THE NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF ITS ANNUAL FALL GALA
Starstruck: A Fashion Odyssey Presented by First Horizon takes inspiration from the red-carpet looks in the exhibition Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour. The event on November 10 features entertainment from Dr. Michael White and Rebirth Brass Band.
NEW ORLEANS – This November, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) hosts its fall gala, which takes its theme from the blockbuster exhibition Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour. The annual event raises funds to support the museum’s world-class exhibitions, innovative programming, and educational initiatives. Starstruck: A Fashion Odyssey Presented by First Horizon is Friday, November 10.
“Inspired by an important exhibition that presents fashion as art, this year’s gala is a truly special occasion to celebrate the museum as a forum for all types of creative expression,” said Susan M. Taylor, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA. “Thank you to First Horizon for returning as a presenting sponsor for Odyssey.”
“We are thrilled by the opportunity to celebrate NOMA as a vital part of New Orleans’s cultural landscape,” said Ashley Morgan, Public Relations Liaison for First Horizon. “It is our pleasure to support the museum’s work as a hub for the arts in our city and beyond.”
In developing this year’s theme, event chairs Elly and Merritt Lane and Permele and Garner Robinson and NOMA Volunteer Committee chair Elizabeth Grimes looked to the glamorous works of art on display in Fashioning America.
“With Starstruck: A Fashion Odyssey, we hope to capture the dynamism of this important exhibition and give attendees a new experience of this annual tradition,” said event chairs Elly and Merritt Lane and Permele and Garner Robinson. “We hope you will join us at Odyssey to support the important work that NOMA does all year round.”
This year’s featured exhibition Fashioning America highlights the spirit of innovation and the diversity of the United States’s fashion heritage, emphasizing the work of Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and women creators alongside brands that have redefined American fashion from the 19th century to today. On view through November 26, Fashioning America features garments by more than 100 designers—including Nudie Cohn, Lloyd “Kiva” New, Walé Oyéjide, Tyron “Marquette” Perrin, Isabel Toledo, and Shelly Xu—and artworks by Jordan Casteel, Martine Gutierrez, Roy Lichtenstein, and others. Odyssey attendees will be able to visit the exhibition during the event.
Entertainment for Starstruck: A Fashion Odyssey is provided by renowned clarinetist, bandleader, and musicologist Dr. Michael White and the Grammy Award–winning Rebirth Brass Band, who are known for their blend of jazz, funk, and hip-hop. Event design is by Urban Earth Studios, event production is by See-Hear Productions, and catering is by Ralph Brennan Catering and Events at NOMA. Libations are sponsored by Sazerac Company. The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com and St. Charles Avenue Magazine are media sponsors.