Detroit Institute of Arts hires two black women as assistant curators of contemporary art

or the first time in more than 15 years, the Detroit Institute of Art’s contemporary department has a staff of three. Assistant curators Taylor Renee Aldridge and Lucy Mensah, along with curator Laurie Ann Farrell will lead the DIA’s plans to reinvent their contemporary art department.

Aldridge, a Detroit native and co-founding editor of ARTS.BLACK, recently wrote about Detroit’s black arts scene in our October issue.

“The state of the contemporary black arts community in Detroit deserves to be preserved and prioritized,” Aldridge writes in the piece.

Mensah will be joining Aldridge, coming from a fellowship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

"These are individuals who are outstanding in themselves and also diversify our staff," DIA director Salvador Salort-Pons told the Detroit Free Press. "They're extremely smart and very accomplished for the experience they have."

The DIA recently launched a multimillion-dollar effort to acquire African-American art with the goal of engaging Detroit's black population.