Incoming Board President Michelle Jacques
THE ASSOCIATION of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) & AAMC Foundation announced a new leadership team. Michelle Jacques has been appointed president of the board of trustees for a two-year term beginning Jan. 1. She brings more than two decades of experience in the field to her new role. Currently, she is head of exhibitions and collections and chief curator at Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Canada. Since 2019, she has served as AAMC’s inaugural vice president of inclusion and outreach.
Jaques will work closely with the board’s incoming executive committee members: Tuliza Fleming, Vice President, Inclusion and Outreach, who serves as interim chief curator of visual arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; Lauren Haynes, Vice President, Fundraising, who recently joined the Queens Museum in New York as director of curatorial affairs and programs; and Juliet Sorce, Vice President, Advocacy, who is executive vice president at Resnicow and Associates, the prominent national communications firm that specializes in the arts. All three were serving as trustees-at-large before taking on their new roles.
With the new appointments, three Black women—Jacques, Fleming, and Haynes—will hold top board positions in 2023-24.
From left, Incoming AAMC Executive Committee Members Tuliza Fleming and Lauren Haynes. | Courtesy AAMC and Photo by Kevin Beasley
A nonprofit member organization based in New York, AAMC is a resource for art curators around the globe. The organization celebrates and advocates for their work through grants and awards and promotes public understanding of what curators do. AAMC is particularly focused on career development, professional training, and ensuring best practices in the field. More than 1,300 members represent 400-plus institutions in 18 countries.
“It has been so meaningful to me, both professionally and personally, to be a member [of the] AAMC & AAMC Foundation Board,” Jacques said in a statement. “The potential of the organization has come into full focus for me as we have supported curators, museums, and art organizations so commendably during the social, political and economic challenges over the past few years. It is an honor to be stepping into the role of Board President at this time, and to continue our important work with the AAMC & AAMC Foundation leadership and staff.”
“The potential of the organization has come into full focus for me as we have supported curators, museums, and art organizations so commendably during the social, political and economic challenges over the past few years.” — Incoming AAMC President Michelle Jacques
Jacques joined Remai Modern in 2021. Her current projects include “Ken Lum: Death and Furniture” (2022) and “Denyse Thomasos: just beyond,” a retrospective of the late Trinidadian-Canadian painter. Both exhibitions are co-organized with the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Previously, Jacques was chief curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (2012-21). She began her career at AGO, starting as a curatorial assistant in the contemporary art department and rising to acting curator of Canadian art (1995-2012).
Her appointment as board president at AAMC comes at an important moment. Over the past several years, museums have faced increasing cultural and operational challenges, including historically poor staff diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender; major financial and programming concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and accusations from employees of entrenched racism and toxic work environments in the wake of widespread racial justice protests in response to nationwide killings of Black people by police. AAMC’s work has been particularly vital as curators contend with all manner of politics, change, uncertainty, and opportunity at their institutions.
Recent AAMC initiatives include a new Professional Alliance for Curators of Color and a Curatorial Digital Leadership program supported by the Knight Foundation that helps curators became agents of change in the digital transformation of their museums. CT
FIND MORE The Mellon Foundation continues to engage with the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to measure art museum staff diversity
FIND MORE The IKT International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art met in Louisville, Ky., earlier this month for its annual gathering, which is called a “congress”
READ MORE About recent appointments on Culture Type: On the Rise: 47 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2022
