Caroline Baumann has been named director of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, effective June 16. Since joining Cooper-Hewitt in 2001, she has held many leadership positions at the museum, most recently as acting director.
Baumann will oversee the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. In this role, she will strengthen Cooper-Hewitt’s reputation to educate, inspire and empower people through design and oversee the renovation of the museum and the reinstallation of its galleries, which are set to reopen in fall 2014.
Baumann has been acting director of the museum since September 2012. She also served as associate director, acting director and deputy director between 2006 and 2009. From 1995 to 2001, Baumann worked at the Museum of Modern Art, where she raised funds for the museum’s Yoshio Taniguchi building project among other accomplishments. Before that, she was the director of development at the Calhoun School in Manhattan and art book editor at George Braziller Publishers. She received a master’s degree in medieval art from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and a bachelor’s degree in the history of art and French literature from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
Baumann is a member of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for the U.S. Postal Service and the NYC Landmarks50 Advisory Committee and a director of the Royal College of Art U.S. Alumni Group Advisory Board. She is a member of the Collective, which staged the Collective.1 Design Fair in May in New York. Baumann is also a member of the NYCxDesign steering committee for New York City’s citywide event showcasing design.
During her tenure, Baumann has worked on a wide range of issues, including developing and implementing the museum’s strategic plan, leading the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the museum’s history and managing the museum’s educational, curatorial and digital efforts. Baumann is the liaison to the 32-member board of trustees. She played a critical role in the museum’s master planning process from 2004 to 2006 and participated in the selection of design architect Gluckman Mayner Architects and executive architect Beyer Blinder Belle.
Cooper-Hewitt’s main facility, housed in the Carnegie Mansion at East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue, is undergoing an expansion as part of a $64 million capital campaign that was launched in 2006, and includes a $54 million expansion and $10 million endowment. The expansion includes enlarged and enhanced facilities for exhibitions, collections display, education programming and the National Design Library, and an increased endowment. Baumann spearheaded this $54 million capital campaign.
The museum has more than 70 full-time staff members, including curators, conservators and design education specialists, and the fiscal year 2013 operating budget is $16 million. The museum is 70 percent funded by earned and contributed income, the remainder coming from federal appropriations. Cooper-Hewitt presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design through educational programs, exhibitions and publications. International in scope and possessing one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence, the museum’s rich holdings range from Egypt’s Late Period/New Kingdom (1100 B.C.) to the present day and total more than 217,000 objects.