Meet the Woman Behind Louisville’s First Children’s Museum
Katy Delahanty has never been afraid to think big. Now, the artist and community advocate is helping bring Louisville’s first children’s museum to life in the West End. Image: Katy Delahanty
To Katy Delahanty, creativity and community have always gone hand in hand. As executive director of the Portland Museum, the artist and Louisville native is drawing on everything from her deep Portland roots to her travels abroad to help bring Adventure House of You (AHOY) to life. Set to become Louisville’s first children’s museum, AHOY is designed to give kids a place to explore, create, and play, while bringing families together in the neighborhood Katy has called home for generations.
You studied art at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. How did you make the transition from artist to community activist?
I’m still an artist. That will never change. It still influences everything I do. One thing I like to do as an artist is convene groups of people for large projects. That’s what I do in the community as well. I like to be a conduit to bring people together.
Did you grow up in Portland?
Yes, I grew up in the neighborhood, but it goes back much further than that. I’m a member of the IKT Congress [International Curators of Contemporary Art], which does a lot of traveling. Several years ago, we took a trip to Wales, and I used the opportunity to go to Ireland to explore more of my heritage.
Mary Conlon, director of The Dock in Ireland, helped me do some genealogical research, and we discovered that my family has been in the Portland neighborhood since the mid-1800s. Another friend of mine on the board at the Museum found some of my relatives in the cemetery in Portland. We always knew there had been some threads in the neighborhood, but we had no idea how far back it went.
Can you tell us more about AHOY?
AHOY stands for Adventure House of You, and will be the first children’s museum in Louisville. It’s being built on the campus of the Portland Museum in a rehabilitated Victorian house, bringing the total size of the campus to more than 20,000 square feet. The goal is to create an immersive play environment, which also serves as a connector to the rest of the campus, creating an ecosystem that allows the entire family to learn.
We’ve been inspired a lot by the approach Wales has taken to the idea of play. They are the first country to adopt play as a human right, and are spearheading it for the entire world. We’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from The Land in Plac Madoc in Wales. We are partnering with the city of Wrexham, Wales, on their City of Culture Bid. We will be doing a big exhibition with them in 2028 — both in Kentucky and in Wales — with another exhibition in Wales in 2029, and hopefully one in Italy in 2030.
I led the capital campaign and co-authored the visuals and theming for AHOY, but it’s really important for people to understand that it isn’t just me. There are many, many people dedicated to this project.
What feature of AHOY are you most excited about?
How it’s going to relate to Louisville as a city. It’s very symbolic that it’s rooted in the West End. Louisville has historically been a city divided between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Portland, where our city has its roots, has been part of the “have-nots.” There are so many things that divide our city. Why can’t we unite around children?
A lot of people in the West End don’t have the means to travel to other parts of the city, so placing it here, close to the families who stand to benefit the most, is really symbolic. We’re working with family health centers and other community organizations to allow reduced ticket prices to ensure that all children can come play and learn.
How did you involve children in the development of AHOY?
I’ve learned that a lot of adults believe they understand what play is. But society has conditioned us to disconnect from our inner child. We can’t always understand how to access that kind of childlike joy and curiosity. We didn’t want to start building things we just thought children would like. We wanted to hear what they actually will and will not play with. The kids also helped immensely with the design and thinking through concepts.
What sparked your commitment to the community?
I come from a family of activists. My grandfather was Judge Robert Delahanty, who handled many civil rights cases, including representing members of the “Black Six” in the 1960s. My grandmother, Dolores, was equally impressive. She was a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus and was instrumental in passing Kentucky’s Fair Credit Law. Both of them have been inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
To this day, when our family gets together for dinners, which is often, my grandmother has us go around the table and answer, “What are you doing to help the community?” It’s my ethos and how I live.
What is your favorite hidden gem in Portland?
There are so many here, I can’t pick just one. Outsider Museum Gallery. The Marine Hospital, which is still waiting to be restored. The Portland library branch, which is a Carnegie library. Portland Wharf. The Wharf served as the buffalo crossing for bison migrating into Indiana. It was also the path that enslaved people crossed to freedom. It’s a very spiritual place.
Where can we find you after work?
All over. I hop on my bike and explore. I like to find good trouble to get into. Once I find something I’m interested in, I’m all in.
Where do you go to get inspired?
Within. I try to quiet my mind and find a safe space, and identify what makes me feel a spark of joy. Also, going out of the country is always inspiring. I need to find things that make me curious. I love going around the world to find things that inspire me and bringing them back here.
What’s your best piece of advice?
Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something. It’s a really simple thing. Just do it. I wouldn’t have been able to do half the things I have if I had self-limited.
LIGHTNING ROUND!
What’s a Louisville restaurant dish you can’t get enough of? It changes because I get obsessed with something for six months or a year and then switch. Right now, I like the crushed avocado from The Grape Leaf.
Last great book you read? The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
What’s on your playlist? Before I travel, I like to learn about what that culture listens to and immerse myself in it while I’m there. Then I mix it into my playlist when I get back.
How many stamps are on your passport? Too many to count. Although I just got a new passport, so technically zero.
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Beth Clayton
For over 20 years, Beth Clayton has either been working in a newsroom or pitching one. A natural storyteller and word nerd from the moment she could pick up a pencil, she earned her journalism degree from Butler University and spent the next decade as a writer, reporter, and editor. She now lives in Louisville, KY with her husband, three kids, and a very bad dog, and loves immersing herself in old lady hobbies such as houseplants and macrame.