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Appropriately enough, Schoonmaker made plans for pushing the reach of "Street Level" beyond the confines of a gallery wall. He scheduled satellite events that included a block party celebrating Cordova and fellow artist Leslie Hewitt's site-specific billboard-art project in downtown Durham, and a discussion and demonstration of musical and artistic "sampling" presented by local hip-hop producer Ninth Wonder and faculty members from Duke and North Carolina Central University.
Joining the Nasher staff has been a homecoming of sorts for Schoonmaker. Born in Winston-Salem, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992 with a major in art history. After earning a master's degree in art history from the University of Michigan in 1998, he moved to New York and immersed himself in the clubs, galleries, museums, and collectives that make up the city's dynamic arts scene. Within a scant year-and-a-half, he had organized his first exhibition, "The Magic City," a six-artist show at Chelsea's Brent Sikkema gallery. The New York Times gave the show a good review, noting that it approached multiculturalism "not as a bureaucratic program but as a kind of delirious pluralism."
As his contacts and connections within the contemporary art world grew, Schoonmaker sought innovative ways to mount shows that brought together multiple voices and viewpoints, while working within the constraints of his vocation. "A big-name curator can get paid decently to put together a show," he says, "but as an independent curator, you either have to be independently wealthy or make huge sacrifices" when it comes to the scale and scope of a show. Even while pitching thematic ideas for group shows, Schoonmaker pursued an idea that had consumed his thoughts for years—a show devoted to the life and influence of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
A galvanizing force in Nigerian politics and world music, Kuti, who has been compared with Bob Marley, Huey Newton, and Malcolm X, among others, was a daring cultural hero, known for his biting social commentary, antigovernment stance, and infectiously catchy sound, which he dubbed "Afrobeat." Musicians such as David Byrne, Brian Eno, James Brown, and Sun Ra have all credited Kuti with influencing their work.
"Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti," organized at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York in 2003, brought together dozens of international artists, photographers, and writers. Schoonmaker also edited an accompanying book of essays titled Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway.
"Black President," which traveled to San Francisco, London, and Cincinnati, established Schoonmaker's reputation not only as a savvy and prescient curator, but also as a multidisciplinary bridge builder. A series of other shows confirmed his gift for forging innovative, cross-cultural conversations: "D Troit", a group show that interpreted the city of Detroit through art, popular culture, and music, was mounted at Gigantic ArtSpace in New York and Urbis in Manchester, England, in 2004. In 2006, he co-curated "The Beautiful Game: Contemporary Art and Fútbol," an exhibit that explored, through the lens of soccer, such themes as national identity, globalism, competition, and spectatorship.
In a relatively short time, Schoonmaker had become a respected and sought-after curator and lecturer. He came home for a family visit over the 2005 Christmas holidays and decided to check out the buzz surrounding the newly opened Nasher Museum, including its inaugural exhibit, "The Forest: Politics, Poetics and Practice."
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