Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Writer, Curator, and Activist Kimberly Drew. | Photo by Inez & Vinoodh, Courtesy Kimberly Drew and Pace Gallery
Appointments
Pace Gallery announced the appointment of Kimberly Drew as associate director. Based in New York, Pace has nine locations in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and represents more than 100 artists, including Torkwase Dyson, Sam Gilliam, Sonia Gomes, Adam Pendleton, and Fred Wilson. A writer, activist, and curator, Drew’s first opportunity in the art world was an internship at the Studio Museum in Harlem. The experience inspired her to launch Black Contemporary Art in 2011, a popular blog on Tumblr. After working as a communications assistant at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Drew joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as social media manager. She is the author of “This Is What I Know About Art,” which is aimed at young readers; co-editor with Jenna Wortham of the anthology “Black Futures”; and host of the Hulu podcast Your Attention Please. At Pace, Drew will work with artists providing a spectrum of support through sales, exhibitions, public programming, and content development. | ARTnews / Artforum
Jane Carpenter-Rock (right) is the new deputy director for museum content and outreach at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), effective March 14. She will oversee the Washington, D.C., museum’s education, conservation, external affairs and digital strategies departments, as well as the Research and Scholars Center. Carpenter-Rock joins SAAM from the U.S. Department of State where she has served for 20 years, most recently as director of the orientation division at the Foreign Service Institute. In previous roles, she was deputy director of the National Museum of American Diplomacy (2018-2021) and public affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Cape Town, South Africa (2013-2016). | More
Jade Powers is joining The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in Gainesville as curator of contemporary art. Since 2018, she has been serving as assistant curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo. Powers officially starts at Harn on April 1. | More
After a yearlong gap in leadership, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) announced Gina Duncan (left) will be its next president. Most recently, Duncan worked as a producing director at the Sundance Institute. Previously, she served as BAM’s first vice president of film and strategic programming. Duncan starts as president on April 11. She is the first person of color to lead the institution. | New York Times
Washington, D.C.-based poet Taylor Johnson was named inaugural poet-in-residence at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. “Inheritance,” his first collection of poetry, was recognized by the New York Times as a best poetry book of 2020. The Guggenheim appointment was made through an open call process in collaboration the Academy of American Poets. | More
Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., named Ashlee Phillips Community Connections Artist-in-Residence, an opportunity made possible by a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant. A Louisville-born activist and cultural curator, her community-based residency will focus on the mental health of Black women. | Instagram
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IMAGES: Above left, Gina Duncan. | Photo by Rory Mulligan; Above right, Courtesy Jane Carpenter-Rock
