Brett Littman will lead the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) as its new director and CEO starting Thursday, Oct. 1.

Littman, 57, first discovered contemporary art as a UC San Diego student walking into the museum on Prospect Street in the early 1990s. He becomes the fifth director since MCASD opened in 1941.

He replaces Kathryn Kanjo, who left in January after 15 years to lead the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. MCASD Board of Trustees President Maryanne Pfister said Littman was chosen after a six-month national search, calling his experience leading major contemporary art institutions the right fit for the museum's next chapter.

Littman grew up in Brooklyn. His father, a photographer, named him after Edward Weston's son, Brett.

He earned a philosophy degree from UCSD in 1995 after arriving as a pre-med student at Revelle College and switching majors. Professor Robert Pippin's humanities courses prompted the change. Littman said in a UC San Diego interview that eight students in his cohort left the sciences to study philosophy because of Pippin.

As an undergraduate, Littman visited the museum two to three times a month. He attended a photography talk by Edward Ruscha and a lecture by conceptual artist Hans Haacke. He also worked as a DJ at the music library in what is now Geisel Library, managing four turntables and directing sound to listening carousels from a collection of more than 100,000 records.

"I remember spending hours in the room with Robert Irwin's 1°2°3°4°," Littman said in the Sept. 13 interview. "It's one of the first site-specific works that I really understood."

His career includes more than 40 exhibitions spanning visual art, design, architecture, music, science and literature. He served as deputy director of MoMA PS1, led The Drawing Center in New York for 11 years and directed the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum. At the Noguchi Museum, MCASD said he doubled the operating budget.

Since 2023, Littman has run Shakkei Consulting, advising museums and foundations on strategy, fundraising and public engagement.

MCASD's La Jolla campus at 700 Prospect St. reopened in 2022 after a four-year, $105 million renovation and expansion. In 2024, the museum sold its satellite gallery in downtown San Diego to UCSD and consolidated all operations in La Jolla. The museum carries construction loan debt, and the nonprofit arts sector has faced cuts to government and foundation grants, the Union-Tribune reported.

Littman told the Union-Tribune he feels confident about the museum's position. He said MCASD needs a year to a year and a half to shore up donations, recruit new board members and broaden its philanthropy.

His vision includes deepening ties with UCSD, meeting local artists and visual arts faculty, and creating programs that connect the museum with the region's science, aerospace, biotechnology and ecology sectors.

Littman and his wife were packing up their New York home in September, planning to move to San Diego ahead of his Thursday, Oct. 1 start date.