News

The Cleveland Institute of Art will celebrate the commencement of its Class of 2011 with a special address by contemporary arts scholar Lowery Stokes Sims, PhD, on May 14 in the Institute’s Aitken Auditorium.

Sims is currently the Charles Bronfman Curator at the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) in Manhattan. There, she organizes innovative programs and exhibitions using her expertise in the work of African, Latino, Native, and Asian American contemporary artists.

Prior to MAD, Sims served at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which under her leadership became a key presenter of cutting-edge trends in contemporary art created by black artists.

Before the Studio Museum, Sims was on the education and curatorial staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 27 years. Significantly for the Cleveland Institute of Art, she was a strong supporter of the integration of design (and architecture) into the Metropolitan’s contemporary art collection.

Throughout her career Sims has also published extensively, guest curated numerous exhibitions, served on the jury for the memorial for the World Trade Center, and taught as visiting professor at several universities.

Sims earned a doctorate in art history and a master of philosophy from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. She holds a master of arts in art history from Johns Hopkins University, and a bachelor of arts from Queens College of the City University of New York.