Milwaukee Art Museum Appoints Chief Curator And Chief Development Officer

The Milwaukee Art Museum today announced two key additions to its senior leadership team: Elizabeth Siegel has been appointed the Museum's Chief Curator, and André Allaire has been named Chief Development Officer.

A seasoned curator and leader, Siegel comes to the Museum after 25 years at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is currently Curator of Photography and Media. Allaire, who is currently Assistant Vice President for Development at Parsons School of Design, the nation's top art and design school, has spent the past 25 years fundraising for arts, cultural, and educational institutions predominantly in New York City. Siegel will assume the Chief Curator role beginning January 9, 2023, and Allaire will become Chief Development Officer on January 1, 2023.

"We are delighted to welcome Liz and André to our senior leadership team, and I know their extensive experience will be invaluable in shaping the future of our Museum," said Marcelle Polednik, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. "Liz is a respected curator, collaborator, and scholar whose innovative approach, commitment to community engagement, and relationships in the field make her the perfect leader for our curatorial team. With his decades of experience as a strategic fundraiser for arts and cultural institutions and passion for the arts, André will be a vital partner in securing essential support to advance the Museum's mission."

As Chief Curator, Siegel will leverage her extensive experience organizing exhibitions, conducting curatorial research, and stewarding acquisitions and collections to expand the institution's reach and impact. She will lead the Museum's Curatorial and Collections departments, spearheading the Museum's exhibitions program and scholarly publications and overseeing acquisitions for the Museum's permanent collection.

"I am thrilled to be joining the Milwaukee Art Museum, which I have long admired for its strong commitment to fostering inclusive programming and for its innovative use of contemporary art to connect visitors to historical works in its dynamic collection," said Siegel. "You can feel the energy and excitement when you walk into the Museum's building, and I am looking forward to working with the curatorial team and community to amplify what they are already doing to share the transformative power of art."

As Chief Development Officer, Allaire will work in partnership with the Director, staff, and Board to set the philanthropic strategy for the institution and lead fundraising in support of the Museum's mission and strategic direction. Overseeing the Development and Membership departments, Allaire will collaborate with colleagues across Curatorial, Education, Community Dialogue, Marketing, Design, and Finance, and work closely with the Board of Trustees to raise critical dollars that support the Museum's esteemed collection, exhibitions, and programming.

"I look forward to joining the Milwaukee Art Museum team, bringing my experience as an entrepreneurial fundraiser and as a leader motivating and inspiring teams," said Allaire. "Having studied Art History as an undergraduate and worked to advance the missions of some of New York's most esteemed educational and arts and cultural organizations, I am excited to return to the museum world where I can align my professional expertise with my deep personal passion for art."

Liz Siegel is currently Curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has worked for 25 years as a collaborative leader and developed an international reputation for curatorial scholarship and cross-disciplinary innovation.

Siegel has curated or co-curated nearly 30 exhibitions emphasizing groundbreaking scholarship, engaging presentation, and accessible content. These include André Kertész: Postcards from Paris (2021), the first exhibition dedicated to the photographer's carte postale prints; Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage (2009), a landmark project showcasing the whimsical and surreal inventions of aristocratic women; and Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937-1971 (2002), a comprehensive study of one of the foremost schools of photography and design, and still a standard reference in the field. She has also organized exhibitions on contemporary photographers Uta Barth, Vera Lutter, Richard Misrach, Abelardo Morell, and Tokihiro Sato. Her collaborative and interdisciplinary projects have surfaced new relationships among objects and art histories. Most recently, she was part of the collaborative team behind Floating Museum: A Lion for Every House (2022), an experimental commission aimed at breaking down walls between the museum and Chicago's diverse communities.

Her scholarly contributions in both print and digital formats have helped to shape the field, having authored major catalogues to accompany exhibitions as well as academic studies that have become touchstones for scholarship. Siegel also helped to secure strategic acquisitions for the Art Institute, most recently of some 500 nineteenth-century American photographs, primarily daguerreotypes, from the W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg Collection. A 2018 alumna of the Center for Curatorial Leadership, Siegel received her doctorate and master's in the History of Art from the University of Chicago and her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.

André Allaire has spent the last 25 years leading fundraising for nonprofit arts, cultural, and educational institutions predominantly in New York City. In his current role as Assistant Vice President for Development at Parsons School of Design, the nation's top art and design school, Allaire has identified and shaped key priorities for significant philanthropic investment from alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations.

Previous positions have included the first-ever Director of Executive MBA Alumni Relations and Development at NYU Stern School of Business (2008-2012), where he built engagement and giving programs from the ground up for a highly successful but previously untapped segment of the alumni community. As the Vice President of Development for the Municipal Art Society of New York (2012-2016), a 125-year-old civic advocacy organization, he raised more than 90% of the organization's annual operating budget during a period of strategic transition. As the Director of Corporate Relations at The New York Public Library (2016-2018), Allaire took on a newly repositioned and expanded role designed to seek and secure more strategic philanthropic partnerships with the corporate community, locally and nationally. He is a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in the History of Art.

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