Science Meets Art with the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2025-12-17 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
On Wednesday, December 17, come to NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts for a one of a kind evening of hands-on creativity! In collaboration with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), NOMA’s Lapis Center will host activity booths from 9 national science organizations, as well as NOMA’s Conservator of Objects Ingrid Seyb, teaching about renewable energy, space, the polar regions and beyond. This is an all-ages program, so lovers of science, art, and learning can come together to expand their understanding of our world and universe.
We are excited to host:

NASA Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission
NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT)
SHIELD NASA DRIVE Center
NASA PUNCH mission
COFFIES NASA DRIVE Center
Polar STEAM
Adler Planetarium
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Before and during the activities, we invite attendants to visit our special exhibitions and permanent collection that connect to the Geophysical Sciences:

Dawoud Bey: Elegy
The View from Here: Women Photographers of the American Landscape
Nicolas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed
Afropolitan: Contemporary African Arts at NOMA

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. Visitors with an AGU conference badge will receive a discount on admission with their badge. Registration is recommended for this program.
REGISTER NOW

Schedule of Activities
NASA Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission will host a table where visitors can learn about the dynamic layers of the Sun using the water-marbling paint method. Get creative and take home your own unique creation!
NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT) is hosting an activity about how the sun affects everything and everyone in the solar system. Guests will be able to make a bracelet with UV beads to see how the sun affects us every day. Guests will also learn about the different experiences and perspectives people from Alaska to Navajo Nation have of the sun, seasons, and auroras.
SHIELD NASA DRIVE Center will have a table on “Heliophysics: Exploring the Outer Solar System and Beyond.” Learn about how NASA studies solar activity and its impact on the Earth, the other planets, and the outer portion of the solar system.
NASA PUNCH mission will be hosted by team members from NASA’s PUNCH mission! They will host hands-on activities related to the PUNCH Outreach Ancient and Modern Sun-watching theme.
NOMA’s Conservator of Objects Ingrid Seyb will cover pigment origins and preservation as well as atmospheric & light considerations in museums and object storage.
COFFIES NASA DRIVE Center will host a table with activities and information.
Polar STEAM staff and fellows will engage attendees of all ages with hands-on activities and interactive materials that highlight the science, art, and storytelling emerging from polar research. Visitors may also have the opportunity to try on Extreme Cold Weather gear and pose for photos, offering a fun and tangible glimpse into life and work in the polar regions.
Adler Planetarium will guide guest in assembling a fun tool to use in the art museum and to take home! Investigate light and color, decode secret messages, and see how astronomers use similar special tools in their telescopes to gather information about distant objects in space.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will host live Micro-Demos from REDi Island—short interactive tours highlighting how water and related energy technologies appear in familiar community settings. Design Your Own Island is a creative mapping activity where visitors build their own mini version of REDi Island to explore how communities balance energy, environment, and design.
NREL will also host a table where you can Draw Your Future Energy Job — an imaginative art station inviting visitors to illustrate what their dream role could be on REDi Island (engineer, artist, diver, data scientist, designer, and more), encouraging curiosity about future careers and the intersection of art and science.

About the American Geophysical Union

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in the Earth and space sciences.
Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.
About SHIELD NASA Drive Center

