Insights from the 2024 Travel Grant Recipients on CIMAM's 2024 Annual Conference

Reflections on the CIMAM Annual Conference in Los Angeles

Since 2005, the CIMAM Travel Grant Program has played a crucial role in fostering cultural exchange and professional development among contemporary art curators and museum directors from emerging and developing economies. Through this initiative, over 400 professionals have gained access to CIMAM Annual Conferences, engaging in critical discussions on the most pressing issues in modern and contemporary art museum practices.

The 2024 CIMAM Annual Conference, "Sustainable Futures: How? When? For Whom?", brought together more than 250 professionals from around the world, offering an invaluable platform for dialogue and collaboration. Thanks to the generous support of our 2024 Travel Grant Program Funders, 34 professionals were awarded grants to attend the conference in Los Angeles, gaining exposure to international perspectives and expanding their professional networks.

Now, we invite the CIMAM community to explore the conference reports from this year’s travel grant recipients. These reports provide unique insights into their experiences at the conference and their interpretations of sustainability in the museum sector. Their reflections highlight the program's impact on their professional development, the importance of global exchange, and how contemporary art museums are rethinking sustainability.

Discover the perspectives of the 2024 Travel Grant recipients

Read these reports and gain firsthand insights from emerging curators and museum directors worldwide, understand the challenges and opportunities in contemporary art museum practices from diverse regional perspectives and see how these professionals are integrating their conference learnings into their local contexts.

We extend our gratitude to the funders who made this year’s Travel Grant Program possible. Their support has allowed 34 museum professionals to participate in a global conversation, shape their careers, and contribute to the field of modern and contemporary art.

• The Getty Foundation (Los Angeles)
• Saastamoinen Foundation (Helsinki)
• Mercedes Vilardell (London/Mallorca)
• Aimée Labarrere de Servitje (Mexico City)
• Eloisa Haudenschild (United States)
• Fernando Zobel de Ayala (Manila)
• OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway (Oslo)
• SAHA (Istanbul)
• Consulate General of Brazil (Los Angeles)
• Byucksan Cultural Foundation (Seoul)

34 CIMAM Travel Grant beneficiaries who attended the Annual Conference:

The Getty Foundation (Los Angeles)

• Santiago Ávila Albuja, Exhibitions and Public Programs Manager, Quito Contemporary Art Center, Quito, Ecuador.
• Douglas de Freitas, Curatorial Coordinator, Inhotim Institute, Museum and Botanical Garden, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• Aindrea Emelife, Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), Benin City, Nigeria, and Curator, Nigeria Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale Di Venezia.
• Marie-Nour Hechaime, Curator, Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon.

• Mayari Juracan, Director, Bienal en resistência, Santa Lucía Milpas Altas, Guatemala.
• Erëmirë Krasniqi, Curator, National Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 60th International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, Pristina, Kosovo.
• Alejandra Labastida Escalante, Curator, MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City, Mexico.
• Christina Li, Independent Curator, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
• Ana Ruiz Valencia, Junior Curator, Medellin Museum of Modern Art, Medellin, Colombia.

• Aprille Tijam, Associate Director and Head of Exhibitions and Collections, Ayala Museum, Makati City, Philippines.
• Armen Yesayants, Director of Exhibitions, Cafesjian Center for the Arts/Cafesjian Museum Foundation, Yerevan, Armenia.
• Chahrazad Zahi, Independent Curator and Researcher, Marrakech, Morocco.
• Larisa Zmud, Independent Curator, Member of Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito, and Director of Sin Destino Aparente, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Saastamoinen Foundation (Helsinki)

• Ramiro Camelo, Curator and Project Manager, Myymälä2, Helsinki, Finland.

• Milja Liimatainen, Curator, Changing Exhibitions, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Finland.
• Ingrid Orman, Chief Curator of Exhibitions, Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), Helsinki, Finland.

Mercedes Vilardell (London/Mallorca)

• Teesa Bahana, Director, 32° East, Kampala, Uganda.
• Martha Kazungu, Founding Director, Njabala Foundation, Kampala, Uganda.

Aimée Labarrere de Servitje (Mexico City)

• Adriana Flores, Independent Curator and Director of Lava, Mexico City, Mexico.
• Fabiola Iza, Curator and Researcher, Mexico City, Mexico.
• Fernanda Ramos Mena, Independent Curator, Mexico City, Mexico.

Eloisa Haudenschild (United States)

• Ilaria Conti, Executive Director and Chief Curator, La Nueva Fábrica (LNF), Santa Ana Antigua, Guatemala.
• Aditya Lingga Rohadi, Assistant Curator, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art di Nusantara (Museum MACAN), Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia.

Fernando Zobel de Ayala (Manila)

• Maria Consuelo Cabrera, Instructor and Independent Curator, Department of Art Studies, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines.
• James Luigi Tana, Independent Curator, Arts Writer, Educator, Cultural Worker, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, Philippines.

OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway (Oslo)

• Silja Leifsdottir, Exhibition Curator, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway.
• Irene Pernille Snarby, Ph.D. Candidate, Curator, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Tromsø, Norway.

• Eva Rowson, Director Bergen Kjøtt, Bergen, Norway.

SAHA (Istanbul)

• Deniz Kirkali, Curator and Co-Founder, Garp Sessions, topsoil, Istanbul, Türkiye.
• Esra Özkan, Independent Curator, Istanbul, Türkiye.

Spanish Support (Spain)

• Alex Alonso Díaz, Director, fluent, Santander, Spain.
• Patricia Sorroche Quesada, Head of Exhibitions, Museu Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain.

Consulate General of Brazil (Los Angeles)

• André Luiz Mesquita, Curator, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Byucksan Cultural Foundation (Seoul)

• Jina Kim, Project Director, Space for Contemporary Art, Seoul, Republic of Korea.