Board
Dr. hab. Łukasz Gaweł, Professor, Jagiellonian University
Director of the National Museum in Warsaw
Dr. Łukasz Gaweł, professor of the Jagiellonian University, has headed the National Museum in Warsaw since 2019 (first as acting director, since 2020 as director). Before that, between 2016 and 2019, he was the deputy director of the National Museum in Kraków responsible for strategy, development and communications. Gaweł specializes in the management of cultural heritage and public cultural institutions. He took part in implementing projects financed by European funds and collaborated with dozens of cultural institutions in the scope of management control, organizational audits, strategy building and defining service standards in museums and tourist facilities. He headed scientific and research projects (e.g. The recipient of Kraków’s cultural offer), formed part of expert teams (e.g. drafting Kraków’s development strategy in the area of culture and cultural heritage) and worked as an expert in international cultural heritage management projects (TETRIS, SHIFT-X). He is the author of popular science (Poland’s cultural heritage) and academic books (heritage management, managing the public cultural sector).
Anna Kościelna
Deputy Director for Management
Anna Kościelna was appointed deputy director of the National Museum in Warsaw in February 2020. She holds diplomas in Cultural Management (Jagiellonian University), Leadership and Project Management (Tischner European University in Kraków), Art History and Musicology (Polish Academy of Sciences). Kościelna is the author of academic publications and a project and cultural management specialist in public institutions. Awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland for her activities for Polish culture.
Her former positions include: Executive Director of the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra (2015–18), Head of Marketing and Audience Management at the Kraków Opera (2008–15), Director’s Plenipotentiary for Strategy and Development at the Andrzej Wajda Centre for Film Culture, and Office Director of the 4th International Adam Didur Opera Singers Competition. She drafted communication and development strategies as well as strategies to diversify funding sources for countless institutions. She is an experienced director of national and international art projects financed by the Ministry of Culture and the EU. While preparing festivals, concerts and opera performances, she collaborated with the largest Polish institutions as well as eminent soloists and conductors.
Kornelia Szpunar
Director's Plenipotentiary for Communication and Public Programs
Joanna Kilian
Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs
Joanna Kilian is an art historian, curator of Italian painting (since 1995) and Old European Masters (since 2020), head of the Board of Curators at the National Museum in Warsaw. She curated or co-curated a number of exhibitions, e.g., Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ – a Masterpiece from the Vatican Collections and the Different Forms of Caravaggism (NMW, 1996–97); Guercino. The Triumph of the Baroque (NMW, 2013–14), and Brescia. The Renaissance in Northern Italy (NMW, 2016). She is the author of many popular science and academic papers as well as exhibition catalogues in Poland and abroad. Her academic essay, “Realists or eccentrics? 16th-century painting in Northern Italy”, received the main prize in its category in the 3rd edition of the Leopold Staff Literature Award (2017). Kilian is involved in promoting Italian culture and Polish-Italian cultural exchange. For her contribution to popularizing Italian culture in Poland, the President of Italy awarded her with the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Ordine della Stella d’Italia).