Hollow Tree Film Screening and Panel Discussion
2025-12-18 17:30 - 20:00
Join us in the Lapis Center for the Arts for a screening of Kira Akerman’s award-winning documentary Hollow Tree, followed by a conversation with the film’s leading protagonists Mekenzie Fanguy, Annabelle Pavy, and Tanielma DaCosta (moderated by Kimbrielle Boult, NOMA’s Community Engagement Coordinator) on the creation and impact of the film.
Hollow Tree follows three teenagers coming of age in their sinking homeland of Louisiana. For the first time, they notice the Mississippi River’s engineering, stumps of cypress trees, and billowing smokestacks. Their different perspectives—as Indigenous, white, and Angolan young women—shape their story of the climate crisis.
This program is free and open to the public. Registration is highly encouraged.
REGISTER NOW
About the Film
Still from “Hollow Tree” by Kira Ackerman
Hollow Tree, a 73-minute award-winning documentary directed by Kira Akerman and produced by Monique Walton and Chachi Hauser, invites three young women to learn with the director, filmmaking team, and their respective communities. Mekenzie Fanguy (Houma, Louisiana) was born on coastal bayous and is a member of the United Houma Nation; Annabelle Pavy (Lafayette, Louisiana) is from a mostly white community, where climate change is largely viewed as a myth; and Tanielma DaCosta (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) immigrated from Angola, Africa when she was 6. They travel to different sites along the Mississippi River, where they engage in dialogue with engineers, activists, and Indigenous leaders. As these young women notice their surroundings, they begin to imagine Louisiana’s past—its history of slavery, Indigenous dispossession, and colonization—and, by extension, Louisiana’s future, which they will experience and help to shape. Many of Hollow Tree’s screenings include accompanying learning experiences for audiences, which have been created in partnership with the Climate Museum, Columbia’s Climate School, the Museum of the Moving Image, the University of Mississippi, and the Small Center at Tulane University.
Kira Akerman is a documentary filmmaker and educator. Her film Hollow Tree won a Jury Prize at the New Orleans Film Festival, and an award for Best Documentary at Chicago’s International Children’s Festival. Her work has been supported by the International Documentary Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sundance Institute, the Redford Center, and others. Kira received the 2019 PBS Wyncote Fellowship, the 2019 Sundance Talent Forum Fellowship, the 2020 Gotham Documentary Lab, and the 2021 Climate Story Lab. Her short films have been featured in The Atlantic, The Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University, the Ford Foundation Gallery, the Camden International Film Festival, MOMA, the Rotterdam Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, and others. Kira has collaborated extensively with Ripple Effect, a New Orleans based water literacy educational nonprofit, and the former Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University, an interdisciplinary, place-based institute that promotes the understanding of New Orleans and the Gulf South region. She is currently a fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies at Harvard University.
Tanielma DaCosta is one of the three protagonists of Hollow Tree. She was born in Angola and raised in Baton Rouge, LA. She is a senior at Louisiana State University studying computer & electrical engineering, international studies, and French. Along with being an environmental educator, she is developing sustainable battery technology as a member of the Nano Electronic Structures and Technology Lab led by Dr. Theda Daniels-Race.
Anabelle Pavy Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, Annbelle grew up in a household of artists. Her childhood was filled with creativity and exploration. When Annabelle first met Kira Akerman of Hollow Tree, she was 16. During the project, Annabelle solidified her love for community and culture, and today, based in New Orleans, she uses her creative skills to work with organizations and individuals interested in the betterment of her community.

Mekenzie Fanguy Born and raised in Houma, Louisiana, Mekenzie Fanguy is 24 years old. She is one of the three protagonists of the film Hallow Tree. She is a student at Nicholls University studying business administration. She is set to graduate next year.

Public Tours in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Sunday
2025-12-21 10:30, 2025-12-28 10:30, 2026-01-04 10:30, 2026-01-11 10:30, 2026-01-18 10:30, 2026-01-25 10:30, 2026-02-01 10:30 | 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.

Yoga in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Saturday
2026-01-10 08:00 - 09:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
Experience wellness at NOMA with beginner-friendly, outdoor yoga classes in the serene Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Classes take place every Saturday morning and (beginning in late February 2026) every Wednesday evening. This class will be led by instructor Claiborne Davis.
Class is $5 for members and $10 for the general public. Enter at the main entrance gate to the Sculpture Garden on Dueling Oaks Drive. Please bring your own mat and a digital or printed version of your ticket to class. Walk-ins are welcome and can pay with cash. If you are a member paying in cash, please bring your membership card or member number.
REGISTER NOW
For Saturday Classes: register online by 3 pm the Friday before class.
For Wednesday Classes: register online by 3 pm the Tuesday before class.
These classes are outside and will be canceled for severe weather. Registrants will be notified of cancellation via email by 5 pm the day before class. Call 504.658.4128 or email education@noma.org with any questions.

