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Kemi Ilesanmi 🇳🇬🇺🇸

@kemi70

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Founder @kgiprojectsllc
🖼️ Strategist. 🫱🏾‍🫲🏼 Bldr. 🌍 Weaver.
Board @joanmitchellfdn @32degreeseast @warholfoundation
Opinions my own.

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Life is one wild & beautiful ride. Receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from CUNY Graduate Center was a wonderful yet slightly surreal & deeply emotional experience.

I was so happy to share the day with Steve, my Mom & my sister. In fact, there were two days of activities, between receptions, dinners & Commencement for 433 hardworking Masters & PhD graduates!

The CUNY Graduate Center is a special place. Over the years, I’ve attended countless events, partnered with their professors & graduates, and benefited from the incredible minds & research nurtured there.

Thank you to President Joshua Brumburg and Professor Prithi Kanakamedala for “hooding” me. Huge Congratulations to my fellow honorees, speakers, and all the graduates. Much gratitude to the CUNY staff who took such excellent care of me & my family. What a day!! 🥲🥰 taken in Lincoln Center by @kemi70

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“I feel like my reason for being is to build these networks. To have been able to lean in for so much of my career into building, upholding, supporting, learning about Black and brown artists, and the networks and leaders in those spaces. Incredible.

That is my lifetime work, and it has only become clearer and deeper and more interesting to me over time. But the season shifts.” – Kemi Ilesanmi

In this week’s episode of ‘The Art World: What If…?!’, Kemi reflects on decades of weaving connections across continents and institutions, and on embracing the changing seasons of a lifetime in art. From grounding herself in local communities to shaping ecosystems across the diaspora, her journey is a reminder that purpose evolves, and deepens, over time.

Listen to the full conversation now at the link in the bio.

@kemi70
@charlieburnsnyc by @kemi70

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Let me introduce myself… Thanks to the recent @artcube mention I’ve gained nearly 400 new followers since Sunday! So, I thought I’d take a minute to say hello to all the lovely folks who follow my adventures across art, travel & more.

In time, I’ve lived many lives, crossed many borders, and my most favorite thing is to build bridges. This is my birthright, as one born to a Black American mother and Nigerian father who met against the backdrop of Black Power and African liberation, Aretha Franklin and Fela.

Professionally, I’ve worked as a DMV clerk, retail assistant, receptionist, museum curator, foundation officer, nonprofit executive, and now Founder & Principal of KGI Projects LLC.

Through consulting, advising & networking, I endeavor to build robust, interconnected, and resilient arts ecosystems in which Black & Brown art/ists can thrive wherever they live.

By following my page, you’ll catch me at the museum, play, or park… in Brooklyn (home), Lagos (other home), London, Joburg, New Orleans… you know, wherever Black people create, dance, laugh & live to the fullest.

You’ll also meet the people who shape my life into song… my sweetie, family, friends & colleagues. My Day Ones. ✨

Check out my website and/or subscribe to “Behold New Suns” on Substack, where I write about art, culture, tourism, Black diaspora, and things that make me go hmmn. Links in bio.

In short, I am: Arts Strategist. Institution Builder. Diaspora Weaver. @kgiprojectsllc

Welcome! 🖤 by @kemi70

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a year ago

Happy 66th Independence Day, Nigeria!! 🇳🇬 by @kemi70

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2 days ago

More art, gardens & fun in Cleveland!
#ilesanmigirls #favelilbro #cleveland taken in Cleveland, Ohio by @kemi70

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Welcome to Cleveland… where the term “Rock ‘n Roll” was popularized & home to the first Rock concert! We acted accordingly! 🎶🎸🎶
#ilesanmigirls #favelilbro #cleveland taken in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by @kemi70

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4 days ago

GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT!

Meet Kemi Ilesanmi [ @kemi70 ] the Founder and Principal of KGI Projects.

Kemi Ilesanmi is the Founder and Principal of KGI Projects, which cultivates and supports stronger arts ecosystems in the United States and Africa. For nearly 30 years, she has served as nonprofit leader, foundation officer, museum curator, and now consultant, advisor, and diaspora connector. Recent projects have focused on the intersection of art and healing in East Africa, formation of a new African art museum in New York, and the critical contributions of African curators to field discourse. As founding executive director of The Laundromat Project, she grew a fledgling community arts initiative into an internationally-recognized institution, increasing its impact and budget tenfold. Prior to that, Kemi held key roles at Creative Capital and the Walker Art Center. Along with recognition from the New York Times, Brooklyn Magazine, and Metropolitan Museum, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the City University of New York in 2026. She recently served on the Transition Committee for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. A graduate of Smith College and New York University, she serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Andy Warhol Foundation and 32 Degrees East in Uganda. Born in the United States, she moved to Nigeria at age six and obtained her WAEC certificate at FGGC Shagamu. She returned to the US in the 1980s, creating a life deeply informed by both her Nigerian and Black American roots. She has traveled to over 50 countries, including 13 in Africa, spanning west, east, south, and north.

#KAFART6 #toHaveandtoHold by @kemi70

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Fun times @americansignmuseum 💡
#ilesanmigirls #favelilbro #cincy taken in American Sign Museum by @kemi70

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One of my favorite things about our annual family trips is how each place we visit adds depth, nuance & local specificity to the tapestry of US Black history we love so much!

Wilberforce, OH is just an hour from Cincinnati & a bastion of Black educational history, including the first private HBCU founded by Black people in 1856: Wilberforce University. Nearby Central State University continued the legacy in 1887. Some famous students & faculty include WEB Dubois, Leontyne Price, Bayard Rustin & Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (see Kennedy Center).

Hallie Quinn Brown was a Wilberforce graduate & later professor. She was also an activist, writer & mentor. We went back to read more because so many others name checked her!

Wilberforce was also home to an incredible man I had never heard of: Brigadier General Charles Young. He was a West Point grad, Buffalo Soldier, Wilberforce professor & diplomat. Fun fact: In 1903, he & his crew of Buffalo Soldiers created many of the roads still in use at Sequoia National Park in CA!

@naamcc @charlesyoungnps

#IlesanmiGirls #favelilbro #wilberforce taken in Wilberforce, Ohio by @kemi70

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🫰🏾💰🫰🏾 taken in American Sign Museum by @kemi70

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Making that trek from Ohio to Kentucky and back. Freedom indeed. #IlesanmiGirls #favelilbro taken in John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge by @kemi70

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A lil art & culture Cincy-style! 💃🏾 We had so much fun at the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame… from singing along to the Isley Brothers, Bootsy & Heatwave to making music videos! @cincinnatiblackmusicwalkoffame

Plus, we visited the famous Robert Duncanson (18th century African-American landscape painter) murals @taftmuseum & saw more art @cincyartmuseum

#IlesanmiGirls #favelilbro #cincy taken in Cincinnati, Ohio by @kemi70

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