She praises the team behind the expansion, the fruit of a $180 million fund-raising campaign. She singles out board president Barbara Hostetter for encouraging patience during its extensive planning. And she raves about Piano, particularly for his willingness to be flexible during the design process. The museum’s concert hall, for example, is at least its fifth iteration.
For Hawley, the project exemplifies her long-term approach: It demanded patience and suggestions from a variety of sources. It required reams of documents and numerous hearings, as the museum made the case that moving ancillary activities into a new building - everything from the restaurant and gift shop to the coatroom, staff offices, conservation and education spaces, plus a new concert hall - would in fact help preserve the 108-year-old palace built by Isabella Stewart Gardner.
Sure, Hawley weathered some criticism - attacks for leading a project that some say went against the very wishes of the museum’s founder. But the stock market meltdown three years ago presented more of a challenge, Hawley says. She struggled to sleep until her doctor prescribed Ambien. She replaced a development director in the midst of the Gardner’s fund-raising campaign. Even now, she grows tense as she talks of 2009, when plans teetered on the edge of uncertainty.
“None of it really makes sense,’’ Hawley says, explaining the process of raising money for such a project. “To work like this, to take the kind of journey it is, can be awkward and messy and disquieting.’’
There were times when Hawley, stressed and tired of pressing for funds, would go into the galleries for inspiration. Titian, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo reminded her why she was doing this.
And then, somehow, she found the money. To date, the Gardner has raised $145 million of its $180 million campaign goal.