About the Instructor
Claiborne Davis wants to help you create and maintain a body that can withstand the test of time, so you can always feel fantastic, elastic, stronger, longer, tough, buff, agile but not fragile, more upright and less uptight. A NASM-Certified Personal Trainer, Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200) and Integrated Yoga Tune Up® Teacher (YTU-I), Claiborne also is a longtime tennis player, language-learner, corny joke-teller, traveller and a former television news producer.
Davis’s classes are all Levels, with options to increase or decrease challenge levels.

Tai Chi in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Monday
2026-01-12 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-01-26 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-02-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
Experience wellness at NOMA with beginner-friendly, outdoor tai chi classes in the serene Besthoff Sculpture Garden. The first 30 minutes of class focus on simple celestial elemental Qigong forms, a gentle and accessible style of movement suitable for anyone. The second part of class explores progressive sequential movements from the “Tai Chi Easy” form developed by Roger Jahnke, O.M.D., director of Integral Institute of Tai Chi and Qigong Center.
In many martial, exercise, healing, and meditative traditions, attainment is the central aim. Our invitation is something different: to release, through the spirit of play, any obstruction that separates us from well being and harmony.
Class is $5 for members and $10 for the general public. Tai chi participants meet at the garden entrance on the corner of Collins Diboll Circle and Enrique Alferez Drive, across the street from Café NOMA. Please bring a digital or printed version of your ticket to class. Walk-ins are welcome and can pay with cash. If you are a member paying in cash, please also bring your membership card or member number.
REGISTER NOW
For Monday classes: register online by 3pm the day of class.
For Wednesday classes: register online by 3pm on the Tuesday before class.
These classes are outside and will be canceled for severe weather. Registrants will be notified of cancellation via email by 5 pm the day before class. Call 504.658.4128 or email education@noma.org with any questions.

Gallery Talk and Book Signing with Boyce Upholt, Author of The Great River
2026-01-14 12:30 - 13:00, 2026-01-14 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.
Join the NOMA Book Club in welcoming local author Boyce Upholt for two gallery talks connecting his book The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi with NOMA’s special exhibition Nicolas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed. The gallery talks will be offered at 12:30 and 6 pm this day. This program will also include a book signing with Upholt.
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.

Book Club: The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
2026-01-15 12:00 - 13:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
NOMA’s book club meets monthly to discuss fiction and non-fiction books related to art in the museum’s collection and exhibitions.
This month’s book club selection is The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi by Boyce Upholt, a landmark work of natural history in which Upholt tells the epic story of the wild and unruly Mississippi River and the centuries spent attempting to control it.
Register Now
This month’s book club will also be paired with two gallery talks where Upholt will connect his work in The Great River with the works on view in the exhibition Nicolas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed and sign copies of The Great River for attendees.
View Upholt Gallery Talk and Book Signing Events

About NOMA’s Book Club
NOMA’s book club is an informal group open to anyone on a month-to-month basis. You do not have to attend every meeting or read every book to participate. In addition to monthly book discussions, the book club meets periodically for curatorial programs related to the book selections.
Books are selected in advance and planned according to the museum’s exhibition schedule. Participants are expected to procure their own copy of the titles. Selections are also available at the NOMA Museum Shop, where museum members receive a 10% discount.
Meetings are held in person or via Zoom. All meetings begin at 12 pm. For more information or questions, please email programs@noma.org.

