Introducing the 2025 Museums Next Generation Cohort (US Curators)
Museums & Heritage
Le centre de la Vieille Charité (Marseille). © Régis Grouille
From November 3 to 14, seven outstanding American museum professionals will head to France for a two-week immersive journey, as part of the third edition of Museums Next Generation, a transatlantic program designed to accelerate professional development and foster long-term collaboration between French and American curators.
Launched in 2023, Museums Next Generation offers a unique, behind-the-scenes look into the museum world, connecting emerging leaders from both countries with groundbreaking institutions and visionary professionals.
This year’s program includes in-depth visits to major cultural landmarks in Paris and an extended stay in southeast France. The cohort will explore Marseille’s bold and progressive museum scene, as well as journey to the footsteps of Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence, among other highlights.
Throughout their journey, participants will dive into the richness and complexity of the French museum ecosystem, engaging with directors, curators, and cultural leaders to tackle the key issues shaping museums today.
Stay tuned as we share insights from both sides of the Atlantic!
The 2025 US Cohort
From top to bottom, left to right: Emma Chubb (©Patrick Montero), JR Henneman (©Steve Peterson), Elena María Ketelsen González (©Marissa Alper), Isabella Lores-Chavez, Amanda Morgan, Annissa Malvoisin, Katherine Werwie.
Emma Chubb is the inaugural Charlotte Feng Ford ’83 Curator of Contemporary Art at Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a scholar of contemporary art in Morocco. Her projects at SCMA include Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now (2024-25), the first retrospective for one of North Africa’s most important artists; Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times (2020-22); and the creation of SCMA’s Artist-in-Residence Program. She earned her PhD in art history with a certificate in Middle East and North African Studies from Northwestern University and a BA in Art History and French from Haverford College.
JR Henneman, PhD, is the Director and Curator of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. Her recent projects include The Life and Art of Tokio Ueyema (July 2024-June 2025), Near East to Far West: Fictions of French and American Colonialism (March-May 2023, NEH-funded, Joan Paterson Kerr Book Award winner), and Natural Forces: Winslow Homer and Frederic Remington (summer 2020, NEH-funded). Her research reflects her upbringing on a farm and cattle ranch in Montana and her interest in transatlantic art and culture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Elena Ketelsen González is a curator and writer based in Queens, New York. She is Assistant Curator at MoMA PS1, where she has worked to establish collaborative community partnerships and organize exhibitions in Homeroom, a space that amplifies and celebrates the work of collectives, organizations, and artists connected to PS1’s program. Additionally, at PS1, she has recently organized solo presentations of Sandra Poulson: Este cuarto parece uma república (2025), Regina José Galindo’s Tierra (2024); and Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation (2023–24). She has held programming and curatorial positions in New York at Gracie Mansion Conservancy, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of the City of New York, among others.
Isabella Lores-Chavez is Associate Curator of European Paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in California, where she oversees the collection’s Netherlandish paintings. She is the curator of the exhibition Celebrating 100 Years at the Legion of Honor, on view through November 2. Isabella completed her PhD at Columbia with a dissertation about plaster casts in seventeenth-century Dutch paintings. Her doctoral work was supported by prestigious fellowships from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. Isabella has previously worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Amanda Morgan is Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida. Since joining ICA Miami in 2017, she has supported the research and development of numerous exhibitions and publications. Most recently, Morgan curated Ding Shilun: Janus, and co-curated with Stephanie Seidel Miriam Schapiro: 1967–1972. Previously, she co-curated Claire Tabouret: Au Bois d’Amour, Aglaé Bassens: Emptiful, and Rose Maire Cromwell: A Geological Survey. Morgan has also overseen the production of myriad publications and is the editor—with Alex Gartenfeld, Gean Moreno, and Seidel—of ICA Miami’s first catalogue collection, Fire Figure Fantasy. She holds a BA in History and American Studies, with a concentration in Popular and Visual Culture, in addition to an MS in Commerce, from the University of Virginia. She earned an MA in Art History from Williams College and The Clark Art Institute in 2017.
Annissa Malvoisin is Associate Curator of African Art at the Brooklyn Museum. A scholar of ancient African history, her research interests lie in a globalized ancient world through the study of material culture and trade and from the perspective of African regions. Her scholarship investigates inter- and transcultural interactions surrounding the Nile Valley by studying the intersectional biographies of objects. Interested in new and emerging artists, her work delves into contemporary issues of migration, identity, and diaspora through her unique archaeological lens that bridges deep time with the conditions of today. Malvoisin’s award-winning scholarship has been presented at international meetings and supported by major global research institutes, museums, and cultural institutions.
Katherine Werwie is the Associate Curator of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She oversees the museum’s collection of art from the ancient Mediterranean to 1900. She specializes in medieval sculpture and received her MPhil from the University of Cambridge and her PhD from Yale University. Her latest exhibition and current research focus on the technical analysis of historical objects in the Nasher’s collection to address questions of facture, provenance, and the ethical stewardship of historical collections.
Each year, Museums Next Generation connects French and American professionals through two-week exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic. In spring 2025, the French cohort explored major institutions from Texas to New York. Discover their journey here.
Museums Next Generation is organized by Villa Albertine and the Embassy of France in the United States, in partnership with Albertine Foundation, and with the generous support of an anonymous donor and of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Villa Albertine also thanks the Institut National du Patrimoine, FRAME and the Center for Curatorial Leadership for their friendly support.
In partnership with
Albertine Foundation
Previously known as FACE Foundation, Albertine Foundation is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting French-American relations through innovative cultural and educational projects. In close partnership with Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education of the French Embassy in the United States, Albertine Foundation promotes artistic, literary, and educational exchange and collaboration between creative professionals from both countries thanks to corporate, foundation, and individual support.
French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs works to represent, defend and promote the interests of France and French nationals in all areas in foreign countries and international organizations.
Institut national du patrimoine
The Institut national du patrimoine is an institute of higher education under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture. The mission of the Institute is to recruit candidates through competitive entrance examinations and provide initial training to heritage curators and conservators-restorers. Training for these two closely related and complementary professions within the same establishment is unique in Europe. The Inp also proposes a wide range of continuing education program for both French and foreign heritage professionals. It is also a place for cultural diffusion through lectures and seminars and the opportunity to work along with other French and foreign heritage institutions and universities. Lastly, the Inp places its missions and actions within a network of international cooperation by sending its students on training program abroad, welcoming other foreign trainee students and exporting its training and expertise strategies.
FRAME (FRench American Museum Exchange)
For 25 years, FRAME (FRench American Museum Exchange) has played the role of a cultural bridge between France, the United States, and, more recently, Canada. This non-profit organization (501(c)3) promotes dialogue as a principle of mutual understanding between these countries through the collaboration of around thirty major museums in France and North America. This unique international network fosters the development of exhibitions, innovative educational programs, research missions, and the exchange of professional practices on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Center for Curatorial Leadership
Founded in 2007 by Agnes Gund and Elizabeth W. Easton, and based in New York, the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) trains curators to become visionary leaders of art museums. At a time when the demands of cultural institutions and the public are rapidly evolving, CCL provides essential tools to guide today’s museums and anticipate future challenges. The CCL model encompasses mentorships with museum directors, rigorous coursework in strategic management, and professional networks for support and growth. CCL is helping to build the next generation of museum leaders, ones who combine traditional curatorial connoisseurship and art historical scholarship with management expertise.