Association of Art Museum Curators

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts was founded in 1799, the Yale University Art Gallery in 1832, the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1842, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870. After nearly two centuries of curatorial practice in North America, the AAMC has been established as North America's first professional organization for art museum curators active in all fields of scholarly pursuit.

The AAMC, a 501(c)(6) membership organization, grew out of the Forum of Curators and Conservators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a recognized, non-union body of more than 100 members. In response to news of staff reorganizations at several major US museums, members of the Forum created an ad hoc committee to explore the feasibility of a national organization of museum curators in 1999. Over the course of two and a half years, curators at the Metropolitan Museum - including Katharine Baetjer, Stefano Carboni, Colta Ives, Peter Kenny and Gary Tinterow - drafted the mission statement and by-laws of the proposed organization. In April 2001, they held a meeting in New York, attended by representatives from a dozen American art museums, during which they voted the organization into existence.

At the same time, members of the Forum's ad hoc committee worked closely with prominent members of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), including Philippe de Montebello, Anne d'Harnoncourt, Katharine Lee Reid, and James Wood (disambiguation). Earlier, in autumn 2000, the Presidents Council held a formal discussion with senior curators regarding the establishment of the AAMC, the first time that curators were invited to speak to this committee. In Spring 2001, Mr. de Montebello announced the formation of the AAMC in his keynote address at a colloquium sponsored by the American Federation of Arts, and in July of that year, James Cuno, then president of the AAMD, wrote an official letter of endorsement. In June 2002, more than 300 curators from across the United States attended the first AAMC convention held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The AAMC has held an annual meeting in each subsequent year and continues to build membership and programs. In 2006, the AAMC had a board of 18 trustees from 14 museums who comprise some of the most distinguished figures in the field; more than 500 members in the United States and Canada; and a paid administrator working in offices in New York City generously provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

In early 2004, the AAMC board of trustees voted to incorporate the AAMC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

The Foundation's mission is twofold. First, it seeks to heighten public understanding of the curator's role through lectures, symposia, published materials, and the like. Second, it awards grants to curators in order improve their ability to serve the public.

The goals of the AAMC are to:

• Serve as an advocacy group for the curatorial profession
• Articulate the standards for the profession
• Promote research and scholarship through an annual meeting and educational programs on selected themes held at venues throughout North America
• Exchange information through a website and monthly newsletter
• Facilitate online discussions addressing a wide variety of relevant topics
• Recognize distinguished achievement in the field through annual awards
• Facilitate the exchange of information about traveling exhibitions
• Provide a collegial forum for discussion about museum issues in North America
• Accomplish these goals in cooperation with museum directors, trustees and other staff

The AAMC and AAMC Foundation sponsor several programs each year:

• the members' annual meeting, held each May
• regional professional development conferences and/or receptions
• mentoring initiatives for junior curators
• grants for travel and professional development (and, when warranted, emergency grants)
• annual prizes for outstanding book, article, and exhibition

AAMC & AAMC Foundation Leadership

2020 - 2021

as of January 1, 2020

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Islamic Art, Department of Asian Art, Art Institute of Chicago; Vice President, Governance & Nominating

Michelle Jacques, Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Vice President, Inclusion & Outreach

Marianne Lamonaca, Independent Curator, President, Board of Trustees

Soyoung Lee, Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums; Vice President, Finance & Audit

Mary-Kate O’Hare, Senior Vice President and Advisor, Art Advisory & Finance, Citi Private Bank, Vice President, Fundraising

Peter Schertz, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Vice President, Advocacy

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Sharon Matt Atkins, Director of Exhibitions & Strategic Initiatives, Brooklyn Museum

Daniel Belasco, Executive Director, Al Held Foundation

Tobi Bruce, Director, Exhibitions and Collections, and Senior Curator, Art Gallery of Hamilton

Beth Citron, Independent Curator

Jane Cohan, Partner, James Cohan

José Carlos Diaz, Chief Curator, The Andy Warhol Museum

Catherine L. Futter, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, Brooklyn Museum

Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Islamic Art, Department of Asian Art, Art Institute of Chicago; Vice President, Governance & Nominating

Benjamin M. Hickey, Curator of Exhibitions, Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum

Michelle Jacques, Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Vice President, Inclusion and Outreach

Marianne Lamonaca, Independent Curator, President, Board of Trustees

Soyoung Lee, Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums; Vice President, Finance & Audit

C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jen Mergel, Independent Curator

Elizabeth Morrison, Senior Curator of Manuscripts, J. Paul Getty Museum

Mary-Kate O’Hare, Vice President, Advisor, Modern & Contemporary Art, Art Advisory & Finance, Citi Private Bank, Vice President, Fundraising

Emily Kernan Rafferty, President Emerita, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

E. Carmen Ramos, Deputy Chief Curator and Curator of Latino Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Peter Schertz, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Vice President, Advocacy

Anne Collins Smith, Curator of Collections, Spelman College Museum of Art

Juliet Source, Senior Vice President, Resnicow and Associates

Ann Yonemura, Curator Emeritus, Freer Gallery of Art | Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

EMERITI TRUSTEE PAST PRESIDENTS

Christa Clarke, Independent Curator and Affiliate, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University; Past President, Trustee Emerita

Elizabeth W. Easton, Co-Founder and Director, Center for Curatorial Leadership; Past President, Trustee Emerita

Carol S. Eliel, Senior Curator of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Past President, Trustee Emerita

Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Past President, Trustee Emerita

Emily Ballew Neff, Executive Director, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; Past President, Trustee Emerita

John Ravenal, Executive Director, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum; Past President, Trustee Emeritus

George T.M. Shackelford, Deputy Director, Kimbell Art Museum; Past President, Trustee Emeritus

Gary Tinterow, Director, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Past President, Trustee Emeritus

EX-OFFICIO

John B. Koegel, Founder, and Lawyer, The Koegel Group LLP; Counsel, Ex-officio

Judith Pineiro, Executive Director, AAMC & AAMC Foundation; Ex-officio

• Official website