American Federation of Arts

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American Federation of Arts

Nonprofit organization founded in 1909 that develops traveling exhibitions for presentation in museum

The American Federation of Arts is the leader in traveling exhibitions internationally. A nonprofit organization founded in 1909, the AFA is dedicated to enriching the public’s experience and understanding of the visual arts through organizing and touring art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishing exhibition catalogues featuring important scholarly research, and developing educational programs. For more information about the AFA, visit www.amfedarts.org.

08/06/2026

On Wednesday, October 28th, celebrate the power of art, culture, and the philanthropy that makes it possible at our 2026 Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards!

We're delighted to introduce this year's second Honoree: Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA. Michael's leadership has redefined what a museum can be in the 21st century. He has led the remarkable transformation of the museum's campus, civic presence, and public engagement, which continues to have enduring impact on the field. During his tenure, LACMA has acquired by donation or purchase more than 46,000 works for the permanent collection, doubled gallery space and programs, and more than doubled its average annual attendance to well over one million.

We hope you’ll join us in honoring Mr. Govan's inspiring achievements, and share in our commitment to bringing exceptional art experiences to audiences everywhere.

🔗 Secure your tickets now at the link in bio and be a part of this special evening! 🌟

Wednesday, October 28th
The Pierre | 2 East 61st Street, NYC

07/28/2026

Today, we honor the life and legacy of legendary artist Betye Saar, who passed the morning of Sunday, July 26, just shy of her 100th birthday. Celebrated for her mixed-media assemblages, which often employed found objects and ephemera to explore themes of identity, spirituality, and cultural memory, Saar was a leading voice of the Black Arts Movement and remains a singular voice in contemporary art.

Two of Saar's works were featured in "Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem" (January 16, 2019–August 15, 2021), a major traveling exhibition co-organized by the American Federation of Arts that featured over 100 artists from the museum's collection.

"Saar makes magic. Equal parts mystic, enchantress, and scavenger, she is well known for her spellbinding mixed-media assemblages... ...Drawing on the tumultuous energy of the national civil rights movement and local organizing in Souther California, cultural and spiritual traditions, and her own mixed African-America, Native American, and Irish heritage, Saar's windows and altarpieces traffic in the realm of the universal." –– Stephanie Sparling Williams, PhD, curator and scholar

07/23/2026

Join us for an unforgettable evening at the 2026 Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards, October 28th at the stunning Guastavino’s in NYC!

We're delighted to introduce the first of our 2026 Honorees, curator, collector and philanthropist Dr. Estrellita B. Brodsky, PhD, internationally recognized for championing Latin American art on the global stage. Of Uruguayan and Venezuelan heritage, she has combined scholarly research with philanthropy to advance the visibility of artists from the region and its diaspora. Dr. Brodsky has driven institutional change by establishing curatorial positions and initiatives at The Met, MoMA, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and the Hirshorn, among others.

We are deeply inspired by Dr. Brodsky's commitment to expanding access to the arts and are honored to recognize her extraordinary contributions.

Our annual Gala gathers leading visionary voices to celebrate the power of art, culture, and the philanthropy that makes it possible.

🔗 Secure your tickets now at the link in our bio and be part of this special evening! 🌟

Wednesday, October 28th
Guastavino's | 409 East 59th Street, NYC

07/15/2026

A very special thank you to everyone who attended our 2nd Annual Book Fair and to our guest speakers Russell Lord and Jon Key who delved into the intricate process of bringing the latest AFA publication, "Willie Birch: Stories to Tell," to life! Head to our link in bio to check out other AFA publications.

06/30/2026

As we wrap up Pride Month, we celebrate the artists whose lives and work have expanded the story of American and q***r art.

Harriet Hosmer's "Puck on a Toadstool" (1856) helped establish her as one of the first American women to achieve international acclaim as a professional sculptor. The sculpture showcases Hosmer's technical skill while challenging expectations of who could succeed as an artist in the nineteenth century.

Today, Hosmer is recognized as an important figure in LGBTQ+ history. Through her groundbreaking career and the life she built among a community of artists and Rome, she helped redefine what was possible for women artists of her time.

Hosmer's sculpture was featured in AFA's traveling exhibition "Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776–1976," which reexamined American art history by highlighting artists and perspectives that have too often been overlooked. By celebrating underrepresented voices, the exhibition invited audiences to engage with a broader and more inclusive story of American art.

As Pride Month comes to a close, we honor artists whose creativity, courage, and individuality continue to shape our understanding and reaffirm our commitment to sharing their stories.

Happy Pride from the American Federation of Arts!

Image Credit: Harriet Hosmer. "Puck on a Toadstool (detail)," c. 1856. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Photographed by Adrian Cubillas and Barbara Katus

06/27/2026

Our work relies on our supporters.

Consider making a gift today to help close our fiscal year (link in bio).

A gift to AFA travels farther. We don't create exhibitions for one building, one audience, or one season. We build tours that allow museums across the country to share the cost of bringing major works, ambitious scholarship, and public programs to communities across the country.

When one museum cannot carry the full cost alone, we make the exhibition possible by organizing the scholarship, loans, shipping, catalogue, public programs, and partnerships that keep extraordinary works moving.

A gift can help Rembrandt reach a regional museum. It can help women Abstract Expressionists speak to young artists in Tampa. It can bring Willie Birch's vibrant works from New Orleans to Los Angeles.

Your donation matters. It helps determine what we can carry forward, which museums we can serve, and who gets to stand in front of these extraordinary works next.

Donate today at the link in our bio!

06/26/2026

As we reflect on an inspiring day of conversation, learning, and community at "ArtViews: Perspectives in Contemporary Native Art," organized in collaboration with , we extend our deepest thanks to the remarkable artists, curators, scholars, and cultural leaders who generously shared their knowledge and perspectives with us.

