New Orleans Museum of Art

Public Tours in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Sunday
2025-08-31 10:30, 2025-09-07 10:30, 2025-09-14 10:30, 2025-09-21 10:30, 2025-09-28 10:30, 2025-10-05 10:30, 2025-10-12 10:30, 2025-10-19 10:30 (America/Chicago) and 3 more dates | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
NOMA provides guided tours of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden every Saturday. During these tours, you’ll learn about a selection of the 100 large-scale works installed in the garden.
No registration is required. NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to all, seven days a week. Tours start at the main entrance gate to the Besthoff Sculpture Garden on Dueling Oaks Drive.

Gallery Talk with Dawn DeDeaux
2025-09-03 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
This week, join artist Dawn DeDeaux for gallery talks on her work Rushed in Near Ten (2015), now on view in the Great Hall. DeDeaux’s talks will take place at 12:30 and 6:00.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

Gallery Talk with Curator Orlando Hernández Ying
2025-09-17 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-09-17 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
This week, join Orlando Hernández Ying, NOMA’s Lapis Curator of the Arts of the Americas, for a gallery talk on Our Lady of Loreto in the newly-reinstalled second floor mezzanine gallery. Learn more about the upcoming Great Hall installation of grand scale Peruvian Vice-Regal paintings, opening September 30th.
This gallery talk will be offered at 12:30 and 6:00 pm the next day. The 6:00pm gallery talk will be followed by a 7:00 pm combined performance and lecture by psalterist Marc Armitano Domingo in the Lapis Center for the Arts, as part of the National Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

National Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration 2025
2025-09-17 18:00 - 21:00
Celebrate National Hispanic American Heritage Month at NOMA, featuring gallery talks from Lapis Curator of the Art of the Americas Orlando Hernández Ying and a live performance and lecture from Marc Armitano Domingo.
This program is included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. Advanced registration is recommended.
Register Now

Program Details
6:00 pm | Gallery Talk with Curator Orlando Hernández Ying
Join Orlando Hernández Ying, NOMA’s Lapis Curator of the Art of the Americas, for a Gallery Talk on Our Lady of Loreto in the newly reinstalled second floor mezzanine gallery. Learn more about the upcoming Great Hall installation of grand scale Peruvian Vice-Regal paintings, opening September 30th.
Learn More
7:00 pm | Live Salterio (Psaltery) Performance and Lecture with Marc Armitano Domingo
Musician and researcher Marc Armitano Domingo will perform on the salterio (psaltery), a historical dulcimer instrument. The performance will be interspersed and connected with his lecture titled “The Hispanic Psaltery in the Americas.”
Beverages and Light Bites from Café NOMA
Enjoy specialty cocktails, mocktails and a light bites menu from Café NOMA leading up to Armitano Domingo’s lecture.

Additional Information
About Marc Armitano Domingo

Marc Armitano Domingo (b. 1996) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, working across oil painting, porcelain, and historical music performance. His visual work delves into sacred and natural themes, rendered through shadowy, atmospheric, and whimsical compositions on copper, linen, and porcelain.
As a leading performer and researcher of the salterio—a historical dulcimer popular in 17th- and 18th-century Spain, Italy, and colonial Latin America—Armitano Domingo focuses on reconstructing both the repertoire and authentic playing techniques. He performs on a replica 18th-century salterio, using special finger rings to pluck the strings rather than hammers.
Across media, his work engages with history and memory whether through nostalgic, tenebrous landscapes, delicate porcelain forms, or the vibrant, resonant sound of the salterio. His practice confronts the cultural amnesia that allows once-important traditions to fade, reclaiming forgotten forms and questioning why they were so readily lost to history.

