a job description was created that stressed the desire for Newfields to diversify its audience over time without losing supporters who made up its current "core, white art audience". The phrase received widespread backlash and sparked a larger discussion of what was described by some former employees as a “toxic” and “discriminatory” culture at the IMA. An open letter from 85 Newfields employees and members of the board of governors, as well as another from more than 1,900 artists, local arts leaders and former employees of the museum, both called for his removal. Venable submitted his resignation on February 17, 2021. Publications and exhibitions Venable has edited and written several scholarly publications. His book, American Furniture in the Bybee Collection (1989), was awarded the Charles F. Montgomery Award of the Decorative Arts Society (DAS). His 1994 publication, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, received the DAS's Montgomery Prize. Venable co-authored, China and Glass in America, 1880-1980 in 2000. During his time as director of Newfields, Venable periodically curated exhibitions, including the IMA's silver exhibition, Tiffany, Gorham, and the Height of American Silver : 1840-1930. and Dining by Design: American Silver 1925-2000. Personal life Venable married Martin Webb in October 2013, having been together since 1998. They have a daughter. Webb and Venable have collected American and European decorative art and contemporary art since they met in 1998. Venable lived in Westerley House during his directorship at Newfields until he left in 2021. Before leaving, he had stated a desire to move out of the house as part of an effort from Newfields to save money and for the director to have a less public-facing residence. Venable now lives in Florida. Bibliography American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, 1989. Winner of the Charles F. Montgomery Award. Silver in American, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, 1994. Winner of the Charles F. Montgomery Book Prize. Decorative Art Highlights from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, 1995 Editor and contributor, Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, 1997 "Germanic Craftsmen and Design in Philadelphia, 1820-1850", Journal of American Furniture, 1998 Editor and contributor, China and Glass in American, 1880-1980: From Table Top to TV Tray, 2000 Editor, Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design, 2005 Newfields: A Place for Nature & the Arts, 2017, ISBN 0936260823 References Living people People from Houston Rice University alumni Boston University alumni University of Delaware