The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has added Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi to its board of trustees. His addition to the board was announced on the same day that the museum official launched the Global Vision Initiative, which the MCA first began as a pilot program in 2016.
Along with his new position on the board, Al Qassemi will also act as a co-chair of the Global Vision Initiative, which was created to support contemporary art and artists from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Over the past year the initiative has secured acquisitions from Middle Eastern artists, among them Marwan and Jumana Manna. Omar Kholeif, a senior curator and the museum and the leader of the initiative, is currently working on an upcoming group exhibition featuring some of those acquisitions that will open in 2019.
Al Qassemi is the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, which focuses on the development of the Arab art scene. In a statement, Anne Kaplan, the chair of the museum’s board, said, “He brings an incredible expertise as a leader in global art, culture, and philanthropy and through his work at the Barjeel Art Foundation, he is an important collector of contemporary art.”
This press release was originally published on ARTnews on July 27, 2017. A screenshot of this article can be downloaded here.
