Akili Tomassino (CCL/Mellon Seminar 2014) has been named the new Associate Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Most recently, Akili served as Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, where he organized the exhibition "Projects 101: Lone Wolf Recital Corps." Akili's post marks a return to Boston, where he is a doctoral candidate in the Harvard History of Art + Architecture department writing on the work of Fernand Léger. At the MFA Boston, Akili will report to Reto Thüring (CCL 2016), Chair of the Contemporary Art department, who begins at the museum in September.
Just this month, Akili was highlighted in an article in The New York Times alongside Elizabeth W. Easton, CCL's Director and Co-founder, on the subject of diversity in curatorial staffs at art museums across the country. The article highlights Akili's work creating the mentoring program Prep for Prep/Sotheby's Academy, which, as Akili explains, addresses how "American museums need to do a better job of hiring, cultivating, retaining and promoting curators of color."
Learn more about Akili's appointment at the MFA Boston here.