When Lisa Freiman came to the Indianapolis Museum of Art five years ago, its contemporary art department had a $25,000 annual exhibition budget -- "It's a lot more now," she says -- and half as much gallery space as it enjoys today. The department also had gone two years without a full-time curator.

Instead of being frightened off by the situation, Freiman saw only opportunity, and worked "insanely hard" to put the IMA's contemporary art program on the international map.

She oversaw nearly every detail in the museum's renovated 25,000-square-foot contemporary art floor that opened in 2005. There, the expanded Forefront Gallery has been home to many memorable shows, including current work by Ingrid Calame drawn from tire tracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With exhibitions in constant rotation, new works coming to the permanent collection and plans for contemporary art in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, Freiman is happy to be a key part of the IMA's ongoing renaissance.

When did your interest in art begin?

I grew up in a suburb in New Jersey and, at 15, I used to take the train in by myself and take studio classes in New York and go to galleries and museums. I've always loved art. It's always been a part of my life. But I don't think I really figured it out until I got here, I guess.

Why did you transition from somebody who appreciated art to somebody who wanted to work with it for a living?

It just happened out of necessity. I had to work. The job I started out of college was as a youth outreach worker with inner-city kids. I was working with at-risk kids in gangs in Boston, doing that full time and then working weekends and evenings at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I really liked doing youth work, but it wasn't my passion. I knew that art was, and I was going to have to find a way to make it part of my life.

But not as an artist?

I never went far enough to know if I could have been a successful artist. I just started working. And I was ambitious and I kept working harder to be in the situations that I wanted to be in. At a certain point, I hadn't opened up my art supplies for years. But I still have them in a closet. My husband teases me because I refuse to give them away. I think some day I'd like to go back to it. But I also feel the weight of history. And, as someone who knows so much about artistic practice now, I'm almost intimidated to try to do anything. I'll leave that to the people who do it best.

Things have changed a great deal with the museum's focus on contemporary art since you came here five years ago. Did you anticipate this?

When I came, it was clear that the museum was in a transitional moment. This was one of the reasons I chose to come. It was clear that the galleries would be expanding from about 15,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet, and with that came my opportunity to put my imprint on the installation of the permanent collection.

What were some of your other goals?

I wanted to put the contemporary program on the national and international map and to make it a more open, friendly place to be locally. When I came, I heard so much about how alienated people were from the museum and from the contemporary galleries. And I've spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to welcome people in. And I think the museum has been (successful in that).

Are you pleased with how things are going?

At most general art museums you don't see a lot of resources put into the contemporary art programs. They frequently don't get opportunities to do individual exhibitions or special programs. Here, Rebecca Uchill, the assistant curator, and I are challenged to keep up with all of the things going on. We have photography rotations and video rotations and Forefront rotations.

While you are opening things up for people, are you also working to continue challenging them?

Absolutely. I made the decision to go back to graduate school because I didn't get contemporary art. I was fascinated by it, but I was completely baffled by it. I had worked in a contemporary art institution, so I understood some things. But I didn't have any kind of historical framework to put things in.

A lot of people are going to walk into that room (the Forefront Gallery for the "Traces of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway" exhibit by Ingrid Calame) and see squiggly lines and abstract work that's really bright and kind of campy. Some people are going to walk in there and see race car tracks and be really moved by that. There are just a lot of different perspectives. But my feeling is, if I can get people to start by experiencing things on the level they're comfortable in, they'll be more likely to come back in and keep looking.

But people aren't always immediately comfortable with contemporary art.

I met a woman at a party who said, "So you're the one who was responsible for bringing in those neon penises to the museum." And I said, "Oh, do you mean the Bruce Nauman sculpture?" And she said, "Yes." And I said, "Yes, I am. But they were neon sculptures, not neon penises. There's a difference."

I'm OK if they're uncomfortable with it. I'm not going to censor myself or the institution, or show some kind of edited version of the history of creativity because some people might be uncomfortable. That's where freedom of choice comes in and people can make a decision about seeing something or not. I see my role here as a provocateur, really.

Who seems to respond best to contemporary art here?

I'm always amazed by how students who come here flock to the contemporary galleries. They're always comfortable with it. So much has to do with their lack of censorship in a way, their lack of psychological censorship. They're not closing off their own interpretation. They're not so afraid of what people are going to say. So they allow themselves to really see things and talk about them.

It's often adults who are so much more intimidated by contemporary art than kids are. Kids see things in a much more open way. One of the joys of looking at art is sort of giving yourself permission to just see things.

Do you see the city shifting in the direction of embracing contemporary art more today?

I have certainly seen a change since I first got here. What's happened is, people have realized it's a lot more open here than they had been expecting. That was one proposition that I took very seriously when I came here. I thought, "I am going to assume that the audience is mature and open and wanting to have different experiences. And let's see what happens."

I'm not going to censor myself in terms of what kinds of work that I show. And the popularity of the programs just continues to increase. And I think taking the audiences seriously is an important thing to do. At a certain point, you reach a kind of critical mass where it just becomes a part of the culture of the community. And we still have a lot of work cut out for us. I wouldn't say that we've succeeded. But we're on a real upswing.

Are you surprised, if you think back to when you first came here, about how things are working out at the museum?

When I first heard the slogan "It's My Art," when we were being rebranded, I thought, "This is a little silly." I was a little embarrassed by it because it felt forced. But it doesn't anymore.

And I'm saying that with all sincerity. I really think the attitude of this place has changed tremendously and really wants everyone to feel like this is part of their community and part of their life.

It's exciting to work here now. It wasn't always exciting to work here. When I first came to the museum, it was difficult. Now it's a joy to work with (museum CEO) Max Anderson. He's creative and he's visionary and he's supportive, and he has a way of energizing the people around him to do the very best that they can do.

I'm working with a team of really talented people. There's this feeling that this is the moment to be here. If there's going to be a moment, this is it. And that's a great time to be at an institution.

More about Lisa Freiman

Profession: Curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Age: 40.

Hometown: Scotch Plains, N.J.

Residence: Indianapolis.

Education: Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts degrees from the Art History Department at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.

Career accomplishments: Curated exhibitions at the IMA with artists including Ingrid Calame, Emily Kennerk, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Julian Opie, Bruce Nauman, Amy Cutler, Ernesto Neto and Ghada Amer. Served as an assistant professor of contemporary art history, criticism and theory at the University of Georgia.

Family: Husband, Ed Coleman, and two children.