Description

In 2021, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), Libraries acquired the personal papers of the 20th-century African American painter and Knoxville native Beauford Delaney (1901–1979). Together with the extensive holdings of Delaney’s work at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA), the acquisition will position UTK as the leading center for Delaney studies and provide it new opportunities for public engagement across the city and region. UTK seeks funding for a two-year graduate research fellowship to assist the project archivist in processing and researching the collection and producing a finding aid. The fellow will collaborate in the production of physical and virtual exhibitions to showcase the holdings. Grant funds would support interactive touch-screen kiosks through which the virtual exhibitions will be shared at the KMA (as part of with their forthcoming Luce-funded reinstallation, “Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee”) and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, a center for Tennessee black history.  
This grant advances the AAP’s strategic goal 1a: supporting art museums advancing representation and equity in contemporary society through innovative, art-centered projects that spark dialogues about America’s past and present.