About the Book
The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
Winner of the 2024 Willie Morris Award for Southern Nonfiction • A Chicago Public Library Must-Read Book of 2024 • A Booklist Editors’ Choice
The Mississippi River lies at the heart of America, an undeniable life force that is intertwined with the nation’s culture and history. Its watershed spans almost half the country, Mark Twain’s travels on the river inspired our first national literature, and jazz and blues were born in its floodplains and carried upstream.
In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of this wild and unruly river, and the centuries of efforts to control it. Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded “the great river” with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. The river was ever-changing, and Indigenous tribes embraced and even depended on its regular flooding. But the expanse of the watershed and the rich soils of its floodplain lured European settlers and American pioneers, who had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer.
Centuries of human attempts to own, contain, and rework the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson’s expansionist land hunger through today’s era of environmental concern, have now transformed its landscape. Upholt reveals how an ambitious and sometimes contentious program of engineering—government-built levees, jetties, dikes, and dams—has not only damaged once-vibrant ecosystems but may not work much longer. Carrying readers along the river’s last remaining backchannels, he explores how scientists are now hoping to restore what has been lost.
Rich and powerful, The Great River delivers a startling account of what happens when we try to fight against nature instead of acknowledging and embracing its power—a lesson that is all too relevant in our rapidly changing world.
-description from W.W. Norton & Company
About Boyce Upholt

Boyce Upholt is a journalist and essayist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, National Geographic, the Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications. He is the winner of a James Beard Award for investigative journalism, and he lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Yoga in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Saturday
2026-01-17 08:00 - 09:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
Experience wellness at NOMA with beginner friendly, outdoor yoga classes in the serene Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Classes take place every Saturday morning and (beginning in late February 2026) every Wednesday evening. The instructor for this class is Claiborne Davis.
Class is $5 for members and $10 for the general public. Enter at the main entrance gate to the Sculpture Garden on Dueling Oaks Drive. Please bring your own mat and a digital or printed version of your ticket to class. Walk-ins are welcome and can pay with cash. If you are a member paying in cash, please bring your membership card or member number.
REGISTER NOW
For Saturday Classes: register online by 3pm the Friday before class.
For Wednesday Classes: register online by 3pm the Tuesday before class.
These classes are outside and will be canceled for severe weather. Registrants will be notified of cancellation via email by 5 pm the day before class. Call 504.658.4128 or email education@noma.org with any questions.

About the Instructor
Claiborne Davis wants to help you create and maintain a body that can withstand the test of time, so you can always feel fantastic, elastic, stronger, longer, tough, buff, agile but not fragile, more upright and less uptight. A NASM-Certified Personal Trainer, Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200) and Integrated Yoga Tune Up® Teacher (YTU-I), Claiborne also is a longtime tennis player, language-learner, corny joke-teller, traveller and a former television news producer.
Davis’s classes are all Levels, with options to increase or decrease challenge levels.

Studio KIDS!: Embroidered Snowflakes (AM session)
2026-01-17 10:30 - 12:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Join us at the museum on select Saturday mornings for Studio KIDS! youth art-making workshops. In this workshop series designed for artists ages 6-12, we’ll take inspiration from works on view across the museum and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden and make our own creations with a teaching artist.
About Studio KIDS!: Embroidered Snowflakes
In this “Embroidered Snowflakes” workshop, participants will channel their chilliest day while learning multiple stitching and beading techniques. Young artists will learn how to combine and blend colors of embroidery floss, create different textures, and attach materials while embroidering their own wintery mix of snowflakes. Participants will view artworks such as The Ice-Hole, Maine, by Marsden Hartley to gain icy inspiration for their creations.
This workshop will be led by teaching artist Michelle.
Registration is $25 for members and $30 for other participants. Advance registration is required and includes the price of all art-making materials.
Studio KIDS! participants receive a 10% discount on purchases made at the NOMA Museum Shop. The discount is valid only for the day of their workshop attendance. Participants must show proof of attendance to receive the discount. Markdown and consignment merchandise is excluded from the discount.

Register for Studio KIDS!: Embroidered Snowflakes
There will be 2 sessions of this workshop offered on January 17:
The AM session will take place from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Register for the AM session
The PM session will take place from 12:30 PM to 2:00 pm

Register for the PM session
*Please note: capacity for each session is 12 participants. Registration will close at 12 pm the day before the workshop. Refunds will not be issued for cancellations made after 12 pm the Thursday before the workshop.

