DAY 1
Thursday, March 5, 6:00–9:00 PM
National Museum of Women in the Arts
6:00 PM
Arrival to National Museum of Women in the Arts
6:30 PM
Welcome Remarks
Komal Shah, Founder, Making Their Mark Foundation
Susan Fisher Sterling, Director, National Museum of Women in the Arts
6:45–7:05 PM
Changemakers – Women Artists and The Gap between Visibility and Sustainability
Charlotte Burns, Founder, Studio Burns and Co-Founder, The Burns Halperin Report
Julia Halperin, Arts and Culture Journalist and Co-Founder, The Burns Halperin Report
Drawing on their collaborative research, Charlotte Burns and Julia Halperin present a concise, data-driven overview of the position of women artists in the contemporary art world. Their presentation examines the gap between visibility and sustainability—exploring what artists need to build lasting careers and where support structures fall short. It shows how interconnected the art world's infrastructure is, from museums and the market to philanthropy and education, in both underpinning and undermining women artists' careers. This framework informs the Forum's subsequent panels and clarifies where change is most urgently needed.
7:05–9:00 PM
Reception and Making Their Mark Exhibition Viewing
7:45 PM
Studio Sessions – Musical Performance by Laura Ortman
9:30 PM
“Pretty Dirty: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter” Screening (80 min)
Venue: Eaton Hotel’s Cinema
This screening is now at capacity.
PRETTY DIRTY is an intimate portrait of Marilyn Minter, the American visual artist and provocateur, who has transformed taboo subjects—beauty, sex, shame, and aging—into influential, hypnotic works since the 1970s. With commentary from Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Laurie Simmons, and Mickalene Thomas, the film traces her rise, a career-threatening controversy, and her reinvention through portraits of icons from Lizzo to Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, and Monica Lewinsky.
DAY 2
Friday, March 6, 8:30 AM–6:00 PM
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
8:30–9:00 AM
Arrival and Check-In at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
9:05–9:20 AM
Opening Remarks – Komal Shah & Cecilia Alemani
Komal Shah, Founder, Making Their Mark Foundation
Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art in New York
9:20–9:50 AM
Visionary Voices – Dr. Chelsea Clinton in Conversation with Dr. Sarah Lewis
Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation
Dr. Sarah Lewis, Founder, Vision & Justice; John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Dr. Chelsea Clinton explores how culture influences policy, how personal narrative can galvanize collective action, and how the arts remain essential to movements for gender equity and justice, in conversation with Dr. Sarah Lewis.
9:55–10:30 AM
Studio Sessions – Artists as Advocates
Marilyn Minter, Artist
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Artist; MacArthur Fellow (2015)
Dyani White Hawk, Artist; MacArthur Fellow (2023)
Moderated by Rashida Bumbray, American curator, Choreographer, Author, Visual and Performing Arts Critic
This panel brings together three leading contemporary artists who have integrated activism and social justice into the core of their practice. It dives into the complex ethical and political dimensions of visual advocacy, focusing on how artists can employ their influence and visibility to drive advancements for women's rights, racial equity, and intersectional justice to mobilize for a more just future.
10:35–11:15 AM
The System Reimagined – The Future of Arts Education and Research
Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Cultural Strategist, Curator, and Educator; Getty President's Scholar
Kymberly Pinder, Ph.D., Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean, Yale School of Art
Karen Rosner, Independent Consultant, Former Director of Visual Arts for the NYC Dept. of Education
Moderated by Lauren Cornell, Artistic Director, Hessel Museum, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College
Leading educators, artists, and policymakers convene to reimagine the systems shaping how women artists are taught, mentored, and researched. Examining the full educational pipeline—from public school classrooms to art schools and museums—the panel explores how pedagogy, institutional culture, and access can evolve to better support women’s creative development. Led by Bard College’s Lauren Cornell, and featuring perspectives from curator and educator Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Yale School of Art Dean Kym Pinder, and arts administrator Karen Rosner, the session considers new models of mentorship, curriculum design, and scholarship that center equity, representation, and long-term visibility for women in the arts.
