Celebrating CCL 20: Announcing the Center for Curatorial Leadership 2027 Fellowship Class

The CCL Fellowship helps purpose-driven art museum curators assume executive roles in museums and cultural institutions across the United States and the world. Since its founding in 2007, CCL has transformed the cultural landscape, with more than 500 CCL alumni now forming a leadership network that spans 47 countries, and 90 alumni serving or having served as museum directors.

Twelve outstanding curators from around the world will now become the 20th class of CCL Fellows. They will participate in a rigorous program that emphasizes innovative and values-driven approaches, with attention to the social and civic responsibilities of museums, while acquiring the management skills and networks needed to succeed as visionary leaders.

Elizabeth Easton said, “When Aggie Gund and I founded CCL, we saw how the pressures of fundraising and cost-cutting were becoming all-consuming for museum executives. Our answer was to empower talented, mission-driven museum curators to rise to the top of institutions, so that a commitment to art and to the public would remain the number-one priority. Twenty years on, the pressures on leadership are no less severe—but thanks to an ever-widening network of CCL alumni, the challenges are being met with the sense of purpose not only preserved but strengthened.”

The 2027 CCL Fellows are:

Sam Adams, Ellen Johnson ‘33 Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College

Layla Bermeo, John Moors Cabot Chair, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Kathryn Coney-Ali, Executive Director, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Howard University Gallery of Art

Robyn Farrell, Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Kitchen

Samantha Friedman, The Richard Roth Curator, Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art

Marcela Guerrero, DeMartini Family Curator, The Whitney Museum of Art

Carmen Hermo, Lorraine and Alan Bressler Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Alex Klein, Deborah Dupré Head Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Contemporary Austin

Bernardo Mosqueira, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, Solar

Hallie Ringle, Chief Curator,  The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania

Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa, Deputy Director and Curator, Storefront for Art and Architecture

Jennifer Sliwka, Director, Picture Gallery, Kunsthistorisches Museum

These outstanding curators and scholars, who represent diverse perspectives and a wide range of institutional contexts, will soon take their places among a distinguished body of alumni. CCL alumni currently serving as directors include Nora Burnett Abrams (ICA Boston), Colin Bailey (The Morgan Library & Museum), Carlos Basualdo (Nasher Sculpture Center), Esther Bell (The Clark Art Institute), Connie Butler (MoMA PS 1), Caroline Campbell (National Gallery of Ireland), Christophe Cherix (MoMA), Valerie Hillings (Guggenheim Abu Dhabi), Nora Lawrence (Storm King Art Center), Asma Naeem (Baltimore Museum of Art), Rebecca Rabinow (The Menil Collection), Eva Respini (Vancouver Art Gallery), Zoë Ryan (The Hammer Museum), Xavier Solomon (Calouste Gulbenkian Museum), Pierre Terjanian (MFA Boston), and Gary Tinterow (MFA Houston).

The 2027 Fellows will begin their program in New York City in January for two weeks. From January through May, they will participate in four weeks of in-person training, individual and peer-group projects, and a weeklong residency with a museum director. In addition to receiving instruction at Columbia Business School, the cohort will meet with a broad selection of curators, trustees, museum directors, and cultural and philanthropic leaders over the course of the program.