Studio KIDS!: Embroidered Snowflakes (PM session)
2026-01-17 12:30 - 14:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119

SOLD OUT | New Mutations, Old Traditions: Stop Action Animation Workshop with Creative Assembly Resident LaVonna Varnado Brown and Artist Emily Denlinger
2026-01-21 17:00 - 19:00
Join us at the New Orleans Museum of Art for a workshop co-facilitated by Artists LaVonna Varnado Brown and Emily Denlinger.
Participants will explore collage & animation as a socio-emotional tool to process new beginnings and purge to create space in the new year. Social Awareness is an important aspect of socio emotional intelligence. Heightened awareness supports in understanding the perspectives and emotions of others, including those from diverse backgrounds. We will also discuss the ways that creating a character through collage can help us move through the world around us with a heightened sense of awareness.
Characters developed in this workshop will incorporate symbolism and body language to highlight traits we intend to embody in the new year. We will then photograph each character and, through the photography process, explore elements of stop motion film making together while co-creating an intergenerational space to process ideas around releasing, receiving, stop motion, and collage making.
This program is for all ages. Anyone under 16 years of age should be accompanied by an adult who will also be participating in the workshop. Space is limited and prior registration is required.
PLEASE NOTE: This workshop has sold out. To receive updates about upcoming workshops at NOMA, please view our events calendar or join our newsletter mailing list.

About the Workshop Facilitators
LaVonna Varnado Brown
LaVonna Varnado-Brown is a resident of the 2024-2025 New Orleans Museum of Art Creative Assembly cohort. Varnado-Brown has worked as an installation artist, artist advocate, teaching artist, and tutor in and around New Orleans and with Beginning with Children, a Brooklyn–based college and career preparatory program). Varnado-Brown creates mixed-media visual art engaging with Afrofuturism, history, the divine feminine, and floral motifs. Varnado-Brown explores Afrofuturism as a cultural aesthetic to navigate the intersection of art and history and inspire action in the now by creating space for joy. Varnado-Brown finds inspiration in the community through facilitating workshops that create intentional space to engage in creative grounding practices that raise our spatial awareness and kinesthetic responses to one another and our environment.
Emily Denlinger
Emily Denlinger has worked as Professor of Digital Arts and Photography at Southeast Missouri State University since 2009. Originally from Ohio, she holds BFA in 2D Art with a Concentration in Photography from Bowling Green State University, and an MA in Digital Art and an MFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from Maryland Institute College of Art. Her collages have been exhibited across the USA and are held in collections internationally. In addition to her gallery practice, Denlinger creates accessible wearable art that is created for commissions or sold in the local community at boutiques and fundraising sales. In her free time, she works with the Cape Girardeau County Clerk’s office to promote voting and voter registration and as an election judge.

SOLD OUT | Art Thrives: Clay and Wire Sculpture Workshop
2026-01-22 12:00 - 14:00, 2026-01-29 12:00 - 14:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Art Thrives invites participants ages 55 and above to an eight-week ceramics and wire art course where they will learn about the meaning of materiality in artistic practice, as well as about the artwork of Hayward Oubre. Along with a guided tour of the exhibition Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity, participants will explore artwork across NOMA’s galleries and engage in meaningful conversations about their own artistic practices, Oubre’s work, and other artists’ work.
This workshop is $55 for NOMA members and $65 for all other participants.
PLEASE NOTE: This workshop is sold out. To be added to the waitlist and notified of future workshops, please email artthrives@noma.org.
Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions, as the content will build on creating a comprehensive piece.

Workshop Details
Dates and Times
All workshop sessions take place on Thursdays from 12 pm to 2 pm between January 22 and March 26. See all session dates below.

