LOCAL : Newport Museum Director to Leave

Kevin E. Consey, the director of the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach, has been named to head the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Consey, 38, who has headed the Newport Beach museum for six years, will assume his new post Nov. 15, according to Paul Olivier-Hoffman, chairman of the Chicago museum board.

The Newport Harbor Art Museum is in the midst of a $50-million campaign to establish an endowment and to build a facility designed by architect Renzo Piano. Consey will head a similar campaign in Chicago, according to museum officials there.

In making the announcement, Olivier-Hoffman said Consey “represents the new generation of museum directors, combining uncompromising artistic vision with strong management skills and capital campaign experience.”

Consey, who was paid $85,000 a year in Newport Beach, called the appointment “one of the most coveted museum directorships to open in the last decade.”