The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum has announced the appointment of Amy Hau as its next Director.

The appointment continues a more than thirty-year working relationship that first began in 1986 when Hau was hired as an assistant at the then one-year-old Long Island City, Queens institution. 

Hau left the museum in 2015 to serve as the Managing Principal of New York’s WXY Architecture + Urban Design. Before that time, she had been credited with overseeing a restorative $23 million capital campaign and the development of a new master plan for the campus. Hau has held titles including Administrative Director, Assistant to the Executive Director, and Assistant to Isamu Noguchi during her first tenure and will lean on additional experience on Queens' Community Board 1 and several other local cultural groups in the execution of her new duties.

“Amy represents not only the profound legacy of the Museum but also embodies its dynamic, polyvocal future,” Spencer Bailey, the museum board’s co-chair, who served on the search committee, said online. “She is an accomplished leader whose experience, management skills, and drive make her exactly the right person for the job. She has a vast knowledge of Noguchi’s life and work, and deeply understands the importance of collaboration and of creating a shared vision. As we move into our next chapter, we are confident that Amy will help the Museum make long-lasting impacts near and far.”

“As a young woman who began my career in Isamu Noguchi’s studio, it is the greatest honor to be chosen to become the next director of his museum,” Amy Hau said of her appointment. “The exposure and experience received from my work with Isamu, and later his foundation and museum, forever shaped my professional journey. I look forward to putting this education to good use while working with the Museum’s dedicated Board of Trustees and wonderfully talented staff, as we continue to advance the Museum’s mission, bring forward the creative thinking of artists, strengthen its role as a resource for the people of Queens and beyond, and most of all, honor Isamu’s legacy.”

Hau replaces Brett Littman, who has served in the position since 2018.