Husband-and-wife art-world figures David de la Torre and Georgianna Lagoria are leaving leadership positions in Honolulu to move to Los Angeles.

De la Torre, executive director of the Mission Houses Museum, will become director of programs and chief curator for the La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a $35 million cultural center and museum celebrating Mexican-American life in Los Angeles, due to open in 2010.

De la Torre has been at Mission Houses since December 2006. Before that, he served as Hawai'i's director of the Art in Places Program and the Hawai'i State Art Museum for three years, and for 13 years previous worked at the Honolulu Academy of Arts under the leadership of George Ellis, a period he refers to as "the heyday I will treasure forever."

De la Torre, who will oversee exhibit installations, create a school outreach project and program performing arts at the center, said before Ellis offered him the position at the academy 19 years ago, he was involved with an early effort to create what would eventually become La Plaza. The move will also bring him close to his parents, who live in Santa Barbara.

Lagoria, who directed The Contemporary Museum since 1995, is resigning as the executive director effective Aug. 14.

Under her leadership, The Contemporary Museum has established an endowment fund, opened a branch at First Hawaiian Center, developed exhibition and education programs, and grown the permanent collections. Most recently under her direction, the museum had embarked on a capital campaign to build a new gallery for TCM's permanent collection and acquired two historic homes for a planned expansion. In connection with the faltering economy, the expansion is temporarily on hold.

Lagoria recalled when The Contemporary Museum was a small gallery in Honolulu's News Building, before it assumed ownership of the historic Hart Wood-designed Spalding home on Makiki Heights.

"It's such a special place, and it's been my pleasure to have helped preserve it," she said. "I want to see it remain as a force for liveliness in contemporary art. It is so uniquely Hawai'i."

De la Torre and Lagoria have lived here almost 20 years. They have one son, 20, who will attend college in Arizona. They will maintain a home in the Islands and said they plan to return as frequently as possible.

De la Torre said he is most pleased with having helped to make Mission Houses Museum more accessible online. Outreach programs also expanded under his watch.

Said De la Torre: "If there's one thing we know in Honolulu in terms of art and culture, it is that we have an extremely vibrant community of people who are dedicated to their work, and we live in one of the most generous communities in the entire country. And so as we leave, I know in my heart this institution is going to continue and flourish."