Studio Museum in Harlem Announces the Participants in its 2025 Arts Leadership Praxis Program Supporting Mid-Career Professionals of Color at Art Museums Throughout the Country
Studio Museum in Harlem Arts Leadership Praxis 2025 Cohort. From left to right: Ade Omotosho, Devin Malone, Taylor Jasper, Naiomy Guerrero, Antoinette Roberts, David Lisbon, Kendyll Gross, and Dhyandra Lawson. Photo: Justin French
HARLEM, NEW YORK, NY, FEBRUARY 25, 2025 — Thelma Golden, Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, today announced the names of the eight participants in this year’s Arts Leadership Praxis, an annual program providing professional development and cohort-building opportunities to mid-career museum professionals of color and those deeply invested in Black cultural production. Initiated in 2024, the Arts Leadership Praxis is the latest addition to the Studio Museum Institute: a suite of programs including internships, fellowships, the Museum Education Practicum, and the Museum Professionals Seminar, developed to support artists, curators, educators, arts professionals, and students with the goal of addressing the challenges of professional advancement in arts institutions.
The Arts Leadership Praxis is an unparalleled six-month-long program conceived for museum professionals with approximately five to seven years of experience in curatorial, education, or public programming positions. First conducted with a cohort of New York–based participants, the program in its second year has expanded to include participants from across the nation. Through conversations and seminars with renowned arts professionals, studio visits with notable artists, in-person intensive three-day workshops, a research trip to Chicago, and mentorships, the program helps mid-career professionals of color to cultivate a network across institutions and career levels and take on leadership roles in the arts.
Thelma Golden said, “I am thrilled to announce the second class of the Arts Leadership Praxis, which comprises eight remarkable individuals working in cultural institutions throughout the country. This necessary program builds on the Museum’s founding commitment to supporting emerging talent in the arts and addresses the critical need for professionals of color in museum leadership roles.”
The eight participants in the 2025 class were nominated by experts in the field and then reviewed through a rigorous application process. They are:
- Kendyll Gross, Assistant Curator, Newcomb Art Museum
- Naiomy Guerrero, Museum Specialist in History, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Taylor Jasper, Susan and Rob White Assistant Curator of Visual Arts, Walker Art Center
- Dhyandra Lawson, Andy Song Associate Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- David Lisbon, Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art
- Devin Malone, Director of Public Programs and Community Engagement, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Ade Omotosho, The Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Art
- Antoinette Roberts, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Baltimore Museum of Art
Arts professionals and artists contributing their guidance and expertise to the 2025 cohort include Jessica Bell Brown, Executive Director, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University; Romi Crawford, PhD, Professor, Visual and Critical Studies and Liberal Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Chelsea Goding-Doty, CPCC, Senior Program Officer, Leadership Initiatives, New York Foundation for the Arts; Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Director and CEO, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art; Thomas Jean Lax, Curator, Department of Media and Performance, MoMA; Robert E. Paige, Artist; Legacy Russell, Executive Director and Chief Curator, The Kitchen; Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami; Akili Tommasino, Curator, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and more.
The Arts Leadership Praxis program is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
About the Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. The Studio Museum is now constructing a new home at its longtime location on Manhattan’s West 125th Street. Designed by Adjaye Associates with executive architect Cooper Robertson, the building—the first created expressly for the institution’s program—will enable the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.
While the Museum is closed for construction, its groundbreaking exhibitions, thought-provoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops continue at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem and beyond. For more information, visit studiomuseum.org.
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