I’m just catching up with the 2012 Fellows at the Center for Curatorial Leadership, run by Elizabeth Easton. The announcement of those selected came the other day. You will know some, but not all, of the names.
It’s always a mystery whether these kinds of programs help. They don’t hurt anyone’s career, that’s for sure. But they may not catapult them into a directorship either. I’m not naming names, but most of the 41 lucky fellows of the past haven’t made the leap. In fact, only five have. Many, however, have been promoted, Easton points out — and that’s good for the profession. The program, she has argued, has prompted museums to place more emphasis on career development for curators. I’ll buy that.
Here are the 11 new fellows:
- Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at MoMA
- Andrea Bayer, curator of European paintings at the Met
- Christa Clarke, senior curator of African and American Art at the Newark Museum
- Thomas Denenberg, incoming director, Shelburne Museum (a shoo-in!! – but previously chief curator at the Portland Museum of Art)
- Leah Dickerman, curator of painting and sculpture at MoMA
- Elizabeth Finch, curator of American Art at the Colby College Museum of Art
- John Ravenal, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Elizabeth Smith, executive director, curatorial affairs, at the Art Institute of Ontario
- Martha Tesdeschi, curator of prints and drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago
- Stanton Thomas, curator of European paintings and decorative arts at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
- Michelle Joan Wilkinson, director of collections and exhibitions at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture
Five have PhDs; six don’t. There’s a good mix of expertise in art.
The program involves four weeks over the first six months of next year during which fellows are taught by faculty of the Columbia Business School, and meet all kinds of other art-world people. Then, there’s a six-month mentorship, a week-long residency with a museum director and a long, team-based project during which they all tackle an issue affecting museums.
If you want to know more, read the FAQs.
On a related note, the Worcester Art Museum has just selected a new director: Matthias Waschek (above), who most recently was the executive director of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis. Read more here and here.