ST. LOUIS, Aug. 20, 2024 — The Saint Louis Art Museum will host a free virtual summit Sept. 26 centering mentorship, education and community in the arts. The summit will include a panel discussion and a keynote address by Sarah Lewis, art and cultural historian and associate professor at Harvard University.
The event, titled Advancing Change: Centering Mentorship in Arts, Education, and Community Diversity Summit, begins online at 10 am. Registration is required.
Min Jung Kim, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, and Renée Brummell Franklin, the museum’s chief diversity officer, will welcome participants and provide opening remarks at this year’s summit.
Sarah Lewis is the founder of Vision & Justice and the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and associate professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. She is the author of “The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America” and “The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery.” She is also the editor of the award-winning “Vision & Justice” special edition of Aperture magazine as well as an anthology on the work of Carrie Mae Weems. Her keynote address will set the stage for deep exploration of how mentorship can shape and elevate careers in arts-related fields.
In a panel discussion, three alumnae of the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship will reflect upon the critical role of mentorship in their personal and professional growth and provide practical guidance for emerging artists, educators and community leaders seeking to make their mark. The panel members are Rehema Barber, director of curatorial affairs for the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Jade Powers, the Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art; and Joi Ellene Stampley-Whiley, an artist, art instructor and arts administrator. Justice Henderson, SLAM’s 2023-2025 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow, will moderate the discussion.
Advancing Change, launched in 2021, is inspired by SLAM’s Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship, which started more than 30 years ago and is one of the nation’s longest-running postgraduate training opportunities for museum professionals from historically underrepresented populations. The fellowship boasts a 96 percent rate of alums still working in the arts and cultural sector; the summit provides an opportunity to hear from Bearden alums and how they continue to be changemakers in their fields.
CONTACT: Molly Morris, 314.655.5250, molly.morris@slam.org
Sarah Lewis. Photo by S. Rosner