Through thoughtful discussions on education and mentorship, ethical stewardship and collecting, and the evolving landscape of contemporary Native art, our panelists offered meaningful insights into how Indigenous voices continue to shape, challenge, and enrich the arts today.

We are grateful to everyone who joined us at The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and helped make this symposium such a meaningful gathering. Thank you to our panelists, moderators, attendees, and partners for contributing to a day of dialogue that will continue to resonate long after the conversations concluded.

Thank you for supporting "ArtViews: Perspectives in Contemporary Native Art."

AFA public programs are made possible by , ,
and Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation.

06/18/2026

How do Indigenous artists, curators, writers, and critics navigate identity, sovereignty, access, and representation in today's art world?

Brian Johnson, Demian DinéYazhi’, Alan Michelson, and Petala Ironcloud will explore these questions and more in "Identity, Sovereignty, and Indigenous Futures," a panel part of our free public symposium, "ArtViews: Perspectives in Contemporary Native Art."

June 23, 1:00–5:00 PM
Reception to follow until 6:00 PM

Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
1 East 78th Street, New York, NY

ArtViews is free and open to the public, register at the link in bio.

More on our featured panelists:

Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation) is an award-winning designer, curator, and partner at Polymode. He is the author and curator of Designed To Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works, opening September 2026 at Poster House, New York, and a co-founder of the online learning platform BIPOC Design History. Johnson is a 2025 Mellon Fellow at the IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts.

Demian DinéYazhi’ is an Indigenous Diné transdisciplinary artist born to the clans Naasht'ézhí Tábaahá and Todich'ii, based in Portland, Oregon. Their work highlights the intersections of Radical Indigenous Q***r Feminist ideology, challenging colonial and professional etiquette while interrogating the Arts Industrial Complex. They have recently exhibited their work at the Honolulu Biennial, the Biennale of Sydney, Whitney Biennial (2024), SITE Santa Fe, and Brooklyn Museum.

Alan Michelson is an internationally recognized artist, curator, and writer, and a Mohawk member of the Six Nations of the Grand River. For over thirty-five years, he has worked across multimedia installation, video, sculpture, and public art to engage place, memory, and suppressed histories. His work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Petala Ironcloud is a Lakota/Dakota writer and journalist covering politics, foreign affairs, culture, environment, and technology. They’ve written for TIME, World Politics Review, The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Business of Fashion, Inc. Magazine, and others.

06/17/2026

How do museums, collectors, and galleries responsibly support Native artists? What does ethical stewardship look like in practice—and how can collecting foster long-term cultural dialogue?

Curator Dare Turner, artist Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert, and curato/artist Jordan Poorman Cocker will explore these questions and more in "Caretaking and Collections: Stewardship and Responsibility in Native Art," part of our free public symposium, ArtViews: Perspectives in Contemporary Native Art.

June 23, 1:00–5:00pm
Reception to follow until 6:00 PM

Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
1 East 78th Street, New York, NY

ArtViews is free and open to the public—register at the link in bio.

More on our featured panelists:

Dare Turner is the Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum and a member of the Yurok Tribe. In 2024, she co-organized "Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum" at the Baltimore Museum of Art, which included nine exhibitions, interpretative interventions across the museum, and a catalogue. At the Brooklyn Museum, she curated "Nico Williams: Aaniin, I See Your Light" and co-curated "Towards Joy: New Frameworks for American Art."

Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert is an artist, filmmaker, and PhD candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at NYU, where he is a Predoctoral Fellow at the Indigenous Data Law Laboratory. His dissertation work focuses on the infrastructures of land reclamation by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and his broader research explores visual sovereignty in Indigenous contemporary art, film, and cultural property law.

Jordan Poorman Cocker is a curator and artist. Raised in Oklahoma, Cocker's curatorial practice is grounded in Indigenous research methodologies. She serves as the Curator of Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges Museum and has also served as an artist mentor at the Institute of American Indian Art Masters of Fine Art program.

Stay tuned for additional panel and speaker announcements!

06/16/2026

Join us on June 23, 2026, from 1:00–5:00 PM at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, for "ArtViews: Perspectives in Contemporary Native Art," a free public symposium exploring the living and evolving practices of contemporary Native art. Register now at the link in our bio!

We're pleased to share the first of several panel announcements for the symposium– Education and Mentorship: Supporting the Next Generation of Indigenous Leaders. This panel will explore essential questions such as: What do students, emerging artists, and scholars need today? How are Indigenous methodologies taught, protected, and shared within and beyond academic institutions?

The panel will feature Sage Innerarity (Ione Band of Miwok Indians), Neal Ambrose-Smith (descendant of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana), and Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota Nation).

Sage Innerarity is an alumna of the Peabody Essex Museum's Native American Fellowship Program with over seven years of experience in academic research, nonprofits, and cultural heritage informatics. She holds an M.S.-L.I.S. from Simmons University School of Library and Information Science, with concentrations in Cultural Heritage Informatics and Archives Managements.

Neal Ambrose-Smith is a painter, sculptor, printmaker, photographer, musician, and educator. Ambrose-Smith’s intensely personal maximalist reflections on contemporary culture, politics, and society evoke themes of racial division, environmental destruction, and the legacy of colonialism. His work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the New York Public Library, among others.

Danyelle Means is the Executive Director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Means has built a distinguished career advancing Indigenous representation, cultural stewardship, and institutional leadership across the museum and nonprofit sectors.

Stay tuned for additional panel and speaker announcements in the coming weeks.

Address

305 E 47th Street Fl 10
New York, NY
10017

Telephone

+12129887700

Website

http://www.amfedarts.org/

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