Studio Museum in Harlem Shares Further Details Around Spring/Summer 2026 Season

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HARLEM, NEW YORK, NY, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2026 — The Studio Museum in Harlem is pleased to announce the full slate of its spring and summer 2026 exhibitions and programs. Opening on May 1, Fade is the latest edition of the Museum’s “F” show series of exhibitions of work by emerging artists. Featuring newly commissioned and loaned artwork by seventeen early-career artists of African and Afro-Latinx descent from the United States, this exhibition builds upon the Museum’s commitment to showcasing today's working artists and reflects the contemporary concerns of a new generation of artists. Fade joins exhibitions and installations currently on view at the Museum, including BLEED, a monumental site-specific commission by the French and Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga; and From Now: A Collection in Context, an expansive rotating installation of the Museum’s celebrated permanent collection that features a new thematic section of sixty-six small-scale works.

In July, the Museum will present works by the seventeen participants in the 2026 cohort of Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History, and Community—the institution’s free photography program for high school-aged youth—alongside a display of photographs by James Van Der Zee, the acclaimed Harlem photographer whose archives serve as an entry point to the program.

Engaging public programs for visitors of all ages will supplement the Museum’s spring and summer seasons, including the 2026 Artist-in-Residence Open Studios, where visitors are invited to meet artists in residence Derriann Pharr, Simonette Quamina, and Taylor Simmons, and be among the first to view their works in progress before their culminating exhibition at the Museum in September. The Museum will also host a full day of programming on Juneteenth and welcomes the return of Uptown Fridays!, the Museum’s free summer series that brings together art, culture, and music.

Thelma Golden, Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, said, “It is my absolute pleasure to expand upon the Museum’s inaugural year of programming with an exciting summer season, which uplifts our mission and honors the innovative exhibitions and programs we have come to be known for. I am especially delighted to welcome Fade, which continues our founding mandate to present new, innovative, and experimental work and to respond directly to the creative climate of the contemporary artistic community.”

Exhibitions and Presentations
Fade (on view from May 1 until September 6, 2026) is the sixth installment of the Studio Museum’s “F” show series of exhibitions of work by emerging artists. Fade features the work of seventeen early-career artists of African and Afro-Latinx descent from across the United States.

Working amid a turbulent era in US history shaped by widespread social and political change, the artists in Fade embrace spirituality, surrealism, and nonlinear conceptions of time to locate spaces of possibility.

Artists in Fade include Turiya Adkins, Harlan Bozeman, Kiah Celeste, Antonio Darden, Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, Jesús Hilario-Reyes, Y. Malik Jalal, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, Andina Marie Osorio, Utē Petit, Taj Poscé, Amina Ross, Coumba Samba, Shani Strand, Malaika Temba, Chiffon Thomas, and London Pierre Williams.

Augmenting the exhibition is a new seven-episode audio series, Unpacking: Fade, which will be released on Friday, May 1. Listeners can hear from current and past curators of the Museum’s renowned “F” show series and the artists of Fade. The first two episodes will feature a discussion between Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim, former Curatorial Assistant, Assistant Curator, and Associate Curator, about the inception of Freestyle
and the legacy of the “F” shows, and insightful commentary on the making of Fade from the exhibition’s curators. Unpacking: Fade is produced by SOUND MADE PUBLIC and will be available wherever podcasts are found.

Fade is organized by Adria Gunter, Assistant Curator; Yelena Keller, Associate Curator; Jayson Overby Jr., Assistant Curator; Kiki Teshome, Curatorial Assistant; and Habiba Hopson, former Senior Curatorial Assistant. Exhibition support provided by Maya Davis, Abigail Gordon, Cam McEwen, and Taylor Ndiaye, Studio Museum/MoMA Curatorial Fellows; and Maria Wilson, Robert Rauschenberg Curatorial Fellow.

Kapwani Kiwanga: BLEED (on view until April 1, 2027) is a new site-specific commission by French and Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga. BLEED draws inspiration from quilting traditions and the symbolism embedded in their intricate designs. Along the Underground Railroad, quilts hanging on clotheslines were believed to be stitched with codes that communicated critical information. BLEED features one of these motifs—a pattern of triangles called the “flying geese” that was purported to guide people north.

Kapwani Kiwanga: BLEED is organized by Yelena Keller, Associate Curator.

A new rotation for From Now: A Collection in Context (on view until August 16, 2026), a shifting presentation of thematic exchanges drawn entirely from the Studio Museum in Harlem’s collection, features sixty-six small-scale works that vary in subject matter, medium, and technique. Artists whose work is newly on display in From Now include Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Laylah Ali, Kevin Beasley, Vaginal Davis, Rashawn Griffin, Cynthia Hawkins, Whitfield Lovell, and Augusta Savage, among many others. From Now will undergo three remaining rotations before it closes in August.

