Author: Camara Dia Holloway

I am the Project Manager for the Romare Bearden Digital Catalogue Raisonné at the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. I earned my PhD at Yale University in the History of Art Department and specialize in twentieth century American art with a particular focus on the history of photography, race and representation, and transatlantic modernist networks. I also serve as a Founding Co-Director of the Association for Critical Race Art History (ACRAH).

CFP: Black and Queer, Music on Screen, liquid blackness

liquid blackness: journal of aesthetics and black studies 7, no. 1, Spring 2023

Co-edited by Ïxkári Estelle, James Tobias (Sync: Stylistics of Hieroglyphic Time), Stefan Torralba, and Calvin Warren (Ontological Terror: Blackness, Nihilism, Emancipation)

This special issue of liquid blackness: journal of aesthetics and black studies proposes to work on Black Queer expression in audiovisual musics cutting across histories of the avant-garde, popular audiovisuality, and frameworks both transnational and critically transhistorical. The goal of the issue is to set up the framework for a survey of Black and Queer musicality in audiovisual media so as to suggest “non-contemporaneous” dialogues between and across historical registers and media platforms, so that the critical expressive power of non-conforming persons of color become a given rather than an alibi, an absence, or a projection.

From early sound cinema to the present, queer or gender non-conforming black artists have voiced a complex series of claims, propositions, demands, and desires, from the introduction of sound to the cinematic screen to the introduction of social media video in networked digital cultures. Black feminist and queer scholarship has often engaged with the meanings and powers expressed in these works, or in musical artists indebted to them or referencing them, from Angela Davis’ reading of transformations of historical memory in Smith’s St. Louis Blues (Blues Legacies and Black Feminisms), to Lindon Barrett’s study of Billie Holiday (Blackness and Value), to Saidiya Hartman’s discussion of errancy in relation to woman-identified women singers in the early years of recording (Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments), and DaphneBrooks’ recent reading of black women’s use of arrangement, sonic curation, and blackness as technology (Liner Notes for the Revolution) in articulating a politics of being and becoming. Working through postcolonial, decolonial, diasporic, and critical ethnic studies’ critical innovations, we may productively identify discontinuities in terms of technical medium and mode of distribution, from film short, to soundie, to Hollywood musical set piece, to film promotional clips, music television clips, and music video made for social media. At the same time, we will also observe the ways in which concepts like Sharpe’s “wake work,” “fugitivity” in Moten’s critical aesthetics, “opacity” in Fleetwood, Browne, or Musser, “boiz” or non-normative sex-gender identities in Harris, the expressive technics of “queer OS” in Keeling, or “ontological terror” in Warren – only a few of potentially generative formulations appearing in recent Black Study – may help gloss the gestures, meanings, and forces at work in black queer voice in technical mediation. How may we read the histories and futures of audiovisual musicality in these terms, given the dynamic work of artists over the last decade ranging from, say, Zebra Katz to Janelle Monae, Odd Future et. al., Mykki Blanco, Moses Sumney – and many more, too numerous to list here?


Black and Queer, Music on Screen seeks to redress a grave limitation in current scholarship. Typically, attention to medium and historical specificities in studies of onscreen musicality have so prioritized the form/medium problem in cinema, video, or digital media studies, such that attention to “film,” “video,” or “digital” formats pre-empts the observation of continuities or conversations across historical periods or transitioning media. One result is that even as black and sex-gender non-confirming subjects are “rediscovered” in “early sound film,” black and sex- gender non-confirming innovations in later moments and in the contemporary moment are cordoned off from one another, safely consigned to some futural fate of what will be a belated rediscovery, or held apart as “alternatives” to the dominant rather than continuing a long- standing historical critique.

