The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is one of very few museums worldwide focused exclusively on contemporary art of the Diaspora of Black people worldwide. They are an esteemed Smithsonian Affiliate and modern art museum focused on uplifting Black art and culture and inspiring learning through the global lens of the African diaspora.
Their CEO, Monetta White, a native San Franciscan, is a career-long community advocate and devoted champion of preserving African American culture. With a background in civic engagement, production, and entrepreneurship, and over 20 years of development experience in public programs and local business, White has collaborated with hundreds of nonprofits, donors, corporations, and creators.
Before coming to the MoAD, White launched two restaurants, served as managing partner of the hospitality consortium Fillmore Food Group, and was credited with leading the revival of San Francisco’s Black jazz district.
White’s connection to MoAD began over 15 years ago, in 2004, at its inception as an avid partner and donor. She has since led MoAD to alliances with institutions such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture; the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Perez Art Museum of Miami; and the African American Art and Cultural Complex. She has also pioneered the U.S. debut of global and internationally regarded Black artists and curators such as Chanell Stone, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Ekow Eshun, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Billie Zangewa, and Amoako Boafo.
Recently, the MoAD presented the first solo museum exhibitions of two highly recognized contemporary artists from Africa: Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo in The Soul of Black Folks and Malawian artist Billie Zangewa’s silk collages in Threads of a Web.
White also highlights new artists they’ve been able to showcase through their Emerging Artist Program. “We have an impressive record of identifying exciting artists ready to step into a full-fledged career as professional, international artists. This year, we have featured Cynthia Aurora Brannvall, Richard-Jonathon Nelson, Trina Michelle Robinson, and Ashley Ross. Last year we had Sydney Cain! In the past, we presented Chanell Stone. The list goes on. So many exciting new artists.”
A current exhibit, The New Black Vanguard, curated by Antwaun Sargent, explores the intersection of fashion and contemporary art through the work of over 15 photographers. These include professional photographers focused on fashion and contemporary artists integrating fashion into their work.
“These artists are pushing boundaries while focusing fashion front and center,” says White.
To highlight three of the included artists, Tyler Mitchell was the first photographer to shoot a Vogue cover – in 2018. Quil Lemons explores representations of Black masculinity. Arielle Bobb-Willis, an artist who speaks openly about her experience with depression, explores the visible and the invisible through fashion.
An upcoming exhibition of which the MoAD is quite proud will be Black Venus.
“Black Venus is a powerful exhibition, including eighteen artists whose work focuses on the legacy of Black women in visual culture, curated by a powerful woman, Andrea Emilife. The exhibition is a celebration of Black beauty, the many faces of Black femininity, and the shaping of Black women in the public consciousness then and now,” says White.
The pandemic was an extreme challenge for the MoAD and all cultural institutions. Closed to in-person visitors for 18 months, they had to furlough staff, cancel exhibitions, switch their fundraising strategy, and do whatever they could to make sure they would survive.
They pivoted from in-person programs to digital programs, including In the Artist’s Studio, Art as We See It, the African Book Club, and more. Their digital programs were quite successful, bringing art and artists into people’s homes.
“We continue to have lots of engagement with our digital programs, so we’ve kept them going even though we’ve been open again for over a year. Our digital following has grown a lot over the past six months along with our membership,” says White.
Everyone at the MoAD agrees that it has been challenging to get up and running again after Covid and wants to focus on strategies to get visitors back into the museum.
However, they are still quite optimistic about visitors’ returning.
“It is amazing to see art back on the walls and to see people coming through our doors and wandering our galleries again. We are seeing more and more long-time friends visiting and new friends arriving,” White says.
As an art museum, they are focused on in-person experiences. But the virtual technology of the Covid shutdowns also opened new doors for the MoAD.
“The ‘globalness’ of the African Diaspora emerged through a forced digital experience. As a non-collecting institution, we benefit from more flexibility in programming, and so we quickly adapted to virtual engagement with artists and audiences. In the first few weeks of the pandemic, we had new members dialing in from countries across Africa, South America, and Europe in numbers we had never seen in person,” explains White.
They now seek to maintain the Digital Diaspora while also encouraging in-person visitors at the MoAD.
“In addition to being a museum for contemporary art, MoAD is equally a space for community and for learning,” White explains.
The MoAD is home to a signature program, the Chef-In-Residence, which focuses on food as creative practice, activism, and a source of well-being. It is an exploration of food, art, and culture and how these intersect throughout the African Diaspora.
MoAD is excited to welcome a new Chef-in-Residence, Jocelyn Jackson, who has taken over from Chef Bryant Terry.
They also host an African Book Club, an African Diaspora Film Club, poetry readings, and other public community events, over 200 a year.