From Now: A Collection in Context is organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Curatorial Department.

The culminating exhibition of the 2026 Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History, and Community cohort (on view from July 2, 2026, until summer 2027) will feature work by the program’s seventeen participants and will be presented alongside a display of photographs by James Van Der Zee, the celebrated Harlem photographer whose archives serve as an entry point to the program.

This exhibition is organized by Cam McEwen and Taylor Ndiaye, Studio Museum/MoMA Curatorial Fellows; and Maria Wilson, Robert Rauschenberg Curatorial Fellow.

Presented in the Museum’s fourth-floor gallery, the 2026 Artist-in-Residence Exhibition (on view from September 2026 until January 2027) will feature artwork made by the Museum’s 2026 artists in residence, Derriann Pharr, Simonette Quamina, and Taylor Simmons, throughout the course of their residency.

The 2026 Artist-in-Residence exhibition is organized by Adria Gunter, Assistant Curator. Exhibition and research support is provided by Cam McEwen, Studio Museum/MoMA Curatorial Fellow.

Also on View
To Be a Place (on view until August 30, 2026) is a visual timeline of historical documents, media, and programming ephemera that lays out a concise and detailed narrative of the Museum, from its former building on Fifth Avenue to its current location on 125th Street. To Be a Place
offers visitors an opportunity to discover the host of exhibitions, events, and programs that have defined the institution, and the communities with which it has engaged, throughout nearly six decades of cultural, political, and societal change.

To Be a Place is organized by Habiba Hopson, former Senior Curatorial Assistant. Exhibition research is provided by Abigail Gordon, Studio Museum/MoMA Curatorial Fellow, Vita Kurland, former Archivist, and Lila Milgrom, former Archives Coordinator.

Camille Norment: Untitled (heliotrope) (ongoing) is a site-informed sculptural and sound installation by the Norway-based interdisciplinary artist Camille Norment. Commissioned by the Studio Museum in Harlem for its terrace staircase, Untitled (heliotrope) is inspired by contemporary and historical migration. Handwoven by the artist herself, brass wires frame brass tubes of varying lengths and diameters, with the resulting shape recalling a pipe organ and a raft.

Camille Norment: Untitled (heliotrope) is organized by Habiba Hopson, former Senior Curatorial Assistant.

Christopher Myers: Harlem Is a Myth (ongoing) is a site-specific installation in the Museum’s Education Workshops that depicts an intergenerational community of mythic beings, including iconic figures from Harlem. In this work, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar transforms into a basketball-carrying centaur, jazz legends Thelonious Monk and Count Basie sprout butterfly and angel wings, and two girls strike poses with antlers and a tail.

Christopher Myers: Harlem Is a Myth is organized by Adria Gunter, Assistant Curator.

Upcoming Programs
Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 1:30–6:00 pm
Next Up
Next Up invites early-career professionals and students interested in exploring opportunities in museums to ask questions, make connections in the industry, and learn from Museum staff across a variety of departments, including curatorial, education, finance, and visitor experience, among others. As part of the Studio Museum Institute, Next Up reflects the Museum's commitment to training and mentoring leaders in the art world from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

Refreshments and light snacks will be provided as part of this program. RSVP is required.

Sunday, May 17, 4:00–5:30 pm
Studio Salon: When Home Is a Photograph
This conversation between scholars Leigh Raiford and Salamishah Tillet celebrates the release of Raiford’s new book, When Home Is a Photograph: Blackness and Belonging in the World, published by Duke University Press. In When Home Is a Photograph, Raiford asks how Black people use photography to make home in the world. Raiford focuses on a selection of Black American activists and artists, including Sadie Barnette, Dawoud Bey, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Marcus Garvey, Eslanda Goode Robeson, and James Van Der Zee to explore the complex relationship between racialized subjects and the medium of photography.

Saturday, June 13, 2026, 2:00–6:00 pm
2026 Artist-in-Residence Open Studios
The Museum’s annual Open Studios welcomes the public into the studios of the 2026 artists in residence, Derriann Pharr, Simonette Quamina, and Taylor Simmons. Visitors are invited to meet the artists and be among the first to view their works in progress before their culminating exhibition in September. Open Studios will take place at the Museum and is free and open to all.