11:15–11:35 AM
Break
11:35–12:05 PM
Visionary Voices – Ava DuVernay in Conversation with Adrienne Edwards
Ava DuVernay, American Filmmaker
Adrienne Edwards, Engell Speyer Family Senior Curator and Associate Director of Curatorial Programs, Whitney Museum of American Art
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay is a visionary storyteller who has redefined narrative power and visibility. In conversation with curator Adrienne Edwards, she explores how powerful storytelling, cultural vision, and deliberate choices to empower women can catalyze change. Together, they reflect on the role of narrative in shaping public consciousness, and on how cultural institutions, philanthropy, and creative leadership can collaborate to sustain long-term success for women artists.
12:10–12:55 PM
The System Reimagined – Rethinking Museum Practices: Acquisitions, Curation & Inclusion of Women Artists
Christophe Cherix, The David Rockefeller Director, The Museum of Modern Art
Kaywin Feldman, Director, The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Cultural Strategist, Curator, and Educator; Getty President's Scholar
Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum
Moderated by Dr. Rhea Combs, Senior Curatorial Fellow in Contemporary and Global Art, Baltimore Museum of Art
This session interrogates how museum practice can enact measurable structural change for women artists across acquisitions, exhibition-making, and research. Anchored by leading perspectives, the conversation tests toolkits that operationalize equity—revising collecting plans and criteria, commissioning strategies, research priorities, and interpretation—to reposition museums as accountable civic institutions.
1:00–2:15 PM
Lunch provided by UOVO
2:15–2:45 PM
Studio Sessions – Machine Intelligence, Human Imagination
Sasha Stiles, Artist and Poet
Anicka Yi, Artist
Moderated by Michelle Kuo, Chief Curator at Large and Publisher, The Museum of Modern Art
From generative images to machine-written poetry, AI is changing what art can be—and who (or what) gets to make it. Moderated by Michelle Kuo, this conversation brings together the artists, Anicka Yi and Sasha Stiles, to examine AI as a tool, collaborator, and provocation, and to ask what is at stake as artists shape the future of creative intelligence.
2:50–3:05 PM
Changemaker – Living Legacies
Christa Blatchford, Executive Director, Joan Mitchell Foundation
Christa Blatchford will speak to the critical role foundations play in sustaining artists’ living legacies. Under her leadership, the Joan Mitchell Foundation has developed a comprehensive ecosystem of grants, professional development programs, convenings, and practical tools designed to support artists at every stage of their careers. This presentation will examine how intentional legacy planning, resource-sharing, and cross-sector collaboration can expand artists’ agency and long-term visibility. Framing legacy as an active, living practice, Blatchford will consider how artists can be better supported in building from their past for their futures.
3:10–3:40 PM
Studio Sessions – Craft, Representation, Power
Joyce J. Scott, Visual and Performing Artist; MacArthur Fellow (2016)
Lowery Stokes Sims, Independent Art Historian and Curator; former Director of The Studio Museum in Harlem and Curator Emerita, Museum of Arts and Design
Lowery Stokes Sims and Joyce J. Scott reflect on the intertwined threads of artistry, advocacy, and legacy. Lowery’s long-standing curatorial and personal relationship with Joyce—most notably her exhibition Maryland to Murano: Neckpieces and Sculptures by Joyce J. Scott (MAD, 2014). Together, they trace the creative and ethical stakes of Joyce’s practice: the power of materials and story; the role of humor, beauty, and virtuosity in confronting violence and inequity; and the ways artists and curators can partner to build lasting visibility and legacy.
3:40–4:00 PM
Break
4:00–4:35 PM
Changemakers – From the Center: A Conversation on Feminist Curating
Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Co-Curator of Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985, and Associate Professor of Museum Studies and Art History at ASU
Connie Butler, the Agnes Gund Director, MoMA PS1
Katy Siegel, Thaw Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor, Stony Brook University, SUNY
Moderated by Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art in New York
In this session we honor the curatorial work that has made the Forum’s momentum possible. Connie Butler’s WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007–08), Cecilia Fajardo-Hill’s Radical Women: LaCn American Art, 1960–1985 (2017–18), and Katy Siegel’s Making Their Mark: Art by Women (2023) and High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1967 (2006-08), fundamentally reshaped the visibility, scholarship, and institutional reception of women artists. They will be in conversation with Cecilia Alemani, Curator of the groundbreaking 2022 Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams.
