Whitney Museum Promotes Adrienne Edwards To Senior Curator, Associate Director

Adrienne Edwards has spearheaded several groundbreaking shows like the debut museum exhibition of composer Jason Moran.

The Whitney Museum of American Art has promoted Adrienne Edwards to Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs.

In her new role, effective on Feb. 26, Edwards will help guide the artistic vision of the museum under Director Scott Rothkopf, according to Culture Type.

“I am thrilled that Adrienne’s scholarship and instincts for new talent will help define our artistic program,” Rothkopf said, according to Culture Type, also citing her partnership with Gregg Bordowitz to shape the museum’s Independent Study Program (ISP) to expand interdisciplinary inquiry in research. Edwards said she looks forward to partnering with the artist to lead The vWhitney’s ISP “at this singular juncture in its history” through the program nurturing emerging artists across disciplines.

Edwards has spearheaded several groundbreaking shows, like the debut museum exhibition of composer Jason Moran. She also co-curated the prestigious 2022 Whitney Biennial.

The #WhitneyBiennial has surveyed the landscape of American art, echoing and shaping the cultural conversation, since 1932. Co-curators David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards take us behind-the-scenes as the Whitney prepares for its signature exhibition.https://t.co/P6vJ5cOMz6 pic.twitter.com/l0OzqaoT9g
— Whitney Museum (@whitneymuseum) March 30, 2022

During her tenure, she has organized innovative exhibitions, including the upcoming “Edges of Ailey,” spotlighting choreographer Alvin Ailey’s enduring legacy, to open in September of this year.

Rothkopf praised her as “one of the most visionary curators and thinkers of our time,” saying, “Each of her shows forges an innovative new model of what an exhibition can be,” Culture Type reported.

In her elevated role, Edwards will be instrumental in setting the museum’s artistic vision and strategic direction moving forward. “I am exhilarated by the possibilities this expanded role offers,” Edwards said, citing The Whitney’s consistent support of her boundary-pushing curatorial work.

Edwards joined the museum in 2018 to lead performance programming as a performance curator. Three years later, the scholar, curator, and writer was named director of curatorial affairs.

Before The Whitney, Edwards curated performance art at several major institutions and taught art history at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. in performance studies from NYU.