Friday, June 19, 2026, 11:00 am–8:00 pm
Juneteenth Community Day
This Juneteenth, the Studio Museum in Harlem in commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans through reflections, celebrations, and a call to action. As many people in the Black and brown community remain unfree, the Museum takes this day to reflect and explore creative ways to build a freer world for all. The day starts with healing movement and sound-based workshops with Tara Aura, followed by in-gallery curator discussions, an intergenerational participatory discussion led by TeAna Taylor and Stanley “Jamel” Bellamy of Releasing Aging People in Prisons, and a panel discussion with longtime Studio Museum collaborators Artistic Noise that explores creative advocacy for incarcerated populations. The day closes with a performance on the Stoop by Harlem-based pianist Warner Meadows and special guests.

Saturday, June 27, 2026, 1:00–6:00 pm
Museums as Systems
“Museums as Systems” is an annual symposium that features panel discussions on various theoretical and practical aspects of museum work, putting established arts and cultural workers in dialogue with the next generation of thinkers and workers. This year's theme is Black study, an expansive term that considers for how knowledge is produced, held, and shared.

Friday, July 10; Friday, July 31; Friday, August 14; Friday, August 28, 6:00–10:00 pm
Uptown Fridays!
This summer series transforms the Studio Museum in Harlem into a vibrant social hub by combining music, dancing, art, and curatorial talks.

Ongoing Programs
Every Sunday
There is free admission to the Studio Museum every Sunday, from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm, with Studio Sunday, a day of programs designed for visitors of all ages, including children and their families. In addition to viewing the exhibitions, visitors can enjoy talks, tours, art-making workshops, and storytime. Though admission is free, tickets are required.

Every Third Wednesday of the Month
Lil’ Studio, held every third Wednesday of the month from 10:00 until 11:00 am, is a free early childhood program that engages children and their adult(s) in reading, singing, movement, and art making to build social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and language development. Parents, caregivers, and organizations caring for little ones under five years old are invited to enjoy activities that encourage creative time and bonding. Pre-registration is required.

Teen Studio, held every third Wednesday of the month from 4:00 until 6:00 pm, is a free drop-in art-making program for teens aged fourteen to eighteen. Participants build community, learn collaboratively, and create together through projects centered on art and artists of African descent. No prior art experience is necessary and snacks and supplies are provided. Pre-registration is required.

Funding Credits
Exhibition Support
Bank of America is the Studio Museum in Harlem’s lead opening and inaugural exhibitions sponsor. Major support for the inaugural exhibitions has been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Support for Fade is provided by the Alice L. Walton Foundation Exhibitions Endowment, Bob and Jane Clark, and the Charina Endowment Fund.

Inaugural artist commissions by Camille Norment and Christopher Myers are supported by funds from the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Acquisition Committee and Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins. Additional support for Camille Norment’s installation is provided by Dawanna Williams.

The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist-in-Residence program is funded by the Glenstone Foundation. Additional support for the Artist-in Residence program provided by The American Express Kenneth and Kathryn Chenault Sponsorship Fund; Joy of Giving Something; Jerome Foundation; and by endowments established by the Andrea Frank Foundation; the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Trust; and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Learning & Engagement Program Support
The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Learning and Engagement programs are supported by the Thompson Foundation Education Fund and Alice L. Walton Foundation Education and Engagement Endowment.

Expanding the Walls is made possible with support from the Keith Haring Foundation Education Fund; Joy of Giving Something; The KHR McNeely Family Foundation, Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose McNeely; Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation; William Talbott Hillman Foundation; Hearst Endowment Fund; and by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Trust. The Studio Museum is deeply grateful for Donna Van Der Zee’s continued support of this program.

Generous support for Studio Sundays provided by Art Bridges.

Studio Museum Institute programming is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation and The Alexandra Llewellyn Clancy Endowment Fund.

Teen Studio is made possible with support from the Keith Haring Foundation Education Fund; Hearst Endowment Fund; and by the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Trust.

Additional funding for the Studio Museum in Harlem is generously provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About the Studio Museum in Harlem
Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, the Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. The Studio Museum’s new home, situated at its longtime location on West 125th Street, opened to the public on November 15, 2025. Designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson serving as executive architect, the building—the first created expressly for the institution’s program—enables the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program. 

For more information, visit studiomuseum.org.

Visitor Information
The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at 144 West 125th Street, between Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).

The Studio Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, with extended hours on Friday and Saturday, from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.The Museum is open to Members on Saturday mornings, from 10:00 to 11:00 am, before the galleries open to the public.

Admission rates are offered as a suggestion, with Sundays free for everyone. Suggested rates are $16 for adults and $9 for seniors (sixty-five years and over), students, and visitors with disabilities (care partners are free). Admission is free for children sixteen and under.

Tickets to the Studio Museum may be purchased online at studiomuseum.org/visit or at the Museum.

Media Contact
Sasha Cordingley
Studio Museum in Harlem
[email protected]

Meagan Jones
Polskin Arts
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