New Worlds: June Critics Page Discussion

Montréal-born eunice bélidor is a curator, author, and researcher, as well as an adjunct professor affiliated with the Department of Art History at Concordia University. In her current practice, she looks at questioning as a method and at letter writing as creating autotheory and its intersection with care, feminism, and racial issues. She has organized exhibitions in Canada and Europe, and her writings have been published in Esse, Canadian Art, Hyperallergic, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, Invitation, InCirculation, and ESPACE. She is the recipient of the Hnatyshn Foundation–TD Bank Group Emerging Curator in Contemporary Art Award (2018). She has worked at articule, the FOFA Gallery at Concordia University (Montréal), and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Melissa Cowley Wolf is an advisor, author, speaker, yoga instructor, and coach. In 2017 she founded MCW Projects LLC, an advisory firm specializing in next era philanthropic strategy and organizational wellness for leaders and collectives who want to make an impact. Melissa is also the director of Arts Funders Forum (AFF), an advocacy, media, convening, and research platform designed to increase private support for the arts. She has over 20 years of experience in philanthropy, programming, and strategic & campaign planning, contributing to campaigns up to $4 Billion, working with internationally renowned cultural, corporate, and academic leaders; philanthropists; collectors; and artists.

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Verge Agency, Julia V. Hendrickson, SHRM-SCP (she/her) is experienced in people and project management via commercial galleries and non-profit museums. Most recently as the Managing Director at David Kordansky Gallery, with Verge Co-Founder Ola Mobolade and others Julia spearheaded the gallery’s cultural change efforts, earning a feature in The New York Times. Through her hiring, recruitment, and inclusion work, she led the growth of the gallery from a predominantly white institution to a more diverse, multi-cultural team. Julia is a Senior Certified Professional with the Society for Human Resource Management, and holds a Master’s degree in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Verge Agency, Lise K. Ragbir (she/her) has dedicated her 20-year career to creating access to a range of art experiences. She has worked with corporate and public collections, non- and for-profit organizations, and organized exhibitions featuring artists Dawoud Bey, Genevieve Gaignard, Jacob Lawrence, and Deborah Roberts, among others. She is the co-editor of Collecting Black Studies: The Art of Material Culture (2020), and her essays about race, identity, immigration, and cultural representation have appeared in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Artnet, The Guardian, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Boston Globe, and other publications. Lise is a graduate of Harvard University’s Museum Studies program.

Phyllis Hollis is a patron of the arts and an advocate for underrepresented Artists and Art Professionals. Her podcast, Cerebral Women Art Talks, offers unique content created to engage and educate, to promote greater equality and equity within the visual arts community. Hollis is a trustee of GuildHall and SVA Alumni Society in NY, and Seven Hills Realty Trust (SEVN). She is a member of the MoMA Black Arts Council executive committee and formerly on Skowhegan and ArtTable boards. She has a proven track record driving DEI initiatives. Hollis has more than thirty years’ experience in financial services and is the former CEO of a boutique broker-dealer in NYC.

James McAnally is the Executive and Artistic Director of Counterpublic. Previously, McAnally was the co-founder and director of The Luminary, an expansive platform for art, thought, and action based in St. Louis. He additionally serves as the executive editor and co-founder of MARCH: a journal of art & strategy and was a founding member of Common Field, a national network of independent art spaces and organizers. McAnally’s writing has appeared in publications such as Art in America, Art Journal, Artnet, Bomb Magazine, Terremoto, and many others, and his publications are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and elsewhere. McAnally is a recipient of the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for Short-Form Writing.

Allison Glenn is a New York-based curator and writer focusing on the intersection of art and public space, through public art and special projects, biennials, and major new commissions by a wide range of contemporary artists. Previous roles include Co-Curator of Counterpublic Triennial 2023 and Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Glenn is currently a Visiting Curator in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Tulsa, organizing Sovereign Futures, and Artistic Director of The Shepherd, a three-and-a-half-acre arts campus part of the newly christened Little Village cultural district in Detroit.