A year out from its fall 2025 reopening, the Studio Museum in Harlem has received a $10 million grant from the Ford Foundation to endow its director and chief curator role, currently held by Thelma Golden in the last 19 years. Ford Foundation President Darren Walker delivered the news during the Studio Museum’s annual gala on Monday evening, October 28. In accordance with the endowment gift, Golden will henceforth take up the title of Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator.
In a statement shared with Hyperallergic, Walker called the museum “one of America’s cultural treasures.”
“For more than half a century, the Studio Museum in Harlem has been a vital platform for multiple generations of outstanding artists of African descent and, in so doing, has opened vast new areas of scholarship, creativity, and appreciation in the visual arts,” Walker said.
“It is especially fitting to endow the leadership position of Director and Chief Curator when the inimitable Thelma Golden is about to celebrate 20 years of proving to be the art world’s exemplary leader for courageous change,” he continued. (Walker announced his departure from the Ford Foundation by the end of 2025 and was recently named president of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.)
Since assuming the director and chief curator role at the museum in 2005, Golden has been credited with increasing visitor attendance by 27% within her first decade at the helm by extending hours on Thursdays and Fridays. She has also expanded the Studio Museum’s commitment to Black art and culture through the inclusion of artists of African descent beyond the United States.
Golden has also led the museum through its pricy expansion plan, announced in 2015. The institution closed its physical site in 2018 for the expansion, which has been upended by various construction delays over the years that have postponed the grand reopening to next fall. Having initially tapped Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye to design the new space, the Studio Museum has since cut ties with the architect after he was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by three female former employees in mid-2023. The institution said it will finish the project with Adjaye Associates, his firm in New York, and executive architect Cooper Robertson.
The New York Times, which first reported the news, noted that the Ford Foundation’s endowment was most opportune in fortifying the Studio Museum as Golden has been considered the top contender in the Museum of Modern Art’s ongoing search for a new director.
However, the Studio Museum referred Hyperallergic to a previous comment from Golden where she expressed that she’s “so deeply committed to welcoming audiences and working with artists in this new building when we open.”