While the disciplinary preoccupations of cinema and media studies with regard to medium specificity and period have made it unlikely that concerns and problems expressed in the technical mediation of Black Queer voice as musical expression to surface as primary problems in cinema and media studies, nevertheless, some of the most affecting and influential works of artist cinema – Julien’s Looking for Langston, for example – have clearly problematized and made substance of these aesthetic and political histories, as well as their deferral in the culture industries and in the academy alike. This special issue calls for critical work centering both historical and recent upsurges in the aesthetic and critical powers of Black and Queer musical expression on screen. What happens when we understand, as Bey (2020) has argued, “the history of blackness as a history of disruption,” so that disrupting racializations along with sex-gender non-conformance become productive of the labor animating audiovisual music’s meaning and effects?

Finally, we ask, what does the sound, voice, or gesture of radical ethical demand feel like when it hits the poetics and aesthetics of the musical screen? What revolutions, in other words, in retrospect and in theory, can we understand to have in fact been sung, danced, and thus enjoined once we align the relevant critical frameworks and exemplars, so that the limits and obstacles to a larger historical and theoretical understanding of expressive queer black gesture are removed?

Topics List
• Black queer practices of exceeding and disabling technology in the form of musical, audiovisual technics• Archival recovery, fictive archiving, and critical fabulation of the archive through voice, sound, music, and musical audiovisuality• Hemispheric and triangular kinships of Black queer media as musical counter-positions within the Americas• Productivities and problematics of Black queer practices enabling “queer of color” expression• The politics of citation, reference, and allusion in Black queer musical media practices• Transmedia musical imaginaries, ethics, and aesthetics• Surprising transnational circuits of visual imageries and performance practices, that is, audiovisual treatments of the Black Atlantic or the Black Pacific• Musicality, voice, and sound informing counterintuitive or counterhegemonic readings of popular Back queer media• Digitality, diaspora, musicality• Soul as reason: re-thinking the place of affect as paralinguistic rhetoric of critique, community, or desire • “Dirty” computing, musical freakdom, and the gestural paragrammatics of collective self- fashioning• Musicality and remembrance as transformation of collective memory, in Black musical film more generally, in addition to Blues women’s recordings.• Afro-Historicisms, Afro-Futurisms, or Afro-Pessimisms on the musical screen• Shouts and whispers on screen: historical claims and rhetorics in Black audiovision• Cool, hot, noise: style on the musical screen• Analytics of track, mix, and edit on screen as homologies of self-fashioning and collective movement• Ad hoc surrealisms, absurdisms, anti-realisms: musicality as fugitivity• Generational non-contemporaneity: Black voice carrying over and beyond period and across medium 

Submission Due: January 15, 2022 (send to journalsubmissions@liquidblackness.com)

Author Guidelines & Submission Information• Submission Types:• Traditional essays: approx. 3-5,000 words (including footnotes)—all essays should be accompanied by at least one image• We welcome submissions of interviews, visual and textual art, video, and other artistic work• Questions about the length, style, format of experimental submissions can be directed to journalsubmissions@liquidblackness.com• liquid blackness follows the formatting and reference guidelines stipulated by The Chicago Manual of Style• All submissions, solicited and unsolicited, will be peer-reviewed• Media Specifications• We welcome the submission of media files such as video or sound clips, which will be published as supplementary data. The following audio and video file types are acceptable as supplementary data files and supported by our online platform:.mp3, .mp4, .wav, .wma, .au, .m4a, .mpg, .mpeg, .mov, .avi, .wmv., html.• Executable files (.exe) are not acceptable.• There is no restriction on the number of files per article or on the size of files; however, please keep in mind that very large files may be problematic for readers with slow connection speeds.• Please ensure that each video or audio clip is called out in the text of the article, much like how a figure or table is called out: e.g., “see supplementary audio file 1.”

