As Adler Planetarium announces it highest visitor numbers in 23 years, Kate Brueggemann joins the museum as Vice President of Development.
Brueggemann will report to President & CEO Michelle B. Larson, PhD, and has been tasked with spearheading the museum’s fundraising activities.
“The Adler Planetarium’s leadership has big plans for the future, ” she said. “I look forward to helping the organization build a strong fundraising foundation to reach those goals.”
She joins at an exciting time for the museum which welcomed 568, 814 guests in 2016. Such high numbers have not seen since 1993 when there was no entry charge.
Commenting on the museum’s soaring popularity, Marc Lapides, Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, remarked: “This year, I honestly don’t even know how to describe the energy that continues at the Adler. New exhibits, new sky shows, telescope viewing events all over Chicagoland. Incredible!”
Last year, a temporary exhibition, What is a Planet?, won first prize in the 2016 British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) Great Exhibitions competition.
Brueggemann is ideally placed to lead the next phase of the museum’s fundraising. She is the former Director of Principal Giving at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis where she oversaw major donations, planned giving, and the capital campaign. During Brueggemann’s time there, annual fundraising increased by over 40 percent.
Larson described this achievement as ‘impressive’:
“Her proven skill set will help move the Adler forward as we continue to build a financially strong and sustainable organization. Kate will be an outstanding addition to our innovative and collaborative Adler team.”
Space will be a hot topic in the U.S. this year as the country experiences its first total solar eclipse for 38 years.
Plans for 2017 including a new temporary exhibition, Chasing Eclipses, a viewing party for 10, 000 people at the museum and a special Galaxy Ride down to the path of totality in Carbondale, Illinois.
