Collecting for the Future: American Art at the Whitney

Online, via Zoom

Open to: all members and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Society Members

Members of the Whitney Museum and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Society are invited to join Kim Conaty, Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, and Marcela Guerrero, DeMartini Family Curator, for an inside look at the process of cultivating the Whitney Museum of American Art’s collection. This virtual program will examine the origins of the Museum’s collection, how it has been thoughtfully stewarded, and plans for future expansion. 

The Whitney's collection is the heart of the Museum and contains over 26,000 works by more than 3,900 artists. During this unique talk, experience the collection beyond what’s on view in our galleries and be among the first to hear about key priorities for growing it in the years ahead.

Kim Conaty, Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator
Kim Conaty was named the Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator in 2024. As a member of the Museum’s senior leadership team, Conaty oversees the Museum’s curatorial, publications, and conservation departments. She is also responsible for the Museum’s scholarly and artistic programs while managing the development of the Museum’s permanent collection and exhibitions. Conaty has worked at the Whitney since 2017 and was formerly the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints. She recently curated the landmark exhibition Edward Hopper’s New York (2022), one of the most popular and critically acclaimed exhibitions in the Museum’s history. In addition to developing leading exhibitions and best-selling catalogues, Conaty also co-directed the development of the Whitney’s Collection Strategic Plan (CSP), a multiyear research initiative to comprehensively assess the Museum’s collection of more than 26,000 works and set priorities for its future. 

Marcela Guerrero, DeMartini Family Curator
Marcela Guerrero came to the Whitney from the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, where she worked as a Curatorial Fellow from 2014 to 2017. At the Hammer, she was involved in the much-lauded exhibition Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985. Prior to joining the Hammer, she worked in the Latin American and Latino art department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. At the Whitney, Guerrero has organized important exhibitions and worked to foreground the contributions of Latinx artists in the U.S. and increase the presence of their works in the Whitney’s collection. Recently, she curated the landmark exhibition no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria, the first survey of Puerto Rican art at a major U.S. art museum in fifty years. Guerrero has served as co-chair of the Whitney’s Emerging Artist Working Group and has been instrumental in the Museum’s recent Spanish language initiatives both digitally and on-site.