—About liquid blackness
• liquid blackness is an open-access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to readers or their institutions.• Our Editorial and Advisory Boards 

Mission Statement
The liquid blackness journal seeks to carve out a place for aesthetic theory and the most radical agenda of Black Studies to come together in productive ways, with a double goal: to fully attend to the aesthetic work of blackness and to the political work of form. In this way, the journal strives to develop innovative approaches and analytic tools to address points ofconvergence between the exigencies of black life and the many slippery ways in which blackness is encountered in contemporary sonic and visual culture.

liquid blackness aims to establish a point of exchange at the intersection of multiple fields. The history of this intentionally undisciplined space is best understood through a series of questions pivoting around (1) the relationship between aesthetics and the ontology of blackness and (2) the generative potential of blackness as an aesthetic. If blackness is, as we argue after Fred Moten, an unregulated generative force, then the liquid blackness journal seeks to offer a dedicated space where it can be consistently unleashed. As we extend and confront lines of inquiry from a number of research fields, our approach is equally concerned with theoretical content, analytical methods, and scholarly praxis.

JOB: Asst Prof African American / African Diaspora Arts @ NYU

Description 

The Department of Art History at New York University seeks applications for a full-time, tenure-track, Assistant Professorship in African American or African Diasporic arts. We invite applicants working in any period and on any area, broadly understood, of visual arts, material cultures, and/or the built environment. Scholars who focus on interhemispheric and global connections are especially welcome to apply. Additionally, evidence of a commitment to advancing equity and inclusion through research, teaching, and/or service will be valued.

The position carries with it an associate appointment at the Institute of Fine Arts. The appointee will teach four courses each academic year: three undergraduate courses in the College of Arts and Science (consisting of a mix of core curriculum courses, departmental surveys, and advanced courses) in the candidate’s area(s) of specialization, and one graduate course at the Institute of Fine Arts. The candidate will supervise undergraduate independent studies and honors theses, and, at the IFA, masters theses and doctoral dissertations.

This position is part of a multi-departmental cluster hire in Black Diaspora Cultural Studies that includes the NYU Arts & Science departments of History and Politics and NYU Gallatin and which may expand to other departments in future years. A primary aim of the cluster is to build a network for scholars working in these areas to collaborate across NYU. More information about this cluster can be found here, along with background about NYU’s broader Faculty Cluster Hiring Initiative.

The appointment will begin on September 1, 2022, subject to budgetary and administrative approval.

Qualifications

Candidates must have completed the Ph.D. by September 1, 2022. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellence in scholarship and teaching. 

Application Instructions

Application deadline is November 30, 2021. To apply, please go to http://apply.interfolio.com/96774

and submit a letter of application (addressed to Prof. Prita Meier, Search Committee Chair), CV, statement of research interest and goals, statement of teaching, and a list of three referees. Diversity is an important part of the NYU mission; in your application letter briefly describe how diversity is part of your pedagogy and, if applicable, research. Information about NYU diversity and inclusion statements may be found at  http://as.nyu.edu/departments/facultydiversity/recruitment/diversity-statements.html.

The Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU is at the heart of a leading research university that spans the globe. We seek scholars of the highest caliber that embody the diversity of the United States as well as the global society in which we live. We strongly encourage applications from women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other individuals who are under-represented in the profession, across color, creed, race, ethnic and national origin, physical ability, gender and sexual identity, or any other legally protected basis. NYU affirms the value of differing perspectives on the world as we strive to build the strongest possible university with the widest reach. To learn more about the FAS commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, please read here http://as.nyu.edu/departments/facultydiversity.html).

EOE/Affirmative Action/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disabled/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity.  

JOB: Developmental editors for professional development program, Toward Equity in Publishing

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is accepting  bids to contract developmental editors for Toward Equity in Publishing (TEP), the professional development program launched by the journal American Art and supported by a grant from the Dedalus Foundation. The position entails providing developmental and line editing to TEP author-participants. Each editor will assist 2–4 TEP author-participants, providing up to 40 hours of service to each, not to exceed 160 hours per year. The number of author-participants assigned to each editor will depend on how many developmental editors are contracted by the Smithsonian. Work will commence on or after February 1, 2022, with a possibility to extend for a total of 28 months, depending on satisfactory performance and availability of funds. The closing date for contract bids is November 15, 2021.

