Matthew Braun

Matthew Braun is the Executive Director of the Fleisher Art Memorial. Having entered the museum field by way of the fine arts, Braun studied sculpture at Washington University’s School of Art in St. Louis, and then went on as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue post-graduate studies at the Slade School of Art at the University of London.  These early studio art experiences, including residency at the International Studio Program at the P.S.1/MOMA Contemporary Art Center in New York, propelled him into the world of exhibit design and on to Curator of Exhibitions for the National Park Service at St. Louis’s Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (a.k.a. the Gateway Arch).  Upon relocating to Ithaca, New York in 1997, he began his tenure with The History Center as curator, and was selected to serve as its Executive Director in 2000.  

In 2005, Mr. Braun was honored by the American Association of Museums with the Nancy Hanks Memorial Award for Professional Excellence.  He was subsequently selected to participate in the renowned Getty Leadership Institute, held annually at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Mr. Braun has served the field in many capacities, as a conference presenter and peer reviewer for the Institute for Museum and Library Services, American Association of Museums, National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the American Association for State and Local History, and the Museum Association of New York.  He currently is serving as a lead partner in the Arts for Children and Youth Initiative, a ten-year effort to reform arts-based learning in Philadelphia’s school system.