Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has tapped one of his current deputies to be the acting commissioner of the city’s cultural affairs department, his office announced Friday.
Deputy Mayor Kenya Merritt will lead the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events while Johnson searches for a permanent replacement for Clinée Hedspeth, who resigned this week after a rocky tenure in the position.
Merritt is a longtime city staffer who is currently Johnson’s deputy mayor of business, economic and neighborhood development. A mayoral spokesperson said that Merritt will return to her role as deputy mayor once the DCASE role has been permanently filled.
Merritt previously worked as DCASE’s chief financial officer and interim chief operating officer. She’s also had stints at the city’s Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection; Department of Family and Support Services; Chicago Office of Budget and Management; and other public positions over the last 25 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has been with Johnson’s administration since he took office in 2023.
Earlier this year, the Sun-Times reported that Johnson had tried to lobby for Merritt to lead Choose Chicago, but the city’s tourism marketing agency ultimately selected Kristen Reynolds, a longtime tourism leader in New York.
The appointment of the city’s next cultural commissioner will be closely watched among arts advocates, who say the position is particularly critical in an era of funding disruption by the Trump administration. This week, Chicago arts leaders said they want Johnson to appoint a cultural commissioner who will fight for arts funding and have the “gumption” to galvanize the sector.
Courtney Kueppers is an arts and culture reporter at WBEZ.