Since 1958, the International Program has been active in building and maintaining relationships between MoMA and the visual arts communities in the African region, through a variety of programming including circulating exhibitions, curatorial and professional exchange programs, and publications. Examples of recent International Program activities in the African region are listed in the sidebar to the left.

African Museum Professionals Workshop

The African Museum Professionals Workshop—which took place in February 2002 and began at MoMA—traveled to three American cities under the sponsorship of The International Council, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, and The Rockefeller Foundation. In New York, participants attended the opening of the landmark exhibition The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945–1994 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. This was the first workshop at which participants gave reports not only on their own institutions, but also on contemporary art and artists in their home countries. Participants subsequently traveled to Washington, D.C., in a program arranged by MoMA and the National Museum of African Art. The workshop concluded in Los Angeles with a program organized by MoMA with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Participants in the African Museum Professionals Workshop, February 2002