AKINTOLA HANIF
The Newark, New Jersey–based nonprofit Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art has appointed Dexter Wimberly as its new executive director. Wimberly will start in his new post on October 15 with the opening of the organization’s newest exhibition, “Zachary Fabri: From the Wolf to the Fox.”
Wimberly, who has previously organized exhibitions at the Aljira, was most recently director of strategic planning at Independent Curators International in New York. He has a background in marketing and PR, having worked as communications director for the Museum for African Art in New York and co-founding a PR agency, August Bishop.
Wimberly’s curatorial credits include the 2010 exhibition “The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks” at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in New York and a group show, titled “The Ease of Fiction,” at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, which included work by Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze and Meleko Mokgosi.
Wimberly will soon announce solo exhibitions of “significant, yet underexposed artists” at Aljira, including some who have never had a show in the New York area, according to a news release from the institution.
“I admire the way in which Dexter serves artists and applies his entrepreneurial experience to the careers of artists,” Victor L. Davson, the Aljira’s founding director, said in a statement. “His knowledge and experience will certainly usher Aljira into a new tomorrow with insightful additions to Newark’s arts community and the region.”