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Black Curatorial Institute (BCI)

Training the cultural workers transforming arts & cultural praxis around the globe

Explore the online learning center advancing arts & cultural work. 

Black Curatorial Institute

The Black Curatorial Institute (BCI) is a learning center established by the Black Artists Archive (BAA) to advance critical curatorial and archival practice. Designed in direct response to long-standing gaps in the arts and cultural sector, BCI provides rigorous professional development for curators, archivists, artists, educators, and cultural workers seeking deeper historical grounding and practical tools for ethical, equity-centered work.

BCI courses are organized around two core pillars:

Professional Development & African Diasporic Histories.

These pillars are not treated as separate tracks, but are intentionally woven throughout the curriculum, ensuring that historical inquiry and professional practice inform one another at every stage of learning.

Check Out Our Courses Below

Core Areas of Focus

Art Museum History & Evolution

Students examine how Western art museums developed as cultural repositories of colonialism, and how the art market emerged as an economic extension of empire and Western imperialism.

Counter-Hegemonic Approaches to Museum Practice

Courses train students to identify museum practices rooted in racist or exclusionary frameworks, while exploring points of rupture where institutional “norms” can be challenged, reimagined, and transformed.

Ethics & Equity in the Arts

BCI emphasizes ethical approaches to collecting, exhibition-making, and programming that meaningfully engage audiences and communities rather than treating equity as an abstract value.

Direct Connection to Professional Practice

Students are encouraged to “discover their why” through real-world applications of critical theory, learning directly from experienced anti-racist cultural practitioners and case-based analysis.

Community Impact

Courses center community-engaged curatorial and archival practices that position collective care, accountability, and cultural stewardship within broader frameworks of social and racial equity.

African American Museums: Pillars Of Cultural Arts Education
African American museums have long been crucial institutions for culturally specific arts education. These centers preserve and celebrate Black history, art, and culture. In this course, Dr. Kelli Morgan examines the histories of first-voice institutions and how they provide unique educational experiences often overlooked in mainstream conversations about diversity and inclusion in the arts.
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Anti-racist Approaches To Art Museums Today
As expectations regarding the social responsibilities of art museums change, training students how to be anti-discriminatory in their professional practice becomes ever more crucial. This course is an introductory seminar to anti-racist curatorial practice. As such, students will explore various aspects of museum history, art history, collection management, object interpretation, fundraising, exhibition design, cataloging, community engagement an...
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Art, Whiteness, & Empire
Examining the role of whiteness as a driving force behind European colonization, this course delves into how Western art museums evolved as cultural extensions of imperialism and colonialism. It critically investigates how this legacy shapes contemporary challenges within museums. Central to the course are the definitions of whiteness, colonization, and race, along with their specific roles in shaping museum collections, exhibitions, interpretive frameworks, the art market, and institutional policies regarding staff and visitors. Additionally, the course explores anti-racism, tracing its roots in Indigenous and Black intellectual traditions, and equips students with the tools to apply these frameworks to contemporary museum practices.
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A Seat At The Table: Systemic Racism In Art Museums
In this talk revolving around the hidden biases ingrained in the American art world, Dr. Kelli Morgan dissects the irony of an industry that celebrates Black art while ignoring or marginalizing Black artists and curators. Featured in the New York Times & Indianapolis Monthly, Dr, Morgan is well-known for her frameworks to address racial bias in the art world, and compelling calls for change.
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Bci Preview: Art, Whiteness, & Empire
Test-drive one of BCI’s core course modules with Art, Whiteness, and Empire, a standalone preview of our larger course of the same name, as well as our introductory course Anti-racist Approaches to Art Museums Today. Designed as an accessible entry point, this self-paced module introduces the historical foundations of racial inequity in art institutions while equipping learners with critical frameworks for understanding how museums continue to shape power, exclusion, and representation today.
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Drop Me Off In Harlem
In the decade following World War I, African American cultural production flourished during what has become known as the Harlem Renaissance. Though the movement had a tremendous impact on African American culture, it was a moment of global significance for American visual art. This course will examine the Harlem Renaissance, and its connections to Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and other parts of the U.S. like Chicago and the Deep South. In part...
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Practicing Equity: Inclusive Curation And The Ethics Of Community Engagement
Practicing Equity is an interactive seminar designed for emerging curators, artists, and cultural workers committed to building inclusive, community-centered art practices. The series integrates foundational texts from Black Feminists scholars and curators, alongside the various community-centered exhibitions, to connect critical theory with actionable professional practice. Each session engages participants in collective reflection, dialogue, a...
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Keep Up-to-Date with Our Latest Exhibition

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Where the Waters Made Us

Where the Waters Made Us is a digital exhibition of charcoal drawings by Detroit artist M. Saffell Gardner that explores Blackness as a process of rupture, transformation, and remaking across the Black Atlantic. Through images of sails, water, spirals, and sacred symbols, the exhibition reimagines the Middle Passage not only as a site of profound violence, but also as a space where new Black worlds, cultures, and cosmologies emerged.
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Discover Knowledge at Your Fingertips

Access curated resources, rare collections, and archival materials celebrating Black artists in Detroit.

Explore Resources

Collecting Black Culture

The Black Canon
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Illuminating Artists

Plain Sight Archive
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Archiving Black Detroit

Black Bottom Archives
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Ditch the Zoo Join the Farm!

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