For the first time, Berlin's museums will be led by a woman: Marion Ackermann new president

For the first time, Berlin’s state museums will be chaired by a woman. The board of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), the body that manages the German capital’s state museums, unanimously elected Marion Ackermann as its new president. Ackermann will lead the foundation from June 1, 2025, and succeed Hermann Parzinger, who has held the post since March 2008 and will retire on May 31, 2025.

In December 2023, the SPK Board appointed a committee to nominate the next president of the foundation under the leadership of the chair of the Board of Trustees, Culture Minister Claudia Roth. Members of the search committee were representatives from the states of Hamburg, Brandenburg, Berlin, and North Rhine-Westphalia. After intensive consultations, the committee unanimously decided on Marion Ackermann’s name and proposed the appointment to the Board of Trustees.

After graduating from high school, Marion Ackermann (Göttingen, 1965) studied art history and history in Göttingen, Kassel, Vienna, and Munich. In 2003 she took over as director of the Stuttgart Museum of Art and, at the age of 38, was at that time the youngest director of a major museum in Germany. Since 2016 she has been director general of the Dresden State Art Collections, a network of 15 museums and four institutes with more than two million visitors a year. In addition to her work as a curator and museum director, Marion Ackermann has taken teaching positions at several universities and art academies. In addition, Ackermann has served for many years as co-chair of the Bizot Group (until 2023) and as a member of the executive committee of the Goethe-Institut (until 2024). She also already serves on the advisory board of the SPK.

Marion Ackermann is expected to start working for the SPK before taking office on June 1, 2025 to ensure a smooth transition with current President Hermann Parzinger.

Claudia Roth, Minister of Culture and Media and chair of the SPK board of directors, said after the appointment, “I am very pleased to soon find in Marion Ackermann an excellent new president for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation! Through her truly impressive work in art and museums to date, she has demonstrated how successfully she is able to manage and move institutions forward. Marion Ackermann is an excellent museum director and art expert, well-connected both nationally and internationally. She has known the SPK very well for many years through her membership on the foundation’s advisory board. What was also important for her choice was that she has already demonstrated that she can successfully shape major transformation processes. Therefore, I am confident that she will bring the reform of the SPK to an excellent conclusion and lead the foundation into a successful, sustainable future with outstanding expertise, new ideas, and a lot of energy. The fact that Marion Ackermann is now the first woman to lead the SPK is also an important signal. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Hermann Parzinger, who has been leading and developing the foundation exceptionally well for more than fifteen years.”

Marion Ackermann, for her part, comments, “What a joy and what a challenge it is to be able to lead the Prussian Heritage Foundation, respected worldwide, into the future. The extraordinary and universal character of the institutions brought together in Berlin under one roof offers a unique opportunity: to complete the reform process and make the foundation shine internationally. I have been connected to Berlin’s art and cultural scene as well as the foundation’s museums and institutes for many years, now I look forward to deepening these ties. In my eight wonderful and intense years as general director of the Dresden State Art Collections, I have learned to lead this museum association with positive energy and a willingness to take risks while overcoming crises. Working in a museum means working with the means of art. And where better to do that than in Berlin? My new role fills me with humility and high expectations. It is especially important for me to bring here the many different perspectives and experiences from my assignments in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony, but also my international networks. My journey in Germany now takes me to the capital, Berlin. And thus into the future!”

Hermann Parzinger, the current president of the Prussian Heritage Foundation, says, “I am delighted with the election of Marion Ackermann. It is a challenging but also a wonderful position with tremendous creative opportunities, especially now at a time when this unique foundation with its world-renowned museums, libraries, archives, and research institutes will undergo profound changes and we must also ensure that the future remains in a permanent process of renewal and discussion to constantly release new forces. Marion Ackermann is exactly the right person for this. As an internationally respected colleague, she brings with her the necessary experience, foresight and networks. I look forward to the coming months of growing exchanges.”

For the first time, Berlin's museums will be led by a woman: Marion Ackermann new president

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