The Whitney Museum in New York has hired Nolan Jimbo as the Arnhold Associate Curator, a role most recently held by Rujeko Hockley. He will start in the role on November 16.
Jimbo is currently an assistant curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where he started in 2021 as a curatorial fellow. During his tenure at the MCA Chicago, he has organized solo exhibitions for Gregory Bae, which was on view in 2022, the year after the artist’s death; Kenzi Shiokava, the artist’s first institutional survey; and Mike Cloud, which is a nominee for the 2026 ARTnews Awards. Additionally, he has programmed performances by artists like David Lamelas, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Will Rawls, and Wu Tsang.
He also organized two collection shows, “Endless” (in 2023) and “Interiors” (2022), and served as co-director of the MCA DNA Research Initiative, which produced new scholarship on the museum’s collection. He also was a member of the curatorial teams for Carla Acevedo-Yates’s two major group shows, “Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón” (2026) and “Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s—Today” (2022).
Jimbo previously held curatorial positions at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Dallas Museum of Art. He contributed texts about several artists in the 2024 Whitney Biennial for the accompanying catalog.
“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,” Jimbo 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.”
At the Whitney, Jimbo will organize and collaborate on exhibitions and public programs, as well as help grow the museum’s collection. “His appointment reflects the Whitney’s ongoing commitment to championing artists and expanding narratives of American art through exhibitions, collections, scholarship, and public engagement,” a release reads.
“Nolan is a star among a new generation of curators with fresh perspectives on art both past and present,” Whitney director Scott 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.”