Gallery Talk with Curator Mel Buchanan
2025-09-24 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-09-24 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
This week, join Mel Buchanan, NOMA’s RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts & Design, for a gallery talk on New Acquisitions in Contemporary Craft in the Elise M. Besthoff Foundation Gallery on the second floor of the museum. This talk will be offered at 12:30 and 6:00 pm the same day.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

Gallery Talk with Curator Brian Piper
2025-10-01 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-10-01 18:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-05 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-11-05 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
In celebration of the opening of the special exhibition Dawoud Bey: Elegy, join Brian Piper; NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings; for a conversation about works on view in the exhibition. The gallery talk will be offered at 12:30 and 6:00 pm this day.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

Gallery Talk with Curator Orlando Hernández Ying
2025-10-01 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-10-09 12:30 - 13:00, 2025-10-09 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month and the opening of the new special installation of Cuzco paintings in the Great Hall, join NOMA’s Lapis Curator of the Arts of the Americas Orlando Hernández Ying for a conversation about these works on view. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm the same day.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

Elders Sacred Talk Series: Martin Payton and Eric Waters
2025-10-01 17:30 - 19:00
NOMA and the Congo Square Preservation Society present the Elders Sacred Talk Series with prolific elder New Orleanians, celebrating the lives they lead while providing the opportunity for visitors to learn firsthand about the impact they’ve had on our city. This conversation between Martin Payton and Eric Waters will be moderated by Ron Bechet.

This program is included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

About the Speakers
Martin Payton

Martin Payton, a native of New Orleans, has sustained a distinguished career as both artist and educator for more than five decades. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Following his return to New Orleans, Payton embarked on an academic career that included appointments at Southern University at New Orleans, Southern University in Baton Rouge, and Xavier University, where he played a formative role in shaping successive generations of artists.

Payton’s artistic practice is most closely identified with his monumental public sculptures and monochromatic constructions, created through the welding of salvaged industrial steel. By reconfiguring discarded materials, Payton engages in a process that is simultaneously aesthetic and cultural, transforming the remnants of industrial production into abstract forms resonant with historical, spiritual, and communal associations. His collaborative work Spirit House with John Scott stands as a significant intervention in the visual and cultural landscape of New Orleans.

Peyton’s work is represented in major institutional collections, including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, the William King Museum of Art in Virginia, and the Rosekrans Runnymede Sculpture Garden in California. Payton’s work is recognized not only for its formal innovation but also for its critical engagement with African American cultural memory and the material legacies of labor and industry.

Eric Waters

For more than four decades, photographer Eric Waters has served as a central documentarian of Black social life and cultural traditions in New Orleans. A graduate of Dillard University, he studied photography under the late Marion J. Porter, whose mentorship shaped his early artistic development. While Waters has been widely sought after as an event photographer, his enduring reputation rests on his incisive visual record of Second Line parades and the ceremonial pageantry of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition—cultural expressions that lie at the heart of New Orleans’s African American community.

Waters’s photography captures the dynamism, movement, and layered symbolism of Black vernacular performance. His images serve as vital historical archives, preserving traditions that both affirm and continually reinvent communal identity. His work has been featured in international, national, and local media outlets and publications, including Ties That Bind and Freedom’s Dance: Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs in New Orleans (co-authored with Karen Celestan). He also co-edited SEEING BLACK: Black Photography in New Orleans, 1840 and Beyond with Kalamu ya Salaam and Shana M. Griffin, a landmark volume that situates Black photographers within a broader historical and cultural continuum.

Waters received the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Documentary Photographer of the Year award in 2018 and was named a Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist-in-Residence in 2019. His body of work continues to be regarded as both an artistic achievement and a crucial intervention in the visual historiography of New Orleans’s Black cultural practices.

About Elders Sacred Talks and Art Thrives
NOMA’s Art Thrives initiative presents creative aging programs designed to support visitors ages 55 and up. In addition to art-making workshops, courses, and opportunities for hands-on art-making, the Elders Sacred Talk Series provides a platform for older adults in New Orleans to share their experiences with audiences of all ages.
The Elders Sacred Talk Series is presented in partnership between NOMA and the Congo Square Preservation Society. Art Thrives is supported by E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.

