The Foundation for the Reading Public Museum has announced the appointment of Ashley J. Houston to the position of Director of Development. Houston, presently serving as Director of Collections and Exhibitions, will make the transition from the Curatorial Department to Development on April 1, 2025.
“Recreating a Development Department has been a top priority since my arrival in Reading, and I am delighted to have Ashley move into this role. She brings a wealth of experience and local connections to the position, and I am very excited to see what she can achieve,” stated Geoffrey K. Fleming, C.E.O. of the Reading Public Museum.
As Director of Development, Houston will call upon her far-reaching knowledge of The Museum’s collection and exhibitions, existing connections with Museum supporters, and extensive understanding of The Museum’s operations to build, maintain, and strengthen The Museum’s relations with corporate sponsors, individual donors, members, and the community. A team of staff in internal and external events, grant writing, and community relations roles will round out the newly created Development Department.
With the goal of supporting and securing the financial and long-range feasibility of The Museum, Houston and her team will continue a rigorous schedule of community favorite events and fundraisers while exploring new opportunities to collaborate and share The Museum’s mission with Berks County and beyond.
In Houston’s fourteen-year curatorial tenure with the Reading Public Museum, she has served most recently as Director of Collections and Exhibitions, and earlier as Collections Manager and Registrar.
Since 2011, Houston has led the installation of more than 150 exhibitions, managed a permanent collection of over 270,000 objects, and played an integral role in The Museum’s senior leadership team. Houston also administers The Museum’s Touring Exhibition Program, which has sent over 90 exhibitions to 28 states to date. Pushing The Museum’s reach even further afield, Houston led the implementation of eMuseum and the Google Cultural Institute, both web platforms that have made large portions of the permanent collection available to a global audience.
Among all of this, Houston says she is hard-pressed to find a single favorite part of the job – she has loved the variety of each day, the research, the years of planning that go into making an exhibition a reality, and the look on visitor’s faces when they walk into a transformed gallery.
She commented: “Serving the community through my work at the Reading Public Museum is an honor beyond measure. The quality and importance of The Museum’s collections and exhibitions, and the value that it adds to our community, cannot be overstated. I believe deeply in the enrichment of lives through art, and museums as a place of learning, growth, and enjoyment for all ages. As I step into my new role as Director of Development, I look forward to leading the charge to secure support for The Museum, allowing it to remain a cornerstone of our community for generations to come.”
Houston is currently participating in the Berks County Community Foundation’s Nonprofit Management Certificate Program in partnership with the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University. She is a professional member of the American Alliance of Museums. She holds an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware. Houston is a lifelong resident of Berks County, and resides in Exeter with her husband and daughter.
The Reading Public Museum is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, PA. Admission per day is: $10 adults (18-64), $6 children/seniors/college students (w/ID), and free to Members and children three years old and under. The Museum is open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. readingpublicmuseum.org
Reading School District students are granted free Museum and Planetarium access and may be accompanied by two adults at no cost. Students must show a District ID card, and the adults who accompany them must show proof they reside in zip codes within the District.
