The Africa Center

The Africa Center, formerly known as Museum for African Art, was located in the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. Founded in 1984, the museum is "dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of African art and culture." The Museum is also well known for its public education programs that help raise awareness of African culture, and also operates a unique store selling authentic handmade African crafts.[1] It closed in the early 2010s, with a prospective reopening date of 2015.

In 2015, the Africa Center hired Michelle D. Gavin, former United States Ambassador to Botswana and an expert on Africa, as its Managing Director.[2] The museum's opening of its new location is uncertain as of March 2015.

The Museum has organized nearly 60 critically acclaimed exhibitions and traveled these to almost 140 venues nationally and internationally, including 15 other countries. Forty of these exhibitions are accompanied by scholarly catalogues.

This museum is often confused with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.

History

Begun as the Center for African Art, the Museum for African Art's founding director was Susan Mullin Vogel, who had previously worked as Associate Curator in the Department of Primitive Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During her time at the Museum for African Art, Vogel curated and organized ground-breaking exhibitions which put into question ways in which African art is presented to Western audiences, and how museum practices structure knowledge for the public. The most well-known of these exhibitions are "Art/Artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections" in 1988, "Exhibition-ism: Museums and African Art" in 1994, and "Africa Explores: 20th-Century African Art" in 1991.

In 2005, the museum was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.[3][4]

After several years of delayed openings,[1] and the realization that the initial goal of a museum on Fifth Avenue was not sustainable,[5] the decision was made to broaden the project's scope, and the current target for opening in the organization's new home is 2015. It will be on Museum Mile at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 110th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan. The new location, in a building designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern, is the first museum building built on New York's Museum Mile since the completion of the Guggenheim in 1959.

In the interim, the Africa Center will present pop up events in its new space until the building is completed.[5][6] It will serve as a cultural center and is currently modeling itself after the Asia Society and other similar organizations. The new building will make the museum accessible to a wide range of people from the world over, thus solidifying the museum's presence as one of the most challenging and diverse art institutions in the U.S.[7] The new building will encompass approximately 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) with 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2) of exhibition space, as well as a theater, education center, library, classrooms, event space, restaurant and gift shop. The growth into the cultural center has been spearheaded by, among others, Hadeel Ibrahim daughter of Mo Ibrahim.[1]

Exhibitions

The Museum for African Art has organized over 50 exhibitions that have been shown in New York and around the world. Exhibitions that have been organized or co-organized by the Museum:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Maloney, Jennifer (2013-09-27). "New Africa Center's Journey in N.Y.". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  2. ↑ Lorne Manly (March 18, 2015). "Africa Center Post Gives Michelle D. Gavin a Chance to Show Diplomatic Skills". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Roberts, Sam (July 6, 2005). "City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 Maloney, Jennifer (2013-08-22). "Museum for African Art Pivots Toward Policy". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  6. ↑ Maloney, Jennifer (2013-09-26). "New Africa Center Sets 2014 Opening Date". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  7. ↑ Chan, Sewell (February 9, 2007). "Museum for African Art Finds Its Place". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-08-20.

External links

Coordinates: 40°44′47″N 73°55′42″W / 40.74639°N 73.92833°W / 40.74639; -73.92833

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