San Francisco Arts Today

Curated by Cheryl Derricotte

---

---

As national news outlets report on San Francisco’s “doom loop,” the art scene clearly didn’t get the memo. The Bay Area arts leaders in this panel discussion showcase how they are activating the vibrant arts community in the City by the Bay. Hear from institutions that have invested directly in local artists, including Timothy Anglin Burgard, Distinguished Senior Curator at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (de Young Open), Shana Lopes, Assistant Curator of Photography at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SECA Art Award), and Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs, Museum of the African Diaspora (Emerging Artists Program) in a conversation that will be moderated by the San Francisco Examiner’s art critic, Max Blue.

 

About the Speakers:

Key Jo Lee is chief of curatorial affairs and public programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. In this role, Lee oversees the strategic direction for the museum’s exhibitions and programs; leads globally on identifying and promoting emerging artists from the African diaspora; and works to expand MoAD’s reach and influence locally, nationally, and internationally. She is responsible for the overall management and execution of the museum’s curatorial vision, including its exhibitions, publications, and public and educational programs, and plays an important role in the organization’s outreach, communications, and digital strategy. Lee has a master’s degree from and is PhD candidate in History of Art and African American Studies at Yale University. Her first book, Perceptual Drift: Black Art and an Ethics of Looking, was published by Yale University Press and The Cleveland Museum of Art in January 2023.

Max Blue is a writer living in San Francisco. His art criticism and reporting have appeared in Artsy, Cultured, and Hyperallergic, among others, and he is a regular contributor to the San Francisco Examiner. His short fiction has appeared in The MacGuffin and North Dakota Quarterly, among others.

Shana Lopes, PhD, is an Assistant Curator of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Born and raised in San Francisco, she has curated or co-curated exhibition such as: Constellations: Photographs in Dialogue, Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, A Living for Us All: Artists and the WPA, Sea Change, Zanele Muholi: Eye Me, and the upcoming SECA 2024 Art Award. Over the past fourteen years, she has gained curatorial experience at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Timothy Anglin Burgard is the Distinguished Senior Curator and the Curator-in-Charge of the American Art Department for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. He is the curator of 34 exhibitions and the author or co-author of 23 books. As a curator, he has pursued his strong interests in contextual, interdisciplinary, and multicultural studies that have transformed traditional categorizations of American art and culture. 

Image: Marcel Pardo Ariza, I am Very Lucky, Very Lucky to be Trans, 2022, installation view, SFMOMA, photo by Matthew Millman