PAFA Announces Recipient of Diversity Curatorial Fellowship

Kelli Morgan named the first Winston & Carolyn Lowe Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Fine Arts, created to enhance diversity within the major institutional museum field

PHILADELPHIA (June 20, 2016) -- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is excited to announce the recipient of a new two-year curatorial fellowship dedicated to enhancing diversity ranks among curators in the fine arts.

Kelli Morgan, a scholar, curator, author, lecturer, and teacher, has been named the first recipient of The Winston & Carolyn Lowe Curatorial Fellowship for Diversity in the Fine Arts at PAFA. Morgan is due to receive a doctorate in Afro-American Studies this year from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where in 2013 she earned her Master of Arts degree in Afro-American Studies and a graduate certificate in Public History-Museum Studies. She received a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies in 2006 from Wayne State University.

Morgan has worked in a variety of curatorial, programming, teaching, and research positions at institutions including Wayne State, UMass-Amherst, and Birmingham Museum of Art. She has lectured widely including at Villanova University, Smith College, Association of Art Museum Curators, National Council for Black Studies, and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. She is the recipient of awards and grants from the Ford Foundation, University of Massachusetts and Wayne State University.

A financial commitment to fully fund this appointment and successive fellows has been generously provided by Winston Lowe, a member of PAFA's Board of Trustees, and Carolyn Oakley Lowe, a member of the Board's Human Resources Committee and School Committee.

"We are extremely grateful for the visionary generosity of Winston and Carolyn Lowe in establishing this fellowship to create a leadership example of what is required to improve diversity in the museum curatorial profession," said David R. Brigham, PAFA President and CEO. "We are thrilled to have attracted Kelli Morgan as the talented, dynamic first recipient, both for what it promises to her professional growth and the talent and perspective she will bring to PAFA."

"Kelli Morgan is an outstanding choice to receive this prestigious appointment at PAFA," continued Winston Lowe. "She brings new and additional dimensions of experience and expertise to the nationally renowned curatorial staff at PAFA. Carolyn and I look forward to this curatorial fellowship serving as a spring board for successive curatorial fellows to acquire professional curatorial roles at world class art museums in the future."

The fellowship was created to provide an opportunity for a highly qualified candidate to gain professional curatorial experience at a nationally renowned museum of American art with a degree-granting school of fine arts.

As the Lowe Curatorial Fellow, Morgan will be responsible for collection- and exhibition-related research focusing on historic, modern, or contemporary American art and artists, particularly from art and artists from underrepresented groups of Americans, with an emphasis on developing engaging exhibitions and publications, audience development, fundraising and public relations.

The Lowe Curatorial Fellowship is designed to provide a professional bridge to a major institutional museum career and encourage diversity within the major institutional museum field. The fellowship is a full-time, two-year position offering a highly mentored and structured curatorial experience at PAFA.

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school of fine arts and museum. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education with a world-class permanent collection of American art.