This event brings together artists and educators robin holder, Donna M. Jones, and Tschabalala Self for a discussion about the impact of the Children’s Art Carnival over five decades. The conversation is moderated by Exhibition Curator Souleo and considers the Carnival’s origins, its central role in supporting the art of Black and diverse contemporary artists, and its leadership in creating a dynamic teaching environment and pedagogical model for community-based arts education.
Harlem’s Children’s Art Carnival (1969–present) was an outgrowth of MoMA’s annual event-based arts education series of the same name that was established by MoMA’s founding education director, Victor D’Amico, in 1942. In 1969, MoMA reimagined the Carnival as a free outreach program in Harlem under the leadership of Betty Blayton-Taylor (1937–2016), an artist (as Betty Blayton), educator, community activist, and cofounder of the Studio Museum in Harlem.
This program is presented in collaboration with the Wallach Art Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists, on view from June 26 through September 13, 2026.
robin holder is an American visual artist and activist known for her mixed-technique printmaking and paintings. Her work explores themes of racial, cultural, and spiritual identity, social justice, and personal experience. She has completed several large-scale site-specific public art commissions, most notably 34 glass windows for the NYC subway. She has been active in arts education for more than 40 years and taught at the Children’s Art Carnival.
Donna M. Jones holds an EdD from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. At the Children’s Art Carnival, she worked closely with Betty Blayton, executive director and founder, and Martha Norris, education director. Dr. Jones currently serves on the Carnival’s Board of Directors.
Tschabalala Self lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley. She is an artist who builds a singular style from the syncretic use of painting, printmaking, and sculpture to explore ideas surrounding figuration. Recent solo exhibitions and performances include the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2025), Longlati Foundation, Shanghai (2025), and Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland (2024), among others. In Self’s youth, she attended the Children’s Art Carnival.
Souleo is a curator, writer, impresario, consultant, and muse who documents and amplifies the stories of emerging and underrepresented artists and creative figures. Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists is his most recent exhibition. Previous curatorial projects include Beau McCall: Buttons On! (2024-present), Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, and national tour; Dianne Smith: Two Turntables & a Microphone, (2023) at Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, and Showing Out: Fashion in Harlem, (2021), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY amongst others.
Accessibility
This theater is equipped with an induction loop that transmits directly to hearing aids with T-coils.
Live CART captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available for public programs upon request with two weeks’ advance notice. MoMA will make every effort to provide accommodation for requests made with less than two weeks’ notice. Please contact [email protected] to make a request for these accommodations.
The nearest all-gender restroom is located in the Cullman Mezzanine.
Wheelchair-accessible seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information on accessibility at MoMA, please visit moma.org/visit/accessibility.
Major funding is provided by the Agnes Gund Education Endowment Fund for Public Programs, the Jeanne Thayer Young Scholars Fund, and the Annual Education Fund.