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Milwaukee’s Bronzeville Center for the Arts has tapped a former National Endowment for the Arts leader as its new executive director.
Ra Joy was the National Endowment for the Arts chief of staff and a senior advisor during the Biden administration. The Bronzeville board announced his appointment Dec. 3 as the Milwaukee center’s new executive director. Joy actually began work there on Dec. 1.
As the center’s leader, Joy will lead the mission of developing the new African American Art Museum in Milwaukee’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood. The new museum will be constructed on the site of a former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources building at the northeast corner of North King Drive and West North Avenue.
In a video interview, Joy said he “was attracted to the enormity and nobility of this undertaking, the idea of transforming an entire city block into an internationally acclaimed hub for Black art and culture.”
Joy, who described himself as a self-taught visual artist from a family of artists, said he has “dedicated much of my career to making the arts accessible to more people and more places. … It’s an immense honor now to have an opportunity to contribute, really, to a once-in-a-lifetime project.”
“Ra is recognized as one of our nation’s leading advocates for the arts and creative expression,” Michael Morgan, chair of the center’s board of directors, said in a statement released by the organization. “Over the course of his distinguished career, he has had a profound influence on the arts and arts policy at the local, state, and federal levels.”
The Bronzeville board of directors was looking for a leader with a diverse set of experiences and skills, including strategy development, revenue stream generation and design planning, “which is exactly what Ra brings,” board member Damani Short said during the video interview. “The networks and relationships he has around the country and around the globe are going to help accelerate and propel this into a global asset.”
Joy said his immediate priority is to meet with and listen to artists, cultural leaders, longtime advocates and supporters of the project. He also plans to cultivate “an ecosystem approach” to his leadership style, working with “an interconnected network of artists, curators, collectors, art professionals,” emphasizing partnerships and collaborations.
Milwaukee’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood served as a hub for culture, commerce and community, Joy said. “I’m really excited to able to contribute to the cultural renaissance that’s under way.” He also loves that the museum site is “just steps away from downtown and Fiserv Forum.”
Lead architect also designed The Hip Hop Museum
Bronzeville Center for the Arts’ present headquarters is Gallery 507 at 507 W. North Ave. In November, to herald the future museum, four site-specific artworks by Martine Syms were placed on West North Avenue. Her installations were commissioned by the Bronzeville center and Sculpture Milwaukee.
The future museum is planned to be a 50,000-square-foot site for exhibitions, education and immersive artistic programming. BrandNu Design Studio, led by Michael Ford, is the lead architectural firm for the project. BrandNu’s other projects include The Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx in New York. BrandNu will partner with Milwaukee’s HGA architectural firm on the project.
In a May article, the Journal Sentinel reported that about $30 million of a $55 million goal had been raised for the project. During a Dec. 2 interview, Joy and Short said they needed a little time before updating those numbers.
The Journal Sentinel has also previously reported Bronzeville hoped to open the new museum in 2028. Joy said he expected to have an update on timing in the near future.
Financing for the future African American Art Museum includes a $5 million grant provided by Gov. Tony Evers through American Rescue Plan Act funds. That grant must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026, according to the governor’s office.
Prior to his NEA work, Joy led Arts Alliance Illinois, an arts advocacy organization, from 2007 to 2015. He is a native of Evanston, Illinois, and lived for a number of years in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago’s south side.
Joy is the second person in recent months with high level Washington arts experience to take a leadership post in Milwaukee. Kim Sajet, former director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, became director of the Milwaukee Art Museum in September.
Journal Sentinel staff member Tom Daykin contributed to this report.
