Arts institutions have long leaned on the gala format as a means of celebration and support. But recently, development teams have used the term “gala fatigue” to describe desires to break the cycle of annual fundraising events that recycle this format.
When NOMA paused our Odyssey and LOVE in the Garden events in 2024 in favor of the two-day Visionaries fête for the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden’s 20th anniversary, we decided to rethink how we gather, celebrate, and raise funds. What would it look like if we tried something different—something smaller, more intimate, but no less joyful?
The answer came, as many good ideas in our city do, through food. Chef Serigne Mbaye of Dakar NOLA, who served on the advisory committee for New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations, agreed to partner with the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group and Café NOMA on a special dish. This partnership grew into plans for a summer event celebrating connections between West Africa and New Orleans.
In New Orleans, every dinner ends with the question, “What are we eating next?” We wondered if NOMA could be a place where people ate, drank, socialized, and discovered art all at once. The Salon Supper Club, a three-part series of art- and food-driven evenings, was born.
Drawing inspiration from the historic European salon tradition—where artists, musicians, and intellectuals exchanged ideas—NOMA set out to create an intimate and dynamic event, where each iteration drew in different audiences while keeping the museum, its collection, and its exhibitions at the center. Food and drink were essential (this is New Orleans, after all), but live music, performance, and guided tours were added to create richer encounters with the art in focus.
With support from leading sponsor First Horizon Bank and its New Orleans Market President and NOMA trustee Tony Adams, who responded to NOMA’s pitch with an immediate “We’re in,” we launched the series in May 2025. Three young women—Mary Beth Benjamin, Katherine Duncan, and Ileana Feoli—stepped forward to chair the inaugural event. Guest chef E. J. Lagasse of Emeril’s, a mid-twenties culinary prodigy, added to the youthful appeal of an evening tied to Nicolas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océans, Mississippi Watershed. Over 350 guests flowed through the museum to enjoy performances by the Grammy-nominated Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours while queueing up for tarot card readings.
An extensive press and marketing drive accompanied this new venture, with features in outlets including The Pearl and New Orleans Magazine’s 2025 “Best of Dining” issue. Speaking to The Pearl for the article “The Art of Gathering,” spring’s event co-chair Ileana Feoli noted that the new event series “bring[s] a wonderful group together to celebrate art, cuisine, and culture — a New Orleanian’s favorite pastimes!”
The summer Salon Supper Club carried the momentum forward. Chaired by trustees Terrah Green, Jenny Vorhoff, Elizabeth Williams, and Ariel Wilson-Harris, along with their spouses, the evening unfolded as a true celebration of the arts, complete with live music, poetry, and dance performances. To accommodate as wide an audience as possible in the traditionally sleepy social calendar of summer in New Orleans, this event offered both a cocktail hour patron ticket and general admission. The strategy worked: 430 guests attended across both tiers, and curator-guided tours of New African Masquerades drew groups as enthused to hear about the exhibition as they were to taste the exquisite cuisine planned with Chef Serigne Mbaye.
The third and final Salon Supper Club of the year—themed A Feast for the Senses—featured a seated dinner in NOMA’s Great Hall by guest chef Alfredo Nogueira of Cane & Table. The evening celebrated the first phase of the museum’s reinstallation of its Arts of the Americas galleries with dance performances from tango duo Celina Rotundo and Hugo Patyn, as well as live music from The Javier Olondo Trio and salterio player and scholar Marc Armitano Domingo.
Led by bilingual chairs Millie and Robert Kohn, Martine and Juan Linares, and Pam Ryan and Meaghan Ryan Bonavita during National Hispanic Heritage Month, the event embraced our city’s Spanish heritage, cuisine, and art.
While final fundraising figures will determine whether the Salon Supper Club can rival the Odyssey Ball in revenue, the qualitative successes are already clear from our attendees:
- “The food was excellent and plentiful, no need for dinner afterwards.”
- “As a single ticket buyer, I felt comfortable—art was the focus, and it sparked conversation.”
- “The crowd was diverse. Not the same people as always.”
- “It felt cool, not like other events.”
NOMA has no plans to abandon its long-standing traditions: LOVE in the Garden returned in November 2025, and Odyssey will become a bi- or tri-annual gala with a larger scale. But the Salon Supper Club has proven that event fundraising doesn’t have to remain formulaic. Speaking for The Pearl alongside Ileana Feoli, spring co-chair Mary Beth Benjamin noted that this event “gives us the chance to highlight different exhibitions and experiences throughout the year while still gathering the community to celebrate and support the museum.”
By weaving together food, art, and community, NOMA has found a way to keep New Orleans eating, talking, and celebrating through art.
-Elenore Falshaw, Chief Advancement Officer