Heart of Brooklyn Names New Director

Heart of Brooklyn, the 11-year-old partnership between major cultural institutions in the Prospect Heights area, has hired a new director.

Liz Harris took the helm this month, the organization announced Monday.

Heart of Brooklyn is an alliance between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Prospect Park Zoo that works on education, research, economic development and marketing for all six institutions.

Harris, comes to the organization with more than three decades of experience in business, arts management, and strategic planning. Her background includes an undergraduate degree from Harvard-Radcliffe, an MBA from Harvard, the founding of the Liz Harris Gallery in Boston and service on the boards of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 

She also has extensive business experience, serving most recently as executive vice president at Boston’s UNC Partners, Inc., which invested venture capital funds with a focus on entrepreneurs of color, and as principal of Harris Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in arts management, strategic planning, economic development and agricultural ventures.

Sarah A. Shannon, who filled the role as acting director since March of this year, will remain at the organization as deputy director.

“We welcome Liz to Heart of Brooklyn, confident that she will bring her own brand of creativity and business savvy to the organization's efforts,” said Heart of Brooklyn Board President and Prospect Park Zoo Director Denise McClean in a news release. “We are thrilled to have found such a visionary and inventive leader in Liz, and look forward to her contributions to the Heart of Brooklyn, for the certain benefit of the community and the field.”

Since its founding, Heart of Brooklyn has created model programming in youth development, most notably its Brooklyn Cultural Adventures Program (BCAP) day camp, its collaborative marketing and cultural tourism initiatives and its economic development efforts such as working with the Washington Avenue Prospect Heights Association. All of these efforts have received awards.