Whitney Museum Hires Nolan Jimbo as Arnhold Associate Curator

The Whitney Museum in New York has hired Nolan Jimbo as its Arnhold Associate Curator, with a start date of November 16. The role was most recently held by Rujeko Hockley.

Jimbo arrives from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where he is currently an assistant curator. He joined that institution in 2021 as a curatorial fellow. His record there spans exhibitions, performance programming and collection scholarship.

At MCA Chicago, Jimbo organized solo exhibitions for Gregory Bae, on view in 2022, the year after the artist's death; for Kenzi Shiokava, the artist's first institutional survey; and for Mike Cloud, whose show is a nominee for the 2026 ARTnews Awards. He also programmed performances by David Lamelas, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Will Rawls and Wu Tsang.

His collection work includes two shows drawn from the museum's holdings: "Endends" aside, specifically "Endless" (2023) and "Interiors" (2022). He served as co-director of the MCA DNA Research Initiative, which produced new scholarship on the collection. He sat on the curatorial teams for two major group shows organized by Carla Acevedo-Yates: "Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón" (2026) and "Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s—Today" (2022).

Before Chicago, Jimbo held curatorial positions at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Dallas Museum of Art. He already has a Whitney footprint: he contributed catalog texts on several artists to the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

What will Jimbo do at the Whitney?

He will organize and collaborate on exhibitions and public programs, and he will help grow the museum's collection. A museum release states: "His appointment reflects the Whitney's ongoing commitment to championing artists and expanding narratives of American art through exhibitions, collections, scholarship, and public engagement."

Jimbo framed his move in terms of audience and advocacy. "I look forward to building upon [the Whitney's] legacy while advocating for emerging and overlooked artistic practices, particularly at this moment when the museum is attracting ever younger and more diverse audiences," he said in a statement. "Relationships are at the heart of this work, and I am very excited to collaborate closely with artists as well as the Whitney's vibrant community of colleagues and supporters."

Whitney director Scott Rothkopf praised the hire in emphatic terms. "Nolan is a star among a new generation of curators with fresh perspectives on art both past and present," Rothkopf said in a statement. "His work moves fluidly between exhibitions, performance, and scholarship, and his expertise in Asian diasporic artists will add to new narratives in American art. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Whitney and look forward to the contributions he will make to our collection and program."

What does this change for the Whitney's programming? It signals a continued push toward diasporic and overlooked artists, carried by a curator whose Chicago record pairs institutional surveys with performance and collection research. Jimbo's first Whitney projects will show how that agenda translates into exhibitions for the museum's younger, more diverse audiences.