4:40–5:10 PM
Visionary Voices – Jodie Foster in Conversation with Rajendra Roy
Jodie Foster, Actor and Director
Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, The Museum of Modern Art
Spanning decades of work across film and culture, Jodie Foster’s career exemplifies how a woman artist can build and sustain authorship overtime—balancing visibility, power, privacy, and responsibility with remarkable clarity. In conversation with Rajendra Roy, this discussion examines the conditions that enable long-term artistic autonomy and depth, and asks how institutions and cultural ecosystems can better support women artists beyond moments of debut or peak visibility, toward lasting creative lives.
5:15–5:30 PM
Studio Sessions – Abstraction in Motion
Samia Halaby, Artist and Activist
Abby Hermosilla, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Modern Art
5:30–5:55 PM
Performance by Samia Halaby and the Kinetic Painting Group
5:55 PM
Closing Remarks
Komal Shah, Founder, Making Their Mark Foundation
Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art in New York
6:00 PM
Program Concludes
9:30 PM
“Pretty Dirty: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter” Screening (80 min)
Venue: Eaton Hotel’s Cinema
This screening is now at capacity.
PRETTY DIRTY is an intimate portrait of Marilyn Minter, the American visual artist and provocateur, who has transformed taboo subjects—beauty, sex, shame, and aging—into influential, hypnotic works since the 1970s. With commentary from Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Laurie Simmons, and Mickalene Thomas, the film traces her rise, a career-threatening controversy, and her reinvention through portraits of icons from Lizzo to Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, and Monica Lewinsky.
DAY 3
Saturday, March 7, 8:45 AM–12:15 PM
The Eaton Hotel, Beverly Snow Room
8:45 AM
Arrival, Breakfast, and Coffee at The Eaton Hotel
9:30 AM
Welcome Remarks
Komal Shah, Founder, Making Their Mark Foundation
Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen Jr. Director and Chief Curator, High Line Art in New York
9:40–10:25 AM
The System Reimagined – Women in the Art Market: Visibility, Value and Access
Bonnie Brennan, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s
Renée B. Adams, Professor of Finance, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Mary Sabbatino, Vice President / Partner, Galerie Lelong
Amy Cappellazzo, Founder, Art Intelligence Global
This conversation examines the global art market through the lens of gender equity, focusing on how visibility, institutional recognition, and financial valuation intersect for women artists across primary and secondary markets. Drawing on perspectives from market leadership and scholarly research, the discussion considers how price formation, career longevity, and access to opportunity are shaped—and how the art ecosystem can build more durable pathways for women artists.
10:30–11:00 AM
Studio Sessions – Women Have Always Thought Like Mountains
Andrea Bowers, Artist
Emily Wei Rales, Director and Co-Founder, Glenstone
In this conversation, Emily Rales leads a discussion with Andrea Bowers, posing questions that explore how artists and philanthropic leaders can work together to advance equity for women artists beyond moments of visibility and into sustained structural support. Drawing on Rales’s leadership at Glenstone and Bowers’s long-standing commitment to feminist and social justice–driven practice, the discussion serves as a prelude to Andrea Bowers’s upcoming exhibition at Glenstone.
11:05–11:55 AM
Studio Sessions – Corporeal Sites of Identity, Pleasure, and Resistance
Joan Semmel, Artist and Professor Emerita
Tschabalala Self, Artist
Ambera Wellmann, Artist
Moderated by Jasmine Wahi, Curator, Founder and Co-Director, Project for Empty Space / PES Futures
This dynamic panel brings together exceptional artists whose practices use the body as the primary site of inquiry and resistance. The artists explore the role of the corporeal form as a powerful tool for social and political advancement and visibility, and as an intimate site of complexity and identity negotiation.
12:00 PM
Studio Sessions – Poetry Reading with Natalie Diaz
Natalie Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet
12:15 PM
Program Concludes
12:15 PM
Optional visits to museums in the DC Area (RSVP)
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