The WPA announced yesterday that they've finally picked a new director: Lisa J. Gold.

To which I said: Who?

Lenny has the details on his site. Ms. Gold seems like a fine choice, with plenty of relevant experience, but I was frankly surprised that they didn't pick someone local. True, you can meet everyone you need to know in the D.C. art world in about a day and a half...but in a fish pond this size, I think connections really matter.

Gold is, in fact, from D.C. originally, but I wonder how much catching up she'll have to do before she can really start to be effective. I know of a couple of folks in town who were being considered for the position and definitely would've been able to hit the ground running...anyway, I'm hopeful for the WPA, and will be excited to see what happens next.