St. Paul's Minnesota Museum of American Art has hired a Minneapolis arts administrator to be its director in hopes of reversing its near-death status as an institution with no staff, no building, no programs and little money for operations.

Kristin Makholm, director of gallery and exhibition programs at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), will head the dormant museum starting June 22.

The museum's nine-member board has asked Makholm "basically to revive the place, help us find a new home and get back in business," said board chairman David Kelly, a Twin Cities lawyer.

The 40-year-old museum closed its galleries in January after decades of financial struggle. For the past several years, it rented space in a former auto garage in Ramsey County Government Center West on Kellogg Boulevard. It dismissed its few remaining staff members this winter and stored its collection of mostly 20th-century American paintings, sculpture and crafts.

It has about $800,000 in endowment money, but most of it is restricted for buying art, Kelly said. Recently, it secured $150,000 to $200,000 in pledges to cover operating expenses, he said. Those costs run about $25,000 per month, including Makholm's future salary.

"This is just too good an opportunity," Makholm said when asked why she was leaving a secure post at the college. "I've loved working with the faculty, staff and students at MCAD, but being able to add a new, inspiring museum to the culture life of the Twin Cities is just too exciting to pass up."

An art historian, she has held curatorial and research positions at Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and museums in Milwaukee and St. Louis. She hopes to launch a "museum without walls" program to show parts of the MMAA's collection in temporary sites next year and to do other programming as soon as possible. But first she has to rent office space in downtown St. Paul and to "reinspire confidence" among the museum's patrons and potential funders.

Last winter, museum board members talked about relocating to the James J. Hill Reference Library in downtown St. Paul. Those dreams fell through, however, and a board committee is looking for alternative sites in the city.

Makholm expects to find support for a revived museum from organizations that have funded programs at MCAD, especially the McKnight and Jerome foundations.

"You need to give people the artistic excellence, integrity and vision they need to feel confidence in the museum again," she said. "It has a history and a dedication to art and artists of this region. If you inspire people and light a fire under them, they will support it. I wouldn't jump in if I didn't think so."

Mary Abbe • 612-673-4431