New director at the Skirball

Lori Starr, a longtime Los Angeles museum executive and currently senior vice president of the Skirball Cultural Center, has been appointed director of the Skirball Museum. Starr will oversee construction of an exhibition hall and amphitheater, which are scheduled to open in September 2004 with a show on Albert Einstein, as well as an outdoor education area for children.

Starr joined the Skirball staff as vice president of external affairs in January 2001; since early this year she has been interim museum director.

Starr served as head of public relations for the J. Paul Getty Trust and the J. Paul Getty Museum from 1986 to 2001, and as associate museum educator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the early 1980s.

The Skirball Museum explores Jewish life around the world and its connection to American democracy and the immigrant experience.

-- From staff and wire reports