Jade Foster

Public Programme Curator

Jade is a British curator, artist and art historian of Afro-Caribbean heritage based in Nottingham and from Sandwell in the West Midlands. Foster holds positions as a Trustee / Board Member of Nottingham Contemporary and Public Programme Curator at Primary in Nottingham. At Primary, they lead the development of exhibitions and digital commissions, focusing on brokering international collaborations. Current curatorial interests include modern and contemporary painting, performance, and time-based media exploring errantry, queerness, corporality, and social practice.

In addition to their work at Primary, they freelance with Hospital Rooms as a Visiting Curator, commissioning artworks for Sandwell CAMHS, an outpatient service for children and young people with complex mental health needs. Previously, they worked on a range of projects with organisations such as Forth (formerly Four/Four), UK New Artists (formerly UKYA), QUAD/Format International Photography Festival, New Art Exchange, Glasgow International, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Glasgow, performing borders and Never Done, and Two Queens. Their long-term independent curatorial project, At Peace, had its first iteration at Gillian Jason Gallery, London, in a group exhibition featuring artists Alanis Forde, Miranda Forrester, Sahara Longe, Cece Philips, and Emma Prempeh. Jade went on to curate At Peace II, a group exhibition featuring contributors from Barbados, Saint Vincent, the UK, and the USA at Two Queens, Leicester, in 2022.

As an artist, recent exhibitions include Wallpaper, TG (2023); Portals, Eastside Projects (2021); CONVENTION #1: Sounding Gender - In Search of the Sonic Self, Aarhus, Denmark; Stand Up!, Artcore Gallery, Derby (2018); If we are going to heal, let it be glorious, The Royal Standard, Liverpool (2017).  

An avid public speaker, they have been a panellist recently for Governance Now, a flagship conference by Clore Leadership and the Cultural Governance Alliance (CGA); ‘It’s About Handing Over Power’ an Art Fund symposium at the V&A produced by Black Curatorial; ‘Collectivism, Community and Collaboration’, a conversation alongside Bolanle Tajudeen - founder of Black Blossoms Online, Blk Art Research Group Project (Keith Piper, Marlene Smith), and the Black Obsidian Sound System; and There is (No) Time, a conversation produced by performingbordersLIVE20 and the Live Art Development Agency (LADA). 

They are an alumnus of the CAMPUS Independent Study Programme and were a 2021 CCCADI Curatorial Fellow in Afro-Caribbean Art. Jade achieved a life goal by completing an MA in the History of Art at UCL as a 2022-23 Fer-Garb Scholarship holder.

Jade has always thoroughly enjoyed sharing knowledge as widely as possible and has written for Art Monthly and will be writing for LUX and ArtReview. Now, they are open to teaching and have been a Visiting Lecturer/Speaker at Liverpool John Moores University, University of Northampton, and the University of Lincoln.