Location: Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California, US
Format: In person, limited capacity
Workshop date: 15 October 2026, 10:00–17:30
Workshop fee: $85, including a light breakfast and lunch
Application deadline: 7 September 2026, 23:59 PDT
Applicants notified: 16 September 2026
The National Coalition Against Censorship presents the eighth edition of its Annual Curatorial Workshop in collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum and the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
Titled Curating from the Blacklist, the workshop invites curators to discuss the challenges, strategies and possible responses involved in presenting work that explores subjects discouraged by the current United States administration.
Over the past year and a half, cultural organisations across the US have faced growing pressure to restrict programmes and materials addressing themes disfavoured by the federal administration. This has affected art museums and galleries, science and history museums, and national institutions including the Smithsonian Institution.
Executive orders governing federal agency practices and a list of more than 300 blacklisted terms compiled through government memoranda have sought to prohibit, or implicitly discourage, subjects including race, gender, critical perspectives on US history, environmentalism and activism.
Although these instructions technically apply only to federal agencies, they have contributed to an atmosphere in which curators and museum directors are questioning whether and how to continue existing programmes, seek funding and promote their activities.
About the Workshop
Curating from the Blacklist will explore curatorial approaches to art and ideas dealing with politically discouraged or contested subjects.
Discussions will be led by:
- Clement Hanami, Japanese American National Museum;
- Alisha Kerlin, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas;
- John D. Spiak, Grand Central Art Center; and
- Hamza Walker, The Brick.
Three case studies proposed by selected applicants will be examined during the workshop.
The programme is open to independent and institutionally based curators and artistic directors. Confirmed participants must pay a non-refundable fee of $85 following acceptance.
Speakers
Clement Hanami
Clement Hanami is Vice President of Exhibitions and Art Director at the Japanese American National Museum. His recent curatorial projects include Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066 and Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo.
Alisha Kerlin
Alisha Kerlin is Executive Director and Head Curator of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Since 2016, she has expanded the museum’s exhibitions, collections and programmes with an emphasis on visitor engagement and decentralised curatorial practices that share authority among artists, scholars and communities.
John D. Spiak
John D. Spiak has served as Director and Chief Curator of Grand Central Art Center at California State University, Fullerton since 2011. His work focuses on socially engaged practice, artist residencies, experimental exhibitions and civic collaboration. He has curated more than 200 exhibitions addressing subjects including migration, identity, ecology, history and collective memory.
Hamza Walker
Hamza Walker is Director of The Brick, an independent non-profit art space in Los Angeles. He previously served as Director of Education and Associate Curator at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. His recent projects include MONUMENTS, co-curated with Bennett Simpson and Kara Walker, and exhibitions featuring Gregg Bordowitz, Betsy Paige Smith and Nikita Gale.
About the Organisers
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Arts and Culture Advocacy programme protects artistic freedom in the United States by defending public access to artists’ work and supporting their participation in democratic dialogue. It has organised curatorial workshops since 2015.
The Japanese American National Museum promotes understanding of the United States’ ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience through exhibitions, public programmes, documentaries and educational resources.
The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy explores the rights, freedoms and fragility of democracy. Through the arts and public programmes, it brings together people from different backgrounds to examine race, identity and social justice.
