Photo by Rosen-Jones Photograph
Performance Studies Alum Kantara Souffrant (M.A. '10) was recently appointed the Curator of Community Dialogue at The Milwaukee Art Museum.
This newly created position ensures that community engagement is at the center of adult programming at the Museum, through meaningful partnerships with peer institutions and artists, art activations and audience engagement. In addition to serving on the Museum’s Senior Leadership Team, Souffrant will build the institution’s capacity for making Art Relevant to Our Community and deliver Robust Community Programming, two key pillars of the Museum’s Strategic Direction. She will also address social issues through art and be responsible for offsite projects.
“For me, the role of Curator of Community Dialogue is personal: a chance to use art to build bridges across our city while amplifying the voices and experiences of Black, Latinx, and other communities of color,” said Kantara Souffrant. “It isn’t merely about getting more people to come to the Museum; it is about how art and the Milwaukee Art Museum can help shape our city’s future. We’re co-creating a Milwaukee committed to equity, inclusion, diversity, and a healthier city for future generations to inherit. I’m eager to work alongside others doing this work both within and beyond the Milwaukee Art Museum.”
Kantara Souffrant is a museum educator, artist-scholar and independent cultural curator who has worked across academia and the non-profit sector in the pursuit of arts-based social justice and public education. She is currently the Assistant Professor of Global/Non-Western Art History at Illinois State University, where she teaches courses at the intersection of art history, African diasporic culture, and museum studies. She was also Visiting Assistant Professor of Arts of Africa and the Black Atlantic at Oberlin College, in Ohio. Souffrant received her MA in Perfrmance Studies at New York University in 2010, and her PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University in 2017.