The High’s Michael Rooks to receive the Nexus Award

?The High Museum’s contemporary art curator Michael Rooks is the sixth recipient of the Nexus Award, presented annually by the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. Since arriving as the High’s Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art in January 2010, Rooks has made notable strides to close the gap between the regional institution and Atlanta’s thriving community of contemporary artists.
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?The award recognizes the bold visionary progressive work of artist advocates. Rooks will receive the award at a reception and ceremony to be held at the Contemporary on May 19.
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?“As the committee considered the word nexus as a guiding principle for selecting this year’s recipient, it was clear that Michael Rooks stood out as the leader and community builder who consistently strives to create space and advocate for new connections between contemporary artists and audiences,” ACAC Executive Director Julie Delliquanti says in a press statement released by the Contemporary. “He has been invaluable in advancing the work and practice of local and regional artists, but has also been instrumental in invigorating the creative and intellectual landscape of Atlanta by presenting the work of nationally and internationally recognized artists.”
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?Rooks joins a shortlist of former recipients, including Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Director Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Flux Projects Founder Louis Corrigan, and whitespace owner and director Susan Bridges.
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?“It is humbling and incredibly meaningful to join this esteemed group of Nexus Award honorees, and become part of The Contemporary’s tradition of fostering contemporary art and dialogue in our city,” Michael Rooks says via the release. “Connecting the High Museum of Art with artists and the people who nurture them in Atlanta has been a priority to me since my first conversation about the position. That responsibility has since become a joy for me personally, an inspiration, and a critically important aspect of what I do.”
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?The follow-up to the High’s 2013 exhibit Drawing Inside the Perimeter, in which Rooks curated and acquired works by local artists, comes this July with the opening of Sprawl: Drawing Outside the Perimeter. 
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