What a difference a chief curator can make. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis chief curator Wassan Al-Khudhairi arrived at the museum in August 2017 with a mandate to rethink both what CAM meant to St. Louis as a local institution and to engage with the national and international art world. Since her arrival, CAM has landed major exhibitions by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Superflex, Amy Sherald, Trenton Doyle Hancock and Christine Corday, all of which prove definitively that CAM is on the right path. The artists are more diverse, the work shown is more rigorous in addressing contemporary issues, and St. Louis — and the world — has taken notice. Various outlets (the New Yorker, Artsy, Vice) have covered these shows and artists, which keeps CAM in the national dialogue. Meanwhile, the Great Rivers Biennial continues to promote local artists, and St. Louis has a contemporary arts institution that looks more like the actual city.