Press

New York Family

HALLEY K. HARRISBURG, Board Chair of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan

halley k. harrisburg’s artistic savvy emerged early: As a child learning cursive, she so detested the look of a capital “H” she adopted the current all-lowercase spelling. “My parents were convinced when I was filling out college resume applications I would never get in,” she remembers. “It’s always been an aesthetic choice, and I stuck with it.”

Today, as board chair of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the font-sensitive little girl now works tirelessly as an adult to bring kids their own unique opportunities for self-expression at the nation’s largest children’s museum.

In a world of roped-off exhibits and Do-Not-Touch placards, CMOM’s kid-friendly, interactive programming is the antithesis of stuffiness. “It’s a magical building for parents and children to get together and discover the arts, sciences and themselves,” harrisburg says. With workshops, live performances, festivals–and even birthday parties–harrisburg thinks of the museum as more than just a play space, saying, “We are bringing the best of the arts alive.”

With two young daughters of her own, harrisburg appreciated the museum as most New York City parents do: as an enriching place children actually want to go back to. “I realized after several months of my first daughter using the museum that the museum was really losing money on my family–we were there a lot,” she laughs. Her art history background and experience co-running the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery with her husband led harrisburg to approach a board member about getting involved. Six years later, harrisburg has helped to expand CMOM’s fine arts programming by inviting notable artists to work with kids and, in the process, as she puts it, “reconnect with their inner child.”

The goal of making art more accessible has always been a personal one for harrisburg. Educational programming and partnerships with New York City public schools have been the mainstay of her and her husband’s gallery from the beginning. It’s part of the reason harrisburg is so proud of CMOM’s dedication to offering reduced or free admission to its diverse array of families. “To walk around and hear the different languages, to see every skin color,” harrisburg describes, “I just get great satisfaction in knowing that [the museum] has potentially connected a child to the world in a different way.”

From literacy programs in the Bronx to working with pediatric cancer patients, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s outreach is far and wide. And while harrisburg envisions moving to a bigger facility so the museum can do more of its work on an even larger scale, her girls, like kids around the city, are perfectly content with the 81st Street address for now. “My girls have a lot of memories in the building,” says harrisburg. “It’s an extension of our home.”

By Erika Thormahlen