To receive the Request for Quotes, Statement of Work, and instructions for submitting the bid, please write to AmericanArtJournal@si.edu.

Prospective contractors are strongly encouraged to enroll in the federal System for Award Management (SAM). The contract cannot be made prior to evidence of the contractor’s active and valid registration in the “all awards” category of SAM.

For further details, please contact the executive editor, Robin Veder, at AmericanArtJournal@si.edu, with your surname and the header “TEP Developmental Editor” in the subject line.

JOB: Adjunct, African or African American @ Brandeis

https://brandeis.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Jobs/job/Brandeis—Waltham-Campus/Lecturer-in-Fine-Arts_R0005037

Brandeis University invites applications for an Adjunct Instructor to teach one introductory survey course in History of African Art or History of African American Art in the Spring 2022 (Jan – May). Either course serves majors in Fine Arts, Art History, and African and African American Studies, as well as students at all levels from across all disciplines in the university. Though offered in the past, we encourage the instructor to design the course as they see fit. Course meets for three hours a week and can be offered remotely. There is some flexibility to the schedule. Applicants should be ABD or PhD in Art History or Black Studies with expertise in African/African American art.

Candidates must submit a letter of interest (2 pages maximum), curriculum vitae, one page teaching statement, sample syllabus for an introductory level History of African Art/African American Art course, and contact information for three references.

Duties and Responsibilities

Adjunct Faculty duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

1. providing instruction in accordance with established curriculum, course outlines and class schedules

2. encouraging and maintaining an environment which emphasizes learning, encouraging free discussion of ideas and critical thinking

3. evaluating progress of students concerning educational matters and grading student work

4. meeting with students during office hours maintaining appropriate standards of professional conduct and ethics

5. maintaining current knowledge in the subject matter areas

6. maintaining accurate academic records

7. fulfilling professional responsibilities of a part-time/temporary faculty member

8. maintaining accurate academic records

9. performing other related duties as assigned

This appointment is to a position that is in a collective bargaining unit represented by SEIU Local 509.

Closing Statement

Brandeis University is committed to providing its students, faculty and staff with an environment conducive to learning and working and where all people are treated with respect and dignity. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, caste, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, including transgender identity, religion, disability, age, genetics, active military or veteran status and any other characteristics protected under applicable federal or Massachusetts law.

JOB: Asst Prof @ Johns Hopkins

The Department of the History of Art at Johns Hopkins University invites applications for two tenure-track Assistant Professor appointments in Modern Art and Architectural History and Theory. We welcome scholars of the long twentieth century who pursue a critically inflected approach to the period’s global interconnections and engage with the philosophical and historical constructions of and challenges to modernism.

This search will result in two appointments. One will be a specialist in East and/or Southeast Asian modern art, including transnational and Asian American art history. One will be a specialist in any area of modernism, including transnational and diasporic art and architecture.

PhD in the History of Art or related discipline required at time of appointment. Candidates must demonstrate a strong research profile and a commitment to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Candidates should submit a letter of application, a current CV, one article- or chapter-length sample of scholarly writing (published or in press), and three letters of reference. Applicants should state in their cover letter how, through their research approaches, teaching methodology, and/or public engagement, they can contribute to the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. All materials will be submitted online at https://apply.interfolio.com/97142. Review of applications will begin November 21, 2021. For more information about the department, visit http://arthist.jhu.edu. Johns Hopkins is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunities Employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty. It welcomes nominations of, and applications from, women and members of minority groups, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university’s research and teaching missions.

