ACASA is pleased to announce a new initiative, The Awards for Curatorial Excellence. The awards recognize the important contributions to the dissemination and understanding of African and African Diaspora Arts made through exhibitions. Temporary exhibitions and permanent collection installations organized by museums, galleries, cultural centers, and exhibition spaces of all sorts are eligible. Three ACASA Awards for Curatorial Excellence will be given per triennial cycle, beginning with the Triennial Symposium in Ghana in August 2017. To be considered, exhibitions must have been on view between September 1, 2013 and August 30, 2016. Exhibitions opening after August 30, 2016 will be eligible for the awards at the 2020 Triennial.
Some of the factors that indicate excellence in exhibitions, and which will be recognized by The ACASA Awards for Curatorial Excellence, are:
- Generating new scholarship across the humanities
- Opening new perspectives on the field
- Collaboration with and/or contributions to local or stakeholder communities
- Expanding audiences
- Innovative approaches to exhibition design and presentation
- Innovative uses of technology
2017 Awards for Curatorial Excellence
Karen E. Milbourne, Earth Matters, National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., April 22, 2013 – March 2014
Jean Borgatti, Global Africa, Fitchburg Art Museum, November 2014 – August 2017
Antawan I. Byrd and Yves Chatap, [Re]Generations, Musée du District de Bamako, October 31 – December 31, 2015
