AICA-USA is the United States section of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, which was founded in 1950 in Paris to revive the critical discourse that had suffered under fascism and the Second World War and to develop international co-operation in the fields of artistic creation and cultural development. At present there are 63 member nations representing more than 5,000 art critics. Headquartered in New York, AICA-USA is one of the association’s largest national sections with over 450 distinguished critics, curators, scholars, and art historians working throughout the United States.

Launched in 2007 and presented in partnership with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, AICA-USA’s Distinguished Critic Lecture at The New School is an annual event during which an exemplary writer addresses seminal issues in contemporary art criticism.