The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) Celebrates Ten Years of the Emerging Artists Program and Announces the Awardees for 2026-2027

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(MoAD) is pleased to announce Bay Area artists Jasmine Ross, Demetri Broxton, Dorian Reid, and Tahirah Rasheed as the 10th cohort of MoAD’s annual Emerging Artists Program (EAP) for 2026-2027. The awardees were selected from hundreds of applicants, who will present single artist shows at MoAD from spring 2026 through early 2027. Each of these exhibitions are centered in MoAD’s continued mission to place art of the African Diaspora at the center of the global cultural conversation.

The EAP reflects MoAD’s commitment to supporting, exhibiting, and amplifying the work of Black artists living and working in the Bay Area. As a leading contemporary art museum focused on the global African Diaspora, MoAD is proud to incubate innovative practices and foster long-term artistic growth.

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Generous Support Provided By Bernard Osher Foundation, Karen Jenkins-Johnson and Kevin Johnson, Robina Riccitiello and the Westridge Foundation

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Next Exhibition Opens September 30th: Dorian Reid, Calling All Cats!

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At the center of Calling All Cats! is the black cat, a creature followed for centuries by superstition and suspicion. In Reid’s hands, the cat carries dignity, wit, tenderness, and agency. It appears as artist, neighbor, witness, troublemaker, and friend. This collection of objects will tell the story of the "Black Cat Revolution," a movement and club Reid founded in 2024 to dismantle prejudices and raise funds for cats and community members.

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This exhibition brings us into the full breadth of Reid’s imagination and introduces one of the Bay Area’s most singular multidisciplinary artists. Her work is joyful, intimate, politically alive, and gloriously its own. She explains, "I'm creating my own Black History with cats. The club is for all who love cats, freedom, justice, liberation, and stand against superstition."

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Come for the cats. Stay for the world they have built around them.

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About the Artist

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Dorian Reid has built a world which draws parallels between her familial connection to The Black Panthers and her current fight for civil rights and animal welfare.

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It is filled with family, musicians, activists, neighbors, historical figures, beloved animals, and cats of every color. Across ceramics, paintings, prints, textiles, furniture, protest signs, and community gatherings, they live together inside a visual culture full of humor, memory, care, and the particular spirit of the East Bay.

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Reid was born and raised in Berkeley. She is the daughter of Betty Reid Soskin, whose work as a historian and public servant has changed how generations understand California’s past. Her family also owned Reid’s Records, the beloved Berkeley record store where music, conversation, and community shared the same address. That inheritance is present throughout Reid’s work. Family history becomes folklore. Portraiture records kinship. Art enters public life.

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Tickets to visit MoAD and view the exhibitions:

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