JOB: Asst Prof @ Bucknell

Link: https://jobs.bucknell.edu/en-us/job/496829/assistant-professor-in-nonwestern-art

The Department of Art and Art History at Bucknell University invites applications for a tenure-track position for a specialist in the history of art, architecture, and/or visual culture beginning fall 2022. The department seeks a candidate who demonstrates a strong commitment to undergraduate education. We will be hiring at the assistant professor level. We are interested in candidates who specialize in art produced before 1800 whose scholarship and/or teaching focuses on the arts of one or more of the following: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, or other historically “nonwestern” cultures. The successful candidate will be expected to teach the first half of the two-semester survey of World Art, intermediate and advanced courses in their field of expertise, as well as courses that contribute to the college core curriculum. Such courses will complement our current offerings in modern and contemporary art. We encourage applicants whose research intersects with issues of race, gender, and sexuality.

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship/Assistant ProfessorArt and Visual Culture of the African Diaspora @ Occidental

Occidental College invites applicants for a one-year Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship followed by a tenure-track Assistant Professor appointment in the newly established Department of Black Studies. This search is part of Occidental’s new multi-year Mellon Faculty Diversity Initiative (MDFI), which is synergized with the College’s renewed commitment to equity & justice and an intensified effort to hire faculty whose work focuses on issues of race and/or social justice and whose background, expertise, and experiences will contribute to diversifying Occidental’s faculty. The successful candidate will join the first of three MFDI cohorts with a total of nine postdoctoral positions in the Arts and Humanities. As part of the MFDI program, the members of the cohorts will be provided enhanced mentoring, professional development, and a greatly reduced teaching load. The initiative will help to actively support the study of the life, culture, and history of the African diaspora and to support campus-wide efforts on behalf of equity and justice. The position will begin in August 2022. 

We are seeking a specialist in the art and visual culture of the African diaspora. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Africana Studies, African American Studies, American Studies, Art History, Literature, Media Studies, or a related discipline. Candidates with expertise in regions outside the continental United States or whose scholarship engages gender, transgender, and sexuality studies are especially encouraged to apply. We are especially interested in candidates with a demonstrated commitment to and potential for excellence in undergraduate teaching; a strong record of scholarly accomplishments appropriate to the level of appointment; experience working collaboratively with colleagues; a demonstrated ability to work effectively with students from minoritized and marginalized social groups; a demonstrated potential for effective integration of technology into instruction; and an ability to balance excellent teaching, scholarship, and service. 

The teaching load during the first year of the postdoctoral fellowship will be 1/1. After one year, the position will convert to a tenure-track assistant professor position with a teaching load of 2/2 in Year 2 of the appointment, and a load of 3/2 thereafter. The successful candidate will teach a mix of first-year, intermediate, and advanced interdisciplinary courses on Black art and visual culture. In addition to teaching interdisciplinary Black Studies courses, the new faculty member will develop and teach up to two courses per year that are cross-listed with the Art and Art History department. They will also have the opportunity to design community-based learning initiatives that deepen the connection between Occidental College and the cultural institutions and diverse residents of the dynamic city of Los Angeles. 

Please submit a (1) cover letter detailing your interest in teaching Black Studies in a liberal arts college environment; (2) curriculum vitae; (3) a research statement that includes a discussion of your current scholarship, plans for future research, and a discussion of how you have successfully balanced scholarly and creative activities with teaching and service; (4) a statement of teaching philosophy that includes a discussion of your demonstrated commitment to, past evidence of, and future plans for creating equitable opportunities for learning and mentoring, especially for underrepresented students and students from marginalized social groups; (5) samples of scholarly work; (6) sample syllabus for one specialty course in Black visual culture studies; and (7) arrange for three references letters to be sent to: blackstudiesvisual@oxy.edu.  The application deadline is December 8, 2021.

