LP. Friend Feature | National Public Housing Museum
The LP. sits down with Executive Director, Lisa Lee.
Lisa Yun Lee is a cultural activist and the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the National Public Housing Museum. She is also an associate professor of museum and exhibition studies and gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a member of Chicago Torture Justice Memorials. Lisa serves on the boards of the Field Foundation, the American Association of State and Local History, Gloria’s Foundation, Preservation Illinois, and on the city of Chicago’s Equity Advisory Council.
📸 Jenny Fontaine/UIC
Lisa, can you share your journey to your role at the NPHM?
It seems almost like destiny that I now get to work in a house museum that is a site of conscience in the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes. It all began when I was the Executive Director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum just down the street, and was invited to become one of the first board members. It has truly been a labor of love, and also more than 18 yrs (!!!) that I have worked in solidarity with public housing residents to help create this civic and cultural institution.
What about the work at NPHM feels most exciting to you?
Every single person who walks through the door of the museum is transformed and inspired in some way, and this continues to move me. The history of public housing and the stories of public housing residents have so much to teach us all about the world that we need to create — whether it is around environmental justice and sustainability, racial and economic equity, safety and abolition, gender justice and immigrants rights, or the role of the government in a democracy. Also, the way we deploy art and culture to engage in housing policy is truly unique and enthralling.
What are you hoping guests take away from the gala evening? What’s next for participation for donors and community members in the life of the museum? How do you get more involved?
I remember when the author Alex Kotlowitz, who I adore, walked into our last gala and proclaimed, “Now THIS is a gala that represents ALL of Chicago!” We are proud of the brilliant diversity of our stakeholders…and also everyone’s ability to get down and have fun while also being serious about fighting for a world where housing is a human right! Hope is a discipline. We give people tools and ideas for how to commit to radical everyday practices that help to nurture and grow our collective political will about ending housing insecurity and creating a world where housing is a human right. We got this.
What was your guiding principle when curating the exhibitions at the museum?
Collective joy and wonder, and a commitment to being careful and not careless with the stories of public housing residents. So much of our efforts have been dedicated to helping to change a single story about public history that has been infused with negative stereotypes, which do not capture the full story of people’s lived experiences.
How did you select artists to participate?
All the dazzling artists we work with in the museum — and there are a lot for a historic site, including Amanda Williams and Lek Jeyifous, Marisa Morán Jahn and Rafi Segel, Dorothy Burge, William Estrada, Andrea Carlson, Tonika Lewis Johnson, Manual Cinema — are committed to expanding our radical imaginations about how to see the world and how to imagine our futures. They were undaunted by the task of engaging with the power of place and history but also presenting works that are eye-opening about what’s next.
What’s next for NPHM as it moves out of its inaugural opening period – what is important for people to know about the museum?
Listen. There is not a single county in the US where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Eighty-nine countries make explicit reference to housing rights in their constitutions. This list does not include the United States. The work we are doing is urgent and necessary. And the museum makes it very clear that we can do it together in community and with care.
National Public Housing Museum:
A Place to Call Home Gala
Thursday, Apr 23, 2026 |
5pm-9pm
Join us as we honor Matthew Desmond, Jackie Taylor, and Denis Pierce and celebrate the Museum’s first full year as a civic anchor and cultural home on Chicago’s Near West Side.