April 13, 2026
New York NY 10011
United States
The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) announces Hamza Walker as the recipient of its 2026 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, honoring outstanding curatorial achievements of individuals bringing innovative thinking, bold vision, and dedicated service to the field of exhibition-making. An independent panel of leading curators, artists, and museum directors selected Walker to receive the annual award, which is accompanied by a $25,000 prize.
The event, which is chaired by Abby Bangser, Richard Chang, and Thor Shannon will take place on Monday, April 13, 2026 at The Lighthouse at Pier 61, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.
Purchase tickets or tables for the gala online here, contact Ramona Rosenberg at T 845 758 7574 or rrosenbe@bard.edu, or see the website for more information.
About Hamza Walker
Hamza Walker is a curator, writer, and educator whose practice explores the rhetoric of race in the United States, racial identity, and politics. Ever since seeing avant-garde concerts and performances in late-1980s Chicago, he has felt compelled to share a boundless curiosity about art. In the ensuing years, Walker has curated dozens of exhibitions ranging from solo to thematic exhibitions; from the production of new work to career surveys. Prior to his role at The Brick, Walker served as Associate Curator/Director of Education at the Renaissance Society, a non-collecting museum of contemporary art on the University of Chicago campus.
Recent exhibitions and installations at The Brick include MONUMENTS (2025–26); Elizabeth Paige Smith: Unshade Me Of You (2025); Gregg Bordowitz: This Is Not A Love Song (2025); The Absolute Right to Exclude: Reflections on and Implications of Cheryl Harris' Whiteness as Property (2021); and Postcommodity: Some Reach While Others Clap (2020). Walker holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago.
About Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence
Launched at CCS Bard in 1998 to recognize groundbreaking visionaries in the curatorial field, the Award for Curatorial Excellence is selected by an independent panel of leading contemporary art curators, museum directors, and artists. The award is named in recognition of patron Audrey Irmas, who bestowed the endowment for the Audrey Irmas Prize of $25,000. Irmas is an emeritus board member of CCS Bard and an active member of the Los Angeles arts and philanthropic community. The award itself is designed by artist Lawrence Weiner, and is based on his 2006 commission Bard Enter, conceived for the entrance to the Hessel Museum of Art at CCS Bard.
Past recipients of the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence can be found here.