For a description of Occidental’s Black Studies Department and its course offerings, please visit our website at: https://www.oxy.edu/academics/areas-study/black-studies

Occidental is a small liberal arts college in the city of Los Angeles, and it is among the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the United States. The normal teaching schedule is the equivalent of five courses per year. Occidental College policies for early career leaves for untenured faculty and sabbaticals for tenured faculty are very generous. The mission of Occidental College is to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality–one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent, and pluralistic world. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who will further Occidental’s mission of excellence and equity in their teaching, scholarship, and service.

Occidental College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or related medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic characteristic or information, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by State or Federal Law. Occidental is strongly committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum, and to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and just environment within which students, staff, administrators and faculty thrive. Candidates who can contribute to this goal through their teaching, research, advising, and other activities are encouraged to identify their strengths and experiences in this area. Individuals advancing the College’s strategic equity and justice goals and those from groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding are particularly encouraged to apply. 

Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. A comprehensive benefits package is available that includes: excellent health, dental, life, and retirement benefits; tuition benefits for the employee, spouse, domestic partner, and dependents; additional extras including use of gym facilities and the College Library. For a detailed description of benefits, please visit https://www.oxy.edu/offices-services/human-resources/benefits-information.  

We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. 

Occidental College is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with qualifying disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the application or employment process, please contact Human Resources (hr@oxy.edu). 

JOB: Asst Prof, Production/Film History @ Boston College

The Art, Art History, and Film Department at Boston College seeks candidates with a robust film production agenda and a demonstrated record of experience in filmmaking (feature/ documentary/digital/video), who can teach and mentor undergraduate students in narrative and technical skills in film. Applicants should have at least three years of experience teaching film production. Besides teaching three filmmaking courses annually, candidates should have expertise in film history and be prepared to teach two film history courses (open specialization). Of particular interest are candidates whose work focuses on social justice issues and who can teach courses in one or more of the following areas: gender studies, critical race theory, post-colonial studies, and African-American or black diasporic cinemas. An MFA or a PhD with a production background is required by the time of appointment.
The Film Studies Program, situated in the Art, Art History and Film Department, includes in its curriculum film history, production, screenwriting, web design, cinematography, sound design and criticism. With its liberal arts basis as well as hands-on production experience, the program focuses on preparing students for graduate programs in film and/or careers in the media.
As a Jesuit, Catholic university Boston College strives to integrate research excellence with a foundational commitment to formative liberal arts education. The University further encourages applications from candidates committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive academic community.
Qualifications
An MFA or a PhD with a production background is required by the time of appointment.
Application Instructions
Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching philosophy, course syllabi, research/filmmaking statement, sample of recent film production and/or scholarship, and names of potential references by October 15, 2021. In the research/filmmaking and teaching statements, applicants should address previous efforts and future plans to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in their research, filmmaking, and teaching activities. Candidates who are selected for the first-round interviews will be asked to submit reference letters within two weeks of notification. For questions about the position, please contact Professor John J. Michalczyk, Film Studies Director, john.michalczyk@bc.edu. All materials must be submitted to Interfolio.

JOB: Curator, Folk and Self-Taught Art @ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

At a transformational moment for our Art of the Americas program, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, seeks a creative, energetic and dynamic curator and scholar to become the inaugural Linde Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art. Reporting to the Chair of the Art of the Americas, the Linde Curator will partner with the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, and with colleagues in the Department of Learning and Community Engagement to lead the MFA’s newly launched folk art initiative, an ambitious new program designed to reimagine and reanimate the folk art collections for 21st-century audiences. The Linde Curator will have the opportunity to build a dynamic and experimental suite of exhibitions, installations, programs and displays that will reshape the institution’s commitment to folk and self-taught material, and align the display and interpretation of this material with the MFA’s larger strategic vision. A true thought leader, the ideal candidate will galvanize colleagues across the department and around the museum in thinking anew about the categories of folk and self-taught art, and in envisioning new ways to make this material accessible, relevant and important to the lives of our visitors today.

