VCU news

By Wesley Hester
VCUarts

Jessica Bell Brown has been named executive director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Since 2022, Brown has served as curator and head of contemporary art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She joined the museum as associate curator in 2019. 

In her new role, which she will assume on Oct. 28, Brown will work to advance the mission of the ICA regionally, nationally and internationally. As a celebrated universitywide resource now within the School of the Arts, the ICA links campus and contemporary artists by supporting local creative communities, engaging an international network of contemporary artists and organizations, and encouraging collaborations with VCU departments, faculty, students and the broader community.

“I am beyond thrilled to lead the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, an institution that I have admired as a leading voice in the field of contemporary art today,” Brown said. “The ICA is a beacon for artistic excellence and freedom, grounded in the potency of ideas, collaboration and exchange. My time in Baltimore has been nothing short of amazing, and I look forward to bridging the incredible relationships and community I’ve been privileged to be part of here, with the thriving creative community in Richmond and its broader cultural ecosystem.”

“I am excited to welcome Jessica to this vital role,” said Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., dean of VCUarts. “Jessica will bring significant expertise as well as a unique vision to the ICA. I am so looking forward to working with Jessica to grow the ICA’s reputation and to generate new and innovative opportunities for our students, our faculty and staff and the broader arts communities.”  

In addition to overseeing the curatorial and programmatic vision for the ICA, Brown will increase an emphasis on cross-disciplinary studies and foster an environment for the most gifted artists and scholars from around the world to explore new terrain in artistic expression.

Asma Naeem, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, said Brown had left an indelible mark on the museum and would be missed. 

“Jessica has been pivotal in shaping the Baltimore Museum of Art’s acclaimed contemporary program, emphasizing a steadfast responsibility to the historical underpinnings of the art of today and to an astonishing array of artists, many of whom are just now getting the attention they deserve,” Naeem said. “Having worked firsthand with Jessica on a number of projects, I can say without hesitation that her commitment to artistic excellence and equity, scholarly acumen, curatorial finesse and overall ethos of collaboration and unwavering kindness are truly stellar.” 

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About Jessica Bell Brown

At the Baltimore Museum of Art, Brown shepherded more than 150 acquisitions as department head, including many national and international artists like Cassi Namoda, Sin Wai Kin, Sasha Gordon, Hend Samir, Janiva Ellis, Billie Zangewa, Bernadette Despujols, Hulda Guzman, Eric N. Mack, and Hew Locke, Ming Smith, Shahzia Sikander and Devin N. Morris.

Brown’s recent exhibitions include “A Movement In Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration,” “How Do We Know the World?,” “Martha Jackson Jarvis: What The Trees Have Seen” and “Tiona Nekkia McClodden: Play Me Home.” In addition to her curatorial leadership at the BMA, she is the curator of Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at One Naval Observatory.

Brown’s stewardship of the BMA’s collection growth has emphasized shaping a more inclusive narrative arc of art history by deepening the museum’s engagement with Baltimore-based and regional artists, BIPOC artists and women artists I. Henry Phillips Sr., Emma Amos, Gordon Parks, Hung Liu, Shirley Gorelick and Mimi Smith. Under her leadership of the Contemporary Department, the BMA’s collection of Indigenous artists expanded significantly to include major works by Dyani White Hawk, Alan Michelson and Rose B. Simpson, among others.

Her tenure has prioritized growing the Contemporary Department’s capacity for ambitious collaboration and partnership initiatives like the Sherman Family Foundation Residency and the establishment of the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation internship program. Her leadership has brought in major gifts to the BMA collection, including the P. Bruce Marine and Donald Hardy Collection of African American Art and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s award-winning installation “More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, MD 2021-2022,” which was supported by Glenstone Museum and will be presented in Baltimore for the first time in November 2024.

Brown’s widely praised 2022 nationally touring exhibition “A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration” co-curated with Ryan N. Dennis, examined the lasting impact of the Great Migration on leading contemporary artists, and is currently on view at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive through September 2024.

Her past BMA exhibitions include “Stephanie Syjuco: Vanishing Point Overlay” (2020) co-curated with Leila Grothe Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, “Thaddeus Mosley: Forest” (2021), “Martha Jackson Jarvis: What The Trees Have Seen” (2023) co-curated with Cecilia Wichmann and Leila Grothe, associate curators of contemporary art, and a major contemporary collection reinstallation “How Do We Know The World?” (2021).

In February 2025, Brown’s culminating projects at the BMA include a second major collection reinstallation of the Contemporary Wing, and site-specific commissions with artists Dala Nasser and Abigail Lucien, both of which will debut as part of the BMA’s “Turn Again to The Earth” initiative.

Prior to her arrival at the BMA, Brown was the consulting curator of Gracie Mansion Conservancy where she curated the installations “She Persists: A Century of Women Artists in New York” in 2019 and “Catalyst: Art and Social Change” in 2020. Brown received the Founders Award of the New York Historic House Trust in 2022. Before that, she held a Mellon Museum Research Consortium fellowship at the Museum of Modern Art in the Department of Painting and Sculpture where she contributed to “Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends” in 2017. Brown serves as an advisory board member of the Block Museum of Art.

Brown holds an M.A. in modern and contemporary art from Princeton University, and a B.A. in art history from Northwestern University, and has published widely on contemporary artists including Senga Nengudi, Theaster Gates, Nari Ward, Lubaina Himid, Meleko Mokgosi, Firelei Báez and Baldwin Lee. The recipient of the 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship, a member of the 2023 class of the Villa Albertine Museums Next Generation Incubator and a recipient of the 2024 VIA Art Fund Curatorial Fellowship, Brown is currently researching for a major exhibition that examines global contemporary artists who mine industrial, agricultural and maritime histories through materiality.