Driehaus Museum Appoints Lisa Key as New Executive Director
Via PR
The Driehaus Museum is pleased to announce that Lisa M. Key has been appointed the Museum’s Executive Director, effective immediately. Key joined the Museum earlier this year as Interim Executive Director.
Key’s appointment comes after a national search led by Koya Partners and the Driehaus Museum Search Committee led by Zach Lazar, Chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees.
“Lisa is the right person at the right time for the Driehaus Museum. She is a creative, visionary leader with a breadth of museum expertise. As Interim Executive Director, Lisa already has made so many significant contributions to the Museum,” said Lazar. “She has worked closely with the Board and the staff to direct the next few years of the Museum’s growth including facilitating the necessary steps to get the Murphy Auditorium renovation work underway and reinvigorating the Museum’s philanthropic and earned giving. Under her leadership, she has built a huge amount of trust with our staff and I know I speak for them when I say how excited we are to have Lisa at the helm to lead this jewel-box of an institution into its future.”
As Executive Director, Key will provide leadership oversight of strategy, programs, fundraising, advocacy efforts, finances, and operations. Most importantly, she will continue to guide implementation of the museum’s future goals which calls for the Museum to move into a new chapter through physical expansion and increased programming. The Driehaus Museum endeavors to become a self-sustaining organization to further enshrine its reputation as a center for artistic excellence that seeks to make decorative and fine art more accessible, to draw connections between the past and present to illuminate our cultural heritage, and to preserve the legacy of Richard H. Driehaus, its founder.
“The Driehaus Museum is at a unique inflection point in its 15-year history and I am excited to lead this organization at this pivotal time.” says Key. “In 2024, we will reopen the John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium as part of the Driehaus Museum campus, expanding our ability to reach out to all Chicagoans as a new cultural center that focuses on art, architecture and design.”
“Richard Driehaus was a visionary and the Museum is a key part of his enduring legacy,” Key continued. “I am deeply committed to being a steward of that legacy as I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of museums. And there’s no place quite like the Driehaus Museum to contribute to local, national, and global dialogues about the relevance of the art and design of the past to the conversations of the present and future. The Museum remains committed to not only our historic past but to presenting contemporary artists whose work reflects the concepts, ideas and even the materiality of our historic buildings.”
Ms. Key came to the Driehaus Museum with extensive museum management experience in strategic planning, philanthropy, and governance, having served as Interim Director at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago before being named Deputy Director there. During her tenure at the MCA, she focused on stabilizing the museum’s budget and increasing stakeholder engagement. While at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was the Vice-President of Institutional Advancement, she led the campaign to create and fund the Modern Wing. She is co-chair of Board of Enrich Chicago and has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds an MA in Arts Administration from Indiana University and a BA in Art History and Communications from Valparaiso University.