Month
Date

January
22 and 29

February
5, 12, and 26

March
5, 12, 19, and 26

About the Teaching Artist
Veronica Casares Lee, born in Michoacán, Mexico, in 1974, is a multidisciplinary artist. She studied at the High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) and earned a scholarship to attend Pratt Institute. From 2000 to 2008, Veronica was a resident artist at Haven Art in Port Washington, New York, contributing significantly to the creative community. In 2008, she and her family relocated to Michoacán, Mexico, where she shifted her focus to ceramics and painting, infusing her work with the cultural richness of her homeland.
In 2016, Veronica moved to New Orleans, where she currently resides and passionately pursues her art as a full-time artist, capturing the essence of the city through her diverse, evolving body of work.

About Art Thrives: Creative Aging at NOMA
In 2022, the New Orleans Museum of Art introduced Art Thrives, an institutional initiative designed to engage adults ages 55 and older through the arts. With hands-on workshops and storytelling-focused programs, Art Thrives offers experiences designed specifically for adults as part of the museum’s mission to inspire lifelong learning through the arts.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ART THRIVES

Yoga in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden Every Saturday
2026-01-24 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-01-31 08:00 - 09:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
Experience wellness at NOMA with beginner friendly, outdoor yoga classes in the serene Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Classes take place every Saturday morning and (beginning in late February 2026) every Wednesday evening.
Class is $5 for members and $10 for the general public. Enter at the main entrance gate to the Sculpture Garden on Dueling Oaks Drive. Please bring your own mat and a digital or printed version of your ticket to class. Walk-ins are welcome and can pay with cash. If you are a member paying in cash, please bring your membership card or member number.
REGISTER NOW
For Saturday Classes: register online by 3pm the Friday before class.
For Wednesday Classes: register online by 3pm the Tuesday before class.
These classes are outside and will be canceled for severe weather. Registrants will be notified of cancellation via email by 5 pm the day before class. Call 504.658.4128 or email education@noma.org with any questions.

Gallery Talks with Deputy Director and Curator Lisa Rotondo-McCord
2026-01-28 12:30 - 13:00, 2026-01-28 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Join us for weekly gallery talks every Wednesday at NOMA, featuring curators, artists, and other special guests. Talks take place at 12:30 pm & 6 pm and last 15-30 minutes. Talks in the Sculpture Garden are only offered at 12:30 pm. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.
This week’s gallery talks will be hosted by Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Deputy Director and Curator of Asian Art at NOMA, in the Kurt A. Gitter MD and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery on the third floor. These talks will occur at 12:30 and 6:00 pm on the same day.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA every Wednesday, courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All Initiative.

Gallery Talks Every Wednesday
2026-01-28 18:00 - 18:30 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Join us for weekly gallery talks every Wednesday at NOMA, featuring curators, artists, and other special guests. Talks take place at 12:30 pm & 6 pm and last 15-30 minutes. Talks in the Sculpture Garden are only offered at 12:30 pm. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA every Wednesday, courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

Member Preview | Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity
2026-01-29 17:30 - 20:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Explore the exhibition Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity at NOMA before it opens to the public.
This is a member-only event.
Learn More about NOMA membership

About Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity
Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the work of American modernist, Hayward L. Oubre, Jr. (1916–2006). Through 52 sculptures, paintings, and prints, the exhibition reveals how the artist shaped American art while working in the South, and underscores the crucial role of Black artists and art departments at HBCUs in shaping the artistic landscape of the twentieth century.
Learn More about the Exhibition

NOMA at Night: Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity Opening Celebration
2026-01-30 18:00 - 21:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Get creative and explore the museum after hours during NOMA at Night!
For this NOMA at Night, come out and celebrate the public opening of Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity, our first exhibition opening for 2026.
Celebrate the arrival of this exhibition to NOMA with live music from Sunpie and The Louisiana Sunspots and live DJ sets from DJ Alan Aloha; specialty cocktails and mocktails by Café NOMA; exhibition-inspired, wire sculpture art making; special deals on the exhibition catalogue for guests, NOMA members, and Louisiana educators; a gallery talk by Anne Collins Smith, Chief Curator of NOMA; and more.
$15 for members and Louisiana Educators*
$30 general admission
Free admission for attendees ages 19 and under
*NOTE: For this NOMA at Night, Louisiana Educators can access member prices for their tickets. These tickets must be purchased at the door and cannot be purchased online. Louisiana Educators must provide their school ID to receive the discount.
Purchase Tickets