Japan Fest
2025-10-11 10:00 - 16:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Celebrate Japanese culture through art, performances, food, and more at Japan Fest, organized by NOMA, the Japan Club in New Orleans, and the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville.
Sample Japanese cuisine, enjoy traditional dance groups, martial arts demonstrations, and tours throughout the day. Shop a variety of vendors offering unique goods in a festive atmosphere. Costumes are welcome, please see costume guidelines below.
Please note: The expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is not included in the Japan Fest festivities but will be open to the general public.
Tickets for Japan Fest are $10 General Admission, $5 for NOMA members, and free for attendees 19 years old and under
Purchase Tickets
Pre-purchasing Japan Fest tickets online is strongly recommended. Tickets are also available for purchase at the admissions desk in the Great Hall, as well as in front of the main gate of the Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

Festival Schedule
All Day Activities
Play Go with Crane’s Nest Go Club (Samuel H. Kress Galleries, first floor)
Buddha Board demonstration (NOMA Museum Shop, first floor)
Samurai Suit Fitting with Japan Society of New Orleans (Second floor elevator lobby)
Schedule of Events

Start Time

Event and Location

10:00 am

Kaminari Taiko of Houston drum performance (Portico, front of museum)
Open Origami (Art Studio, second floor)

10:30 am

Baton Rouge Eishin-Ryu Iaido Swordsmanship Demonstration (Sculpture Garden, Oak Grove stage)
Minyo Dance Group Performance (Lapis Center for the Arts, first floor)

11:00 am

New Orleans Kendo Club demonstration (Sculpture Garden, Oak Grove)
Youth Japanese language workshop (Art Studio, second floor)
Intro to Zazen Meditation with New Orleans Zen Temple (second floor hallway)
Gallery tour (Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery, third floor)

11:30 am

Japan Fest Welcome and Opening Remarks (Portico stage, front of museum)
Candy5 demonstration (Lapis Center for the Arts, first floor)
“Intro to Go: The Game Japan Revolutionized for 1300 Years” workshop (Samuel H. Kress Galleries, first floor)
Teen Japanese language workshop (Art Studio, second floor)

12:00 pm

J-pop Kaigai Idol Showcase (Sculpture Garden, Oak Grove)
Open Origami (Art Studio, second floor)
Youth-focused Gallery Tour (Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery, third floor)

12:30 pm

Kaminari Taiko of Houston drum performance (Portico, front of museum)

1:00 pm

Japanese Weekend School (Portico, front of museum)
LA Karate Association Shotokan Karate workshop & demonstration (Sculpture Garden, Oak Grove stage)
Miki Fuji band performance (Lapis Center for the Arts, first floor)
Gallery tour (Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery, third floor)

1:30 pm

Adult Japanese language workshop (Art Studio, second floor)

2:00 pm

New Orleans Rufflebutts Fashion Show (Portico, front of museum)
Aikido of New Orleans and NOLA Aikido workshop and demonstration (Sculpture Garden, Oak Grove)
“Intro to Go: The Game Japan Revolutionized for 1300 Years” workshop (Samuel H. Kress Galleries, first floor)
Youth-focused Gallery Tour (Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery, third floor)

2:30 pm

Cosplay Costume Contest (Portico, front of museum)
Zen Temple closing ceremony (Lapis Center for the Arts, first floor)
Taiko Drumming workshop (Art Studio, second floor)

3:00 pm

Gallery tour (Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery, third floor)
Japan America Society of North West Florida Folk Dance performance (Lapis Center for the Arts, first floor)

3:30 pm

Kaminari Taiko of Houston drum performance (Portico, front of museum)

4:00 pm

End of Japan Fest, museum closed

Participants

Please note: some vendors for Japan Fest accept cash only. Cash is recommended for making purchases at the festival.

Food Vendors

Ajun Cajun

Oni 225

Nori Guys

Violet Sprinkles

EM’s Bakery

Nola Cane Juice & More

Candy5 Traditional Candy Art

Observatory 11

Café NOMA

Merchandise Vendors

Kawaii NOLA

Showtime Sweeti

NOLA Kimekomi

SofinaCo

Minty Mix

TwootieTarte

Shiratori’s Cove

B.sweetLA

Madame Butterfly Nagasaki

Donn Davis

Art by Artemis Solas

NOLA Rufflebuts

Shattered Rose Jewelry

Japanese Weekend School

Performers, Tours, and Workshop Hosts

Aikido of New Orleans and NOLA Aikido

Louisiana Karate Association

Minoyo Dance Group

Japan America Society of NW Florida Folk Dance

Japanese Weekend School of New Orleans

Kaminari Taiko of Houston

Kaigai Idol Showcase

Japanese Fashion Club (NOLA RuffleButts Costume Contest & Fashion Show)

