Date: Thursday, March 7, 2024

10:30 AM - 3:00 PM

Location: William C. Powers Student Activity Center 2.120

“Why Black Museums: Exhibitions and Relations”

Thursday, March 7, 2024

• 10 - 10:30 am: Coffee reception




• 10:30 - 12 pm: Roundtable: Jacqueline Smith-Francis, Carre Adams, and Ulili Emore




• 12 - 1 pm: Lunch provided




• 1 - 3 pm: Presentations: Dr. Kellie Jones, "Black Curators Matter: An Oral History Project" & Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, “Black Art, White Galleries: Two Case Studies”





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Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) is excited to announce the second symposium in its multi-year program Why Black Museums, an annual series that honors and examines the cultural contributions of Black and ethnically specific museums. This program series asks: how do Black museums create their own imaginative ways of being museum spaces?

Taking place on Thursday, March 7, 2024 “Why Black Museums: Exhibitions and Relations” explores the connections among past and present exhibitions of Black art and historical objects. Examining the myriad ways that Black individuals and communities have developed for collecting, preserving, and exhibiting art and well-made objects, “Exhibitions and Relations” considers how these ways shape contemporary museum practice.

The morning roundtable features Austin-based historians and curators Carre Adams of the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center; Ulili Emore of the Contextualization & Commemoration Initiative at The University of Texas; and Dr. Jacqueline Smith-Francis of the Austin History Center. Moderated by Dr. Gaila Sims, Curator of African American History at the Fredericksburg Area Museum, roundtable participants will discuss their work to preserve and interpret Black history in central Texas.

The afternoon panel features curators and scholars Dr. Kellie Jones, 2016 MacArthur Fellow and author of EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (2011) and Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, author of the award-winning study Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (2011). Dr. Jones’ paper, "Black Curators Matter: An Oral History Project," draws on Jones’ experiences curating at the Studio Museum in Harlem and Johannesburg Biennial as well as her germinal exhibitions: Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980 (Studio Museum, 2006), Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980 (Hammer Museum, 2011), and Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (Brooklyn Museum, 2014). Dr. Cooks’ paper, “Black Art, White Galleries: Two Case Studies” examines the incorporation of Black art into the permanent collections galleries at two mainstream museums and considers how the integration of Black art into mainstream collections may change prevalent narratives of American art. Following their papers, Drs. Jones and Cooks will join in discussion with Delphine Sims, Assistant Curator of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The audience is invited to join the moderators and presenters for a reception at AGBS’s Christian-Green Gallery. We invite artists, scholars, museum professionals, students, and community members to gather with us in appreciation of these incredible speakers and cultural spaces and to look forward to these integral institutions’ future innovations.

Acknowledging the promise of accessibility and sustainability, this event is offered in a hybrid format, for those interested in participating from near and far. Those participating virtually may find the event on AGBS’ YouTube Channel, where a recording of the event will also be made available.





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About Why Black Museums




Why Black Museums is a collaboration among Dr. Cherise Smith, Executive Director of Art Galleries at Black Studies, Dr. Gaila Sims, and Delphine Sims. This multiyear initiative was conceived to honor and examine Black museums’ contributions to the museum field, and to celebrate AGBS as a promising addition to the larger community of ethnically specific museums.