Henone K. Girma: Newark Museum of Art Names New Curator of Arts of Global Africa
THE NEWARK MUSEUM OF ART is starting off the new year by welcoming a new member to its curatorial team. Henone K. Girma has been named associate curator of the Arts of Global Africa. Girma joins the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey from The Africa Center in Harlem, where she served as programs...
On the Rise: 69 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on Notable New Appointments in 2021
FIVE YEARS AGO, Culture Type began reporting on new appointments of Black curators, primarily in museums. The first review in 2016 was prompted by findings published by the Mellon Foundation (2015) that showed American museums employed very few Black people in positions that shape them in terms of their management and intellectual direction as...
Latest News in Black Art: Curator Essence Harden Joins CAAM, New Curatorial Hires at Brooklyn Museum, Arthur Jafa Guest Edited i-D Magazine, Michael C. Thorpe and Jammie Holmes Gain New Gallery Representation
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture From left, Curators Kimberli Gant and Stephanie Sparling Williams. | Courtesy Brooklyn Museum Appointments The Brooklyn Museum announced two new curatorial appointments. Stephanie Sparling Williams is joining the museum as the Andrew W. Mellon...
Jamillah James Appointed Senior Curator at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: As a Student ‘Visiting the MCA Helped Me Realize the Possibilities of Curating and of Museums’
THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO announced new leadership appointments to its curatorial team today. Jamillah James was named Manilow Senior Curator. MCA Chicago described her new role as leading the visual arts department and serving as a “driving force” in curatorial programming. She joins the museum from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los...
Latest News in Black Art: Jesse R. Erickson Named Head of Printed Books & Bindings at Morgan Library & Museum, Anonymous Was a Woman Grants, Queer|Art Awards & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Appointments The Morgan Library & Museum in New York appointed Jesse R. Erickson to the position of Astor Curator and Department Head, Printed Books and Bindings. He officially starts in January. At the University of...
On the Rise: 54 Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in 2020
REGULAR OPERATIONS AT MUSEUMS and cultural institutions were disrupted this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector faced (and continues to contend with) temporary closures, severe financial losses, widespread layoffs, and racial reckonings. Against this backdrop and despite these challenges, dozens of Black curators were appointed to a variety of new posts this...
Yesomi Umolu is Tapped for Top Curatorial Post at The Serpentine in London
THE SERPENTINE in London has appointed Yesomi Umolu director of curatorial affairs and public practice. In the newly created position, Umolu will lead all of Serpentine’s curatorial, educational, and editorial programming. The news was announced Nov. 18. Founded in 1970, Serpentine is marking a half century of presenting contemporary art this year and is taking...
Asked to Name an Artwork She’d Want to Live With, Curator Zoé Whitley Immediately Thought of a 1973 Alma Thomas Painting
MUSEUM CURATORS are constantly immersed in art, which might make it a challenge to choose one single work to which they are particularly drawn. When asked to name an artwork she’d want to live with, Zoé Whitley thought about the spring tones of a stunning abstract painting made half a century ago. “I don’t...
On the Rise: 47 Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in 2019
BLACK CURATORS have risen to significant positions at important institutions in the United States and internationally over the past year. In a field where people of color have historically been underrepresented, this 2019 listing of new curatorial and arts leadership appointments demonstrates the growing influence of people of African descent in the visual arts....
Jessica Bell Brown Has Been Hired by the Baltimore Museum of Art as Associate Curator for Contemporary Art
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART is expanding its contemporary art department, hiring Jessica Bell Brown and Leila Grothe as associate curators. They are joining a growing team of female curators at BMA led by chief curator Asma Naeem and fortified by senior research and programming curator Katy Siegel. A New York-based writer, curator, and...
Next: 28 Art Curators to Watch Who Took on New Appointments in 2018
A SELECT GROUP OF BLACK CURATORS is making significant contributions to the museum field—collaborating with artists, organizing important exhibitions, shaping collections and programming, and taking advantage of opportunities to lend their expertise beyond their institutions. Their representation is growing, slowly, but their presence and achievements remain rare. On the American museum front, among curators,...
Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah Talks About Joining the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Next Stage of His Career
Co-curated by Susan Cross and Larry Ossei-Mensah, “Allison Janae Hamilton: Pitch” is on view at Mass MOCA through February 2019. FROM NEW YORK CITY to Rome, Italy, curator Larry Ossei-Mensah has been working with some of the freshest names in contemporary art—Derrick Adams, Firelei Báez, and Abigail DeVille, among them. At Elizabeth Dee gallery...
Next: 23 Art Curators to Watch Who Took on New Appointments in 2017
THE ART, EXHIBITIONS, AND PROGRAMMING featured in museums and cultural institutions are largely shaped, guided and decided upon by curators, an elite group lacking racial and ethnic diversity. A recent survey from the Mellon Foundation found that representation for black curators (and conservators, educators and leaders) in the museum sector is dismal—just 4 percent. To...
Next: 18 Curators & Cultural Leaders to Watch Who Joined New Institutions in 2016
MANY CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS have finally come around to realizing that it is imperative that their boards, staff and programming reflect the communities they serve. Putting such measures into practice is another matter. A recent Mellon Foundation survey conducted with the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums found most museum staffs...