Japanese Language Workshop

New Orleans Taiko Drum Workshop

Gitter Gallery of Japanese Art tours

Candy5 Traditional Candy Art

New Orleans Zen Temple

Tablers

Japan Club of New Orleans

Japan Society of New Orleans

Japanese Consulate of Nashville

APAS (Asian Pacific American Society)

Just Another Con

Cranes Nest GO Club

Aikido of New Orleans and NOLA Aikido

Louisiana Karate Association

Jefferson Parish Library Anime Club

COSTUME GUIDELINES
For the safety and comfort of all guests, as well as the artwork at NOMA:

Costume masks that obstruct or cover the wearer’s face are prohibited. Face masks covering the nose and mouth for health reasons are welcomed but not required.
Accessories or toy weapons, such as swords, greater than 2 feet in length are not permitted.
No sharp objects are allowed.
Costume components cannot extend more than 2 feet in length from the body.
Please keep all costumes family friendly.

Other restrictions may apply at NOMA’s discretion. A check room will be available for any items not in compliance. For questions regarding costumes, please call 504.658.4100. Please note that admission is required for fashion show participants.

Sponsors

Cornerstone Chemical Company, LLC

Gray Construction

UBE C1 Chemicals America, Inc.

Consulate General of Japan Nashville

Japan Foundation of New York

Japan Society of New Orleans

Japan Club of New Orleans

Denka Performance Elastomers

Zen Noh Grain Corporation

CGB Enterprises

Observatory 11

SMBC Bank

Gallery Talk with Associate Educator Jasmine Griffin
2025-10-29 12:30 - 13:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Every week, NOMA hosts gallery talks in the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden led by curators, artists, and other special guests. These lively, participatory conversations provide a moment to take a close look at one work—or a selection of works—currently on view.
This week, join NOMA’s Associate Educator Jasmine Griffin for a gallery talk intertwining writing with the exhibition Dawoud Bey: Elegy. This gallery talk will only be offered at 12:30 pm.
Included with museum admission, which is free for Louisiana residents every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the appropriate location.

Producer's Choice: Frida (2002) and Conversation with Julie Taymor and Meryl Poster
2025-10-29 19:00 - 22:00 | NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts
Films build community through shared experiences.
NOMA presents a series of films—selected by award-winning producer and filmmaker Meryl Poster—followed by insightful special guests. Don’t miss your chance to revisit or discover modern classics on the big screen and gain behind-the-scenes insight into the film industry from leading figures.
Discussions will draw connections to art more broadly and celebrate cinema as an essential art form.
NOMA will screen Frida (2002) for this program, followed by a conversation with director Julie Taymor and Poster. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and the film screening starts at 7:00 pm.
The NOMA Museum Shop will be present at the screening from 6:30-9:30 pm with merchandise related to the series’s theme “Artists on Film.”
View all events in the Producer’s Choice Film Series

Tickets
Tickets are $10 for NOMA members and $15 for general admission.
Buy Tickets for “Frida”
Ticket Waitlist Policy

If tickets are sold out for a screening, there will be a first come, first served policy to fill any unoccupied seats:

At 6:30 pm, the waitlist will open at the Front Desk.
At 7:00 pm, we will count the number of vacant seats and begin to fill them with waitlisted individuals, who will be invited to purchase a ticket and be seated.
NOTE: There are no additional tickets available at the door. Waitlisted individuals will only be able to claim seats left open by no-show attendants. We cannot guarantee that individuals on the waitlist will be able to sit together.
The museum is open until 7:00 pm on Wednesday evenings. While waiting, waitlisted individuals are welcome to view NOMA exhibitions.

About the Film
Frida (2002, 2h 3m)
A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a life-altering injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
About Meryl Poster
Meryl Poster is an award-winning producer and filmmaker. Starting as the second ever female trainee in the William Morris Agency mailroom, she has since led and developed a slate of groundbreaking, critically acclaimed films, including the Oscar-winning Chicago, Chocolat, Cider House Rules, Cop Land, Beautiful Girls, Bounce, Kate and Leopold, and An Unfinished Life.
