COMMUNITY AND LEARNING “In addition to being a museum for contemporary art, MoAD is equally a space for community and for learning,” White explains. The MoAD is home to a signature program, the Chef-In- Residence, which focuses on food as creative practice, activism, and a source of well-being. It is an exploration of food, art, and culture and how these intersect throughout the African Diaspora. MoAD is excited to welcome a new Chef-in-Residence, Jocelyn Jackson, who has taken over from Chef Bryant Terry. They also host an African Book Club, an African Diaspora Film Club, poetry readings, and other public community events, over 200 a year. NEW CHIEF OF CURATORIAL AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS MoAD CEO Monetta White and the rest of the museum leadership recently decided to create a new position on their board, the Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs. “The vision for this position is that it will define and strengthen MoAD's curatorial narrative and contributions to the global contemporary art conversation, propelling the museum as the global thought leader of contemporary art of the African Diaspora. The need for this position and the impact it will have is demonstrated by the grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund this role,” says White. For this position, which began in January 2023, they have chosen Key Jo Lee, who comes to them from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Lee’s expertise is in American art history, histories and theories of photography, and African American studies, as well as museum education. She has been responsible for curatorial and publication projects that highlight the intersection of scholarly work and public audiences and that illuminate works by artists of the Black Diaspora.
Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in History of Art and African American Studies at Yale University. She also holds a B.A. in Art History from Douglass College at Rutgers University and a dual M.A. in History of Art and African American Studies from Yale. “What excites me about seeing Key Jo Lee occupy this new position is a matter of scale,” says Ashley James, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. “How, on the one hand, she can articulate the big picture, high-level stakes of Black art and its multiple narratives, while at the same time attending to the details and specificities, even the very physics of art. Hers is an enthusiasm for artists and artworks that extends from the macro to the molecular level. MoAD is lucky to have a leader who not only sees these multi- levels but cultivates them with great skill, care, and possibility.” Lee will oversee the design of a strategic direction for the Museum’s exhibitions and programs, lead globally in identifying and promoting emerging artists from the African Diaspora, and expand MoAD’s reach and influence locally, nationally, and internationally. “It took us a year to find the right person for this role, and it was so worth the wait. With her bold vision, insightful scholarship, wide-ranging museum experience, and can-do attitude, Key Jo Lee is not only a perfect fit for MoAD but will be a game changer. We are thankful to the Mellon Foundation for the opportunity,” says White.
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