About
In 2015 the Studio Museum in Harlem and The Museum of Modern Art joined forces to host a joint two-year fellowship program aimed at mentoring and diversifying the next generation of museum curators and professionals. Fellows spend one year at each museum and work within curatorial departments, gaining in-depth experience. In addition to the work at each institution, fellows receive a travel allowance to explore independent research beyond New York City and to facilitate connections with art and museum professionals around the world. Working with the museum collections and exhibition histories of each institution, fellows are challenged to contemplate the broader role of museums in contemporary society.
Curatorial Fellows
Each institution accepts two museum fellows, in MoMA’s curatorial departments of Drawings and Prints and Media and Performance, and in the Studio Museum’s permanent collections. Fellows are invited to work collaboratively with museum staff while pursuing independent research and professional development. This unique opportunity gives participants the chance to experience how two museums with shared values, different scales, and distinct missions interact with a broad community of artists and audiences.
The curatorial fellows participate in the essential activities of a curatorial department at each institution. Under the guidance of the curatorial staff, fellows assist with logistics, research, planning, and programming within the department. In addition to hands-on experience, the program provides mentorship from experienced curators, as well as professional development opportunities designed to foster a deep understanding of and future involvement in the field of art history.
2024–2026 Studio Museum in Harlem | The Museum of Modern Art Collaboration Fellows
Maya Davis
Maya Davis lives and works in New York City. Davis holds her BA in Art History from San Diego State University and was a member of the inaugural cohort of Spelman College’s Early College Program in Art History and Curatorial Studies. Davis has previously held national and international curatorial positions in institutions such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Arkansas), Lorenzo de’Medici Institute Gallery (Italy), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York).
At the Studio Museum, Davis worked alongside Assistant Curator Jayson Overby to fulfill research and logistical needs for upcoming projects. Davis contributed to reinstating site-specific permanent installations at the Studio Museum in Harlem. With Adaiya Granberry, former Studio Museum Robert Rausenberg Fellow, and Abigail Gordon, current SMH/MoMA Fellow, she also co-curated at an arm’s length: Expanding the Walls 2025, a Studio Museum in Harlem digital exhibition exploring physicality, closeness, and interiority through photography.
Davis’s research interests largely investigate intersections of the body and domestic work through a Black feminist lens. In 2025, she completed a research trip examining presentations of women’s reproductive labor and caretaking within institutional art collections. Through a curatorial analysis of exhibitions and museum collections as well as interviews with curators, artists, and arts professionals in Atlanta, Georgia, and Stockholm, Sweden, Davis’s trip focused on how to encourage visualization of reproductive history, instead of silencing its importance through erasure.
At MoMA, she is working in the Department of Drawings and Prints with Curator Esther Adler.
Abigail Gordon
Abigail Gordon is an emerging curator and artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Abigail received her BA in Visual Arts with a minor in Spanish from Spelman College, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Abigail has a diverse background in the arts, having worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Art21, and the Amant Foundation.
Working within the Permanent Collection at the Studio Museum under Curator Connie H. Choi, Gordon was involved in several inaugural projects, including the Tom Lloyd exhibition catalogue, the 2025 Studio Museum Collection Handbook, and an archives exhibition on the history of the Studio Museum in Harlem. She also co-curated the exhibition at the Studio Museum, at an arm’s length: Expanding the Walls 2025 with Adaiya Granberry, former Studio Museum Robert Rausenberg Fellow, and Maya Davis, current Studio Museum/MoMA Fellow.
Her research interest focuses on craft-based mediums within both the African and Asian Diasporas, investigating the ways tradition informs contemporary art. Gordon travelled to the Philippines for her research project, and met with Tessa Maria Guazon, the Head Curator of Vargas Museum, as well as fashion designer Patis Tesoro. She toured various textile workshops and gained a deeper understanding of the traditional weaving and sewing practices in the Asia Pacific region.
At MoMA, she is working in the Department of Media and Performance with Curator Thomas (T.) Lax.
Cam McEwen
Cam McEwen is an arts administrator based in New York City. McEwen holds a BA in art history from Boston College, and an MA in art history from Tulane University. He has previously held positions with the Black Reconstruction Collective, the New Orleans African American Museum, and the MCA Chicago.
The first year of McEwen’s fellowship was spent in MoMA’s Department of Media and Performance, working with Curator Thomas (T.) Lax. McEwen contributed to performance projects including Mariana Valencia: Jacklean (in rehearsal), Studio Residency: Jonathan Berger; and the exhibition Artist’s Choice: Arthur Jafa—Less Is Morbid.
In addition to his work on exhibitions at MoMA, McEwen’s research interests include social practice as a form of artmaking, and the historic networks and art spaces which made up Los Angeles’ Black art scene from the 1960s through the 1990s. On a fellowship research trip, McEwen visited multiple community-based artist spaces and artist projects in Los Angeles. These included Art + Practice, Crenshaw Dairy Mart, KAOS Network, the Watts Towers Arts Center, the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, and others.
At the Studio Museum, McEwen is working with Assistant Curator Adria Gunter.
Taylor Ndiaye
Taylor Ndiaye lives and works in New York City. Ndiaye holds a BA in Art History from Bard College in 2022, and is currently completing an MA in Art History at the City College of New York, CUNY. Ndiaye’s research interests include photography, Southern and folk art traditions, as well as contemporary arts of the African diaspora.
In the first year of her Fellowship at MoMA, Ndiaye worked with Drawings and Prints Curator Esther Adler and Curatorial Associate Emily Olek on a variety of projects; notably supporting the opening of Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction in April 2025. In addition to her work on past and upcoming exhibitions, Ndiaye has completed research to support department acquisitions and deaccessions, providing key information on artists such as Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015), whose recently acquired drawing went on view for the first time in the Fall of 2024.
2022–2024 Studio Museum in Harlem | The Museum of Modern Art Collaboration Fellows
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