Leopold Museum: Danielle Spera New Board Member

24.08.2022

Danielle Spera is a new member of the Board of Directors of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation. 

As of the beginning of September 2022, she will succeed the art historian Carl Aigner, who was a member of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2008. Danielle Spera was appointed by Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.

“I am delighted that it has been possible to secure Danielle Spera, a highly experienced and renowned expert of Vienna’s cultural scene, as a member of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation’s Board of Directors. Danielle Spera is an exceedingly dedicated personality who, during her successful twelve years as Director of the Jewish Museum Vienna alone, expedited the professionalization of the museum’s operations, realized the new conception of the museum’s permanent presentation at its two locations – both of which underwent technical and structural refurbishment –, curated numerous exhibitions and prominently positioned the museum as a prestigious institution in Austria and abroad.” Magnus Brunner, Federal Minister of Finance

Following the appointment in March 2022 of Saskia Leopold, a Viennese lawyer and granddaughter of the Leopold Museum’s founder Rudolf Leopold, as successor to Agnes Husslein-Arco, the Board of Directors now consists of its chairman Josef Ostermayer as well we the board members Sonja Hammerschmid, Saskia Leopold and Danielle Spera.

“I would like to thank Carl Aigner for his 14 years of meritorious service on the Leopold Museum’s Board of Directors, and to wish him all the best for his future. Danielle Spera, who is an established museum director, journalist and expert in communication science, is a most valuable addition to the foundation’s board. She combines her work as a director with her tireless involvement with several organizations and advisory boards, for instance as former president and current vice-president of ICOM Austria, as a member of the TV channel ARTE’s program advisory committee or, until recently, as a board member of the VWI Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. I am very much looking forward to our cooperation.” Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum

Danielle Spera studied journalism and political sciences at Vienna University, earning her doctorate in 1983. While still a student, she began working for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF. She was active for the ORF from 1978 to 2010 as a journalist, reporter, presenter and member of the editorial council, and in 1987/88 worked as the ORF’s correspondent in Washington, DC. From 1990 to 2002, Spera was a lecturer at the Department of Communication at Vienna University. As a self-employed entrepreneur, she has been active since 2022 as Executive Director of Culture. Media. Judaism. Danielle Spera was the Director of the Jewish Museum Vienna from 2010 to 2022. During this time, she curated numerous culture-historical exhibitions and publications, including “Love me Kosher”, “Little Vienna in Shanghai”, “Arik Brauer. All of My Arts”, “Jewish Geniuses. Warhol’s Jews” and “Lessing Presents Lessing”. From 2013 to 2019, Spera was active as president of ICOM Austria, and since 2019 has acted as the organization’s vice-president. Since 2020 she has been a member of the executive committee of Austrian Leading Sights, acted from 2013 to 2018 as a member of the University Council of the Medical University of Innsbruck, has been a member of ARTE’s program advisory committee since 2013, and since 2011 has served on the advisory board of the Nitsch Foundation. Danielle Spera has authored and published numerous books and essays on contemporary art and Jewish topics, and is a writer for the magazine NU.

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