Jehra Patrick
Founder and Co-Director, Growth and Sustainability
Jehra Patrick (she/her) brings over fourteen years of experience curating exhibitions and developing and directing educational and public programs. She is currently Curator and Gallery Director at Macalester College and previously worked as Program Director for the McKnight Fellowship for Photographers, Program Director for mnartists.org, and Director of Waiting Room, an independent art gallery.
[email protected]

Sally Frater
Co-Director, Artistic Programs
Sally Frater holds an Honours BA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph and an MA in Contemporary Art from The University of Manchester/Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Curatorially she is interested in decolonization, space and place, Black and Caribbean diasporas, photography, art of the everyday, and issues of equity and representation in museological spaces. She has curated solo and group exhibitions for institutions such as the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Ulrich Museum of Art, the McColl Center for Art and Innovation, Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at the University of Toronto, Project Row Houses, and Centre[3] for Artistic and Social Practice. A former resident in the Core Critical Studies fellowship at the Glassell School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Frater has also completed fellowships and residencies at the UT Dallas Centraltrak, Southern Methodist University, Project Row Houses and Art21. The recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts she is a member of the Association of Art Museum Curators and is an alumna of Independent Curators International.
sally@emergingcurators.org

Daniel Atkinson
Co-Director, Education and Public Programs
Daniel Atkinson (DA // he) is an educator, public programmer, and publisher. Originally from Minnesota, he is of mixed European settler and Mexican heritage. DA has held positions at several art institutions throughout the US, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and at Dia:Beacon, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of the Moving Image across New York. He has degrees in Studio Arts (BA, U. of Minnesota), Art Education (MA, NYU), and Leadership in Museum Education (MS, Bank Street, NY). DA is currently co-producing two books: an interview-based history of recent museum education practice and an introductory reader on contemporary curatorial practice from a global perspective.
[email protected]

Nicole Thomas
Design and Communications Manager
Nicole Thomas (she/they) is an artist, writer, and independent curator. Since receiving a BFA in Photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she has managed art industry platforms for over five years. Nicole builds community through dynamic, digital spaces including live streams, interviews, and open conversations. Previous design projects include exhibition catalogues at City Wide Artists and critical review publications for The Soap Factory. She helped establish Waiting Room’s social media platforms and currently manages MPLSART.
[email protected]

Advisory Committee
ECI programming is guided by an Advisory Committee. Past and current Committee members include:
2020-21
Angela Two Stars – All My Relation Arts (AMRA)
Mary Bordeaux – Racing Magpie
Gabby Coll – Juxtaposition Arts
Roderic Southall (returning) – Obsidian Arts Center
Ginger Shulick Porcella – Franconia Sculpture Park
2019-2020
Tricia Heuring – Public Functionary
Denetrick Powers – Counterspace Gallery
Roderic Southall – Obsidian Arts Center
Dyani White Hawk Polk – Contemporary Native Artist and Curator
Christina Wiles – Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College
Keisha Williams – Minneapolis Institute of Art