The Museum of Fine Arts has an impressive collection of American folk art, broadly defined, with notable strength in works made in the northeastern United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. Highlights include important paintings by Erastus Salisbury Field, William Matthew Prior, and Rufus Porter, nearly 350 works on paper from the Karolik collection, a significant collection of American quilts, and select examples of painted furniture and sculptural forms. Opportunities for growth include historical American art that enhances and complements the Karolik collection with a focus on artists of diverse ethnic, racial, socio-economic, and geographical background, as well as 20th and 21st century art by self-taught, Outsider and Visionary artists.

Candidate Profile:

Minimum Qualifications and Experience:

  • A Master’s or PhD in Art History, history or related field with a proven focus on Folk, Self-taught and Visionary material.
  • Three to five years of experience in a museum or comparable institution.
  • Demonstrated curatorial ability through culturally-meaningful exhibitions, gallery displays, programs or other activities.
  • Demonstrated experience and a strong interest in working in a museum setting.

Ideal Candidate Profile: 

  • Committed to researching, caring for and interpreting Folk and Self Taught art for diverse audiences, and to thinking about this material in new ways.
  • Demonstrated experience contributing to/leading exhibitions, programs and projects developed in collaboration with artists, visitors, community leaders, and other scholars and experts.
  • A breadth of knowledge and experience, as well as a willingness to gain expertise in new areas. An interest in and commitment to exploring the changing nature of art museums and their relationship to the public.
  • A national perspective but experienced in becoming personally and professionally committed to the city of Boston, its people and artistic community.
  • Experience working closely and building relationships with colleagues in a museum setting.
  • Experience working in partnership and engaging with donors, collectors, scholars, external communities and other partners.
  • Strong planning and project management skills with the ability to manage various projects simultaneously and to collaborate with colleagues across the institution to achieve the best outcome.
  • Strong sense of accountability for achieving stated objectives.
  • Team-oriented and collaborative.
  • Superb presentation and interpretation skills with ability to attract and engage audiences of all demographics.
  • Superior ability to present and defend ideas and projects that earn the respect of colleagues and Museum’s leadership and builds credibility for the department and institution. 

Personal Qualities and Attributes: 

  • Intellectually rigorous 
  • Inspirational, passionate, curious 
  • Generous of spirit, a team player 
  • Superior judgment, tact and diplomacy, with good organizational skills 

Salary Range:

Full-Time Salary, 35 hours per week

Starting salary: $73,000 – $78,000 

The MFA is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer that is committed to building a culturally diverse staff and strongly encourages applications from diverse candidates.

Link to apply: https://bit.ly/3zYMORb?

Competition for the 2022 ALAA/LASA-VCS Afro Latin American/Afro-Latinx Scholarship Prize

The Association for Latin American Art, an affiliate of the College Art Association, and the Visual Culture Section of the Latin American Studies Association, are pleased to sponsor the ALAA Annual Afro Latin American/Afro-Latinx Essay Prize. We will consider scholarly essays published in a peer reviewed journal, edited volume, or exhibition catalogue during the previous year, on any aspect of Afro Latin American art, architecture, or visual culture in Latin America and the United States, covering any period from the colonial era to the present. The award consists of a $500 honorarium and will be presented at the ALAA business meeting at the annual meeting of the College Art Association in February as well as the LASA business meeting at the annual conference in April. The name of the recipient will appear in the newsletters of both ALAA and LASA.

For the February 2022 Award, we will evaluate articles that meet the following criteria:
• Publication date between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021.
• Essays may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Essays will be evaluated by a three-person committee of accomplished scholars in the field, each with expertise in a wide geographical and temporal range. For consideration, authors should send their submission as a pdf to the Chair of the award committee no later than November 15, 2021. Peer nominations will also be accepted.

Afro Latin American/Afro-Latinx Scholarship Prize Committee
Paul Niell, pniell@fsu.edu
Mey-Yen Moriuchi, moriuchi@lasalle.edu
Tamara Walker, tamara.walker@utoronto.ca