OUR VISION
AGBS believes that art belongs to everyone and should be accessible to all.
OUR MISSION
Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at The University of Texas at Austin is a collecting institution whose mission is to acquire, preserve, interpret, exhibit, and otherwise make accessible modern and contemporary art and cultural materials from Africa and the African Diaspora for the benefit of a variety of audiences. AGBS includes two principal galleries—Christian-Green Gallery and Idea Lab—and six project spaces, its exhibitions and programs serve communities on and off campus and engage with the larger art worlds. AGBS’s exceptional collection—numbering nearly 1,300 objects—is the core of its identity, and it sustains and catalyzes all we do.
Founded in 2016, AGBS is the sole on-campus entity dedicated to showcasing the art of Africa and the African Diaspora at The University of Texas at Austin. As a preeminent cultural asset of Black Studies, it is a center for teaching, learning, and scholarship. As such, AGBS serves as a forum for the creative and critical expression of artists, curators, and historians.
AGBS is open to all, free of charge, and committed to inviting diverse audiences to engage in art and visual culture.
AGBS pursues excellence in all aspects of its operations. It upholds the legal and ethical standards prescribed by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries.
MEET THE TEAM
Cherise Smith, PhD
Executive Founding Director
Phillip Townsend, PhD
Curator of Art
Kaila Schedeen, PhD
Exhibition and Collections Manager
Joy Scanlon, MFA
Gallery Manager
Ariel Evans, PhD
Contemporary Art Research Fellow
Ilyana Jones
Gallery Educator
Pierce Cedillo
Gallery Assistant
Learn more about our MINDPOP Pathways for Arts Leadership Internships
AGBS champions art by makers whose
practices engage the Black experience.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what now is called North America.
Moreover, we would like to acknowledge the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas.
These statements were created by the Committee on Land Acknowledgment in the Program in Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) at The University of Texas at Austin.
“Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.”
—From “Honor Native Land: A Call and Guide to Acknowledgment.” U.S. Department of Arts and Culture. https://usdac.us/nativeland.)
AGBS stands with and in support of all Indigenous students, faculty, and staff at The University of Texas at Austin. We are grateful to be able to work, study, and learn on this piece of Turtle Island.