The Bass in Miami Beach names a new curator just in time for its $20 million expansion

Big changes are coming to The Bass. A new curator aims to help make the museum’s goals a reality.

Last month, The Bass, Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum, announced it appointed art historian James Voorhies as its new curator. He began the role Jan. 23. Voorhies most recently worked as the executive director of the Tony Smith Foundation in New York City.

“It is a new era for The Bass as we approach our 60th anniversary as Miami Beach’s home for contemporary art,” said Silvia Karman Cubiñá, the museum’s executive director and chief curator.

Voorhies’ appointment comes at a transformative time for the museum as it prepares to spend the millions of dollars it has received in grants and public funding on updating its building.

Last year, the Knight Foundation awarded the museum $1,250,000 to invest in art and technology, and Miami Beach residents voted to approve $159 million in bonds to invest in local arts organizations. The Bass will use its $20 million share to build a new wing and retrofit its cafe area into a multi-purpose, high-tech space, Cubiñá said.

“I’ve always admired The Bass’ programming and Sylvia’s work there, the way they commission artists to create new projects and also just their engagement with the community across the board,” Voorhies said.

Voorhies succeeds The Bass’s previous curator, Leilani Lynch, who worked at the museum for over 10 years after starting as an intern. After Lynch left the role late last year, Cubiñá said she was looking for someone who would approach the role intellectually, adapt to the museum’s changing environment, work closely with artists and further the museum’s curatorial vision of commissioning new works.

As the museum’s collection has grown over the last six years, Cubiñá said it’s important for the next curator to be able to look at the collection with a critical eye and “chart a path forward.” Voorhies checked all the boxes, she said.

“He brings that intellectual rigor and his experience working in artists projects,” she said. “I was looking for someone also that was excited to work with artists in this way that’s really hands on and kind of like a partner with the artist to create the works. We were lucky that the timing worked and that he applied to the job.”

Voorhies brings two decades of educational, curatorial and leadership experience to The Bass. He graduated from the Ohio State University with a PhD in modern and contemporary art history. He organized several solo exhibitions and lectured at Harvard’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies and Graduate School of Design. He also oversaw the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, where he curated 20 exhibitions, produced over 50 public programs and edited two books.

Voorhies said he looks forward to working with artists to bring their ideas and activating the museum’s soon-to-be new gallery space. As the building expands, The Bass will be able to exhibit pieces from its permanent collection, he said.

“The Bass has an incredible collection and like other museums, it can’t show everything it has at any given time,” he said. “So the support that the residents of Miami Beach are giving to this through the vote of the municipal bond is going to allow more of the permanent collection to be revealed and to exhibit. That’s really exciting.”

This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.