Program Details
Live Music and DJ Sets from Sunpie and The Louisiana Sunspots and DJ Alan Aloha
Enjoy live performances from these fantastic New Orleans-based acts in the Great Hall and the Lapis Center for the Arts across the night.
Wire Sculpture Art-Making Inspired by the Exhibition
Get crafty with our all-ages, all skill levels, wire sculpture art-making station inspired by works on view in Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity.
Gallery Talk from NOMA’s Chief Curator Anne Collins Smith
Join Anne Collins Smith, Chief Curator of the New Orleans Museum of Art, for a 6:15 pm gallery talk in the Ella West Freeman Gallery.
NOMA Museum Shop + Exhibition Catalogue Discounts
Check out the exhibition catalogue at the NOMA Museum Shop, which will be open through the night. NOMA members and Louisiana Educators (with ID) will receive 20% off Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity catalogues at the event. (Other attendees will receive 10% off the catalogue.)
Free Take-Home Art Activities and Educator Guides for Louisiana Educators
To celebrate Oubre’s work as an educator, Louisiana Educators can access free educational resources for them to take home from the event, including art kits and physical copies of the Hayward Oubre:: Structural Integrity Educator Guide.
Food and Drinks from Café NOMA
Cocktails, mocktails, and light bites will be available at Café NOMA throughout the evening.
And More!
More details about this event to be announced. Please check this page for updates.

About the Performers
Sunpie and The Louisiana Sunspots

Bruce Sunpie Barnes is a New Orleans musician, book author and ethnographic photographer. Sunpie is also the Big Chief of the Northside Skull and Bone Gang one the oldest Afro-Creole carnival groups in the United States, which began its traditions in 1819. Barnes is a 19-year member of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club and the band leader of the popular New Orleans musical group Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots.

His latest book and cd project is entitled Le Kèr Creole (The Creole Heart) which he co-authored with Rachel Breunlin and Leroy Etienne.
Barnes has traveled to 53 countries playing his own style of what he calls Afro-Louisiana music incorporating blues, zydeco, creole jazz, gospel, work songs, Caribbean and African influenced rhythms and melodies. He is a multi-instrumentalist, mastering accordion, harmonica, and piano along with rubboard, talking drum, and dejembe. He learned accordion from some of the best Zydeco pioneers in Louisiana, including Fernest Arceneaux, John Delafose, and Clayton Sampy.

Along with his musical group Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots, he has performed at festivals and concerts across the US and around the globe. Sunpie has currently recorded 7 critically acclaimed CDs with his compositions featured in 19 Hollywood film productions.
DJ Alan Aloha

DJ Alan Aloha is a French native, New Orleans–based, vinyl-only selector and record collector known for vibrant, feel-good sets that blend global grooves, island vibes, and dancefloor classics. Drawing inspiration from tropical rhythms, disco, funk, and contemporary French electronic sounds, he creates joyful, inclusive atmospheres where cultures and energies meet. His recent performance at the Improv Gala at the New Orleans Jazz Museum was one to remember. Whether behind the decks at a community gathering or a late-night party, DJ Alan Aloha brings warmth, rhythm, and a contagious sense of celebration to every set.
About the Exhibition
Hayward Oubre: Structural Integrity is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the work of American modernist, Hayward L. Oubre, Jr. (1916–2006). Through 52 sculptures, paintings, and prints, the exhibition reveals how the artist shaped American art while working in the South, and underscores the crucial role of Black artists and art departments at HBCUs in shaping the artistic landscape of the twentieth century.
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Thank You to Our Supporters
NOMA at Night is supported in part by grant funds from Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust through the PNC Charitable Trusts Grant Review Committee; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation; and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council.
