The next director of the Brooklyn Museum will be Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director of New York arts non-profit Creative Time.

After 17 years as the museum’s director, Arnold Lehman is retiring next month. The museum recently celebrated his tenure at its annual Brooklyn Artists Ball.

Lehman fully approves of his successor, stating that “Anne is one of the most dynamic and creative forces in the art world today. I expect that once her extraordinary experience and energies are connected to the exciting, inclusive brand and treasures of the Brooklyn Museum, the blend will be ‘dynamite!’”

During her more than 20 years at the helm of Creative Time, Pasternak has been the driving force behind major public art projects featuring hundreds of artists both here in New York City and around the country and the world.

Last summer, Creative Time organized the blockbuster Kara Walker exhibition A Subtlety in Williamsburg’s abandoned Domino Sugar Factory.

This weekend marked the opening of the organization’s latest project, “Drifting in the Daylight,” presented in the Harlem Meer in conjunction with the Central Park Conservancy.

With the addition of Pasternak, the Brooklyn Museum, already home to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, now boasts an impressive slate of female leaders, with Elizabeth Sackler, Stephanie Ingrassia, and Barbara Knowles Debs serving respectively as the chair, president, and vice chair of the institution’s board of trustees.

Sackler praised Pasternak’s appointment in a statement, predicting that “pairing Anne’s talents with the depth and breadth of the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection—one of the richest and most expansive collections in the country—will bring the museum to new heights. . . . Her management skills and passion for connecting diverse cultures and communities are evidenced by her achievements at Creative Time, which she grew from a fledgling organization to one of New York’s most effective and popular presenters of public art.”

Calling herself “humbled and deeply honored to follow in the footsteps of Arnold Lehman, a trailblazing director who has led the Brooklyn Museum to prominence,” Pasternak promised in a statement to build on the museum’s assets. “With a distinguished history, an experienced leadership team, a forward-thinking staff, and a bold mission, the Museum is extremely well positioned to go even further as a place for great art, learning, and civic vibrancy—in Brooklyn and beyond.”