2001); Associate Professor in Liberal Studies, Parsons School of Design (1998-2000); and Associate Professor in Arts Administration graduate program, New York University (1998).

Advocacy
A co-founder of the Lower Manhattan Loft Tenants, she was instrumental in the passage of the New York State Loft Law 101, designed to protect tenants, primarily artists in NYC, who were living in commercial or factory buildings. It has two goals: to bring those buildings up to residential safety and fire codes, and to give rights and rent protection to the tenants who live there.

Personal Life
In 1991, Dixon married John R. Boone, a contemporary artist whose work focuses on colloquial expressions painted in a digital font.