The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) & AAMC Foundation announced the 2018 recipients of its Awards for Excellence, the organizations’ annual prize recognizing groundbreaking new scholarship in the field.  The awards were presented this year by PACART, the fine art and exhibition transportation service, with Pierre Bechard, President of PACART recognizing the awardees at a ceremony held during the AAMC Annual Conference at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.

Garnering a record 174 nominations for curatorial projects--including exhibitions, catalogs, and essays-- mounted or published in 2017,  the 2018 Awards for Excellence honored achievements across fields of specialization and institutional locations, highlighting the importance of the curatorial voice within the visual arts. The honorees receiving the award this year represent 11 curatorial projects, which are Leslie Anne Anderson, Carmen C. Bambach, Julius Bryant, C. Ondine Chavoya, Kevin D. Dumouchelle, David Evans Frantz, Ilona Katzew, Diana Magaloni Kerpel, Christine M. Kreamer, Karen E. Milbourne, Anne Monahan,  E. Carmen Ramos, Juan Coronel Rivera,  Matthew H. Robb, Elizabeth Siegel, and Susan Weber. A complete listing of the awards follows.

2018 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE RECEPIENTS
Catalogue Awards 
Organization with an operating budget under $5 million
C. Ondine Chavoya, Professor of Art and Latina/o Studies, Williams College
David Evans Frantz, Curator, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries
For Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries

Organization with an operating budget of $5 - $15 million
Julius Bryant, Keeper of Word & Image, Victoria & Albert Museum
Susan Weber, Director and Founder, Iris Horowitz Professor in the History of the Decorative Arts, Bard Graduate Center
For John Lockwood Kipling: Arts & Crafts in the Punjab and London at Bard Graduate Center

Organization with an operating budget of $15 - $30 million
Matthew H. Robb, Chief Curator, Fowler Museum at UCLA
For Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young

Organization with an operating budget over $30 million (tie)
Ilona Katzew, Curator & Department Head, Latin American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
For Painted in Mexico, 1700-1790: Pinxit Mexici at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Carmen C. Bambach, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
For Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Exhibition Awards
Organization with an operating budget under $5 million
Leslie Anne Anderson, Curator of European, American, & Regional Art, Utah Museum of Fine Arts
For American and Regional Art: Mythmaking & Truth-Telling at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Organization with an operating budget of $5 - $15 million
Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Curator, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Christine M. Kreamer, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Karen E. Milbourne, Curator, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
For Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution 

Organization with an operating budget of $15 - $30 million
E. Carmen Ramos, Deputy Chief Curator and Curator of Latino Art
For Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 

Organization with an operating budget over $30 million
Diana Magaloni Kerpel, Director of the Program for the Art of the Ancient Americas, Deputy Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Juan Coronel Rivera, Independent Curator
For Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Article, Essay or Extended Catalogues

Anne Monahan, Independent Scholar & Curator
For “’Working My Thought More Perfectly’: Horace Pippin’s The Lady of the Lake” in the Metropolitan Museum Journal

Digital Publication Category

Elizabeth Siegel, Curator of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago
For Hugh Edwards at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1959–1970 at The Art Institute of Chicago

For more information, visit artcurators.org.