Atlanta: 2024 Driskell Prize Winner Naomi Beckwith Celebrated at High Museum of Art Gala and Afterparty
2024 Driskell Prize Recipient Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, N.Y. | Photo by Rafterman, Courtesy The High Museum of Art Gala guests included High Museum of Art Director Randall Suffolk, curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, photographer Tyler Mitchell, designer Sergio Hudson, artist Ebony G....
Naomi Beckwith Reflects on the Role of a Curator, Influencing Art History, and Receiving 2024 David C. Driskell Prize
2024 David C. Driskell Prize Recipient Naomi Beckwith reflects on the meaning of the honor and the legendary contributions of its namesake. | Video by High Museum of Art. A CURATOR AND ART HISTORIAN, Naomi Beckwith has made remarkable strides in the museum world. After formative roles at the Studio Museum in Harlem and...
Studio Museum in Harlem Appoints New Chief Program Officer: Natasha L. Logan is ‘Proven Leader’ With ‘Deep Commitment to Uplifting Artists’s Voices’
THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM is welcoming Natasha L. Logan as its chief program officer. The Studio Museum focuses on local, national, and international artists of African descent. Logan will be responsible for exhibition and program strategies, a key leadership role supporting the museum’s mission and fundraising goals. Logan joins the Studio Museum from Creative...
New Time100 List of World’s Most Influential People Includes Studio Museum’s Thelma Golden, Architect Lesley Lokko, and Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier
See everyone on the Time100 list for 2024. | Video by Time ACCORDING TO TIME MAGAZINE, the most influential people of 2024 include three important figures in worlds of visual art and design: artist and advocate LaToya Ruby Frazier, architect and educator Lesley Lokko, and Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio...
Imani Roach Named Curatorial Director of Philadelphia Museum of Art’s New Center for African and African Diasporic Art
THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART (PMA) announced in February 2023 the establishment of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art. A year later, the museum has selected Imani Roach to lead the center. Roach joins PMA from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where she currently serves as assistant curator, Arts...
Lauren Haynes Named Head Curator of Governors Island in New York, She is Expected to Grow the Public Art Program
Governors Island: The Exchange (aerial view), showing the iconic forms designed to evoke the dramatic landscapes and hills of the island with the skyscrapers that define Manhattan’s skyline in the background. | © SOM | Miysis via Governors Island GOVERNORS ISLAND offers a quick escape from the city streets to a park-like environment with...
Smithsonian American Art Museum Announces Newly Created Position, Appoints Dalila Scruggs Inaugural Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art
THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (SAAM) announced the appointment of Dalila Scruggs to a newly created role on its curatorial team. Scruggs is joining the Washington, D.C., museum as the inaugural Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art. Currently, she is curator for photography and prints at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for...
Adrienne Edwards Appointed Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs at Whitney Museum, Expanding Her Leadership Role
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART in New York announced the promotion of Adrienne Edwards to the position of Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs. Edwards joined the Whitney in 2018 as curator of performance and was named director of curatorial affairs in 2021. She is currently organizing “Edges of...
Moving On Up: Amid Financial Setbacks at Museums, 31 Curators and Arts Leaders Took on New Appointments in Second Half of 2023
Culture Type reports on new appointments of Black curators and arts leaders to get a sense of representation in museums, with an emphasis on art museums. Museum leaders, curators, and educators shape the management and intellectual direction of institutions, determine the art visitors see and the programming they experience and, by extension, whether audiences of...
Belinda Tate Hired as Next Director of Indianapolis Museum of Art: Beleaguered by Racial Controversies, Institution is Charting New Direction
Three Black women will now lead the institution serving as board chair, president and CEO, and director of the museum NEWFIELDS ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT of Belinda Tate as the next director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). An encyclopedic museum founded in 1883, IMA is part of Newfields, a cultural institution spread across...
Moving On Up: 34 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2023
NEARLY THREE DOZEN Black curators and arts leaders accepted new appointments at an array of museums and arts institutions in the first half of 2023. Notably, Brooke A. Minto was appointed executive director and CEO of the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio. She joined the museum from the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums,...
Whitney Museum of American Art Announced Appointment of Meg Onli to the Role of Curator-at-Large: ‘This is Truly a Dream Job’
FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT last fall that Meg Onli would co-curate the 2024 Whitney Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York has tapped the writer and curator for the position of curator-at-large, a wide-ranging and fully engaged role. The appointment was announced this morning and Onli officially started today. The first person...
Ryan N. Dennis is Joining Contemporary Arts Museum Houston as Senior Curator and Director of Public Initiatives
CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON (CAMH) announced Ryan N. Dennis is joining its curatorial team as senior curator and director of public initiatives. The appointment is a homecoming. Dennis was born in Houston, educated at the University of Houston, where she has also taught, and spent more than half of her burgeoning curatorial career in...
President Biden Appointed Queens Museum Head Curator Lauren Haynes to White House Preservation Committee
PRESIDENT BIDEN APPOINTED 13 MEMBERS to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, including Lauren Haynes, director of curatorial affairs and programs at the Queens Museum in New York. The advisory committee is primarily composed of citizens selected by the President based on their expertise and scholarship in the areas of historic...
Michelle Commander: New Deputy Director of National Museum of African American History and Culture Joining Smithsonian From Schomburg Center
THE SMITHSONIAN’S National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) named a new deputy director on Jan. 10. Michelle Commander is joining the Washington, D.C., museum in the No. 2 role. She arrives from the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where she served most recently as deputy...
Founding Deputy Director Kinshasha Holman Conwill Has Retired From Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
A MUSEUM LEADER and institution builder, Kinshasha Holman Conwill dedicated her entire career to being a faithful steward of art, history, and culture, establishing the background and experience necessary to seize the opportunity of a lifetime. Few get the chance to help envision and develop a monument to the African American experience, from ideas...
Taylor Jasper is Joining Walker Art Center as Assistant Curator of Visual Arts
IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., the Walker Art Center named Taylor Jasper assistant curator of visual arts. The appointment was announced Jan. 10. A member of a growing team in the Visual Arts department, Jasper’s portfolio will span exhibitions, acquisitions, artist projects, and public programming. She is joining the Walker from The Momentary, a contemporary art...
On the Rise: 27 Museum Curators and Arts Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in Second Half of 2022
BLACK CURATORS AND ARTS LEADERS took on key roles at a variety of museums and arts institutions in the second half of 2022. Sean Decatur will be the next president of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), a world-renowned New York institution that welcomes about 5 million visitors a year. Announced early this...
Appointment: Courtney Willis Blair Will Lead White Cube Gallery in New York
IT’S NEARLY UNHEARD OF for a white-owned art gallery to offer a stake in the business to a Black dealer. Courtney Willis Blair was in rare company in January 2021 when she was named partner and senior director at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York. Willis Blair is continuing to break new ground in...
Michelle Jacques Appointed Board President of Association of Art Museum Curators, Three Black Women Will Hold Top Board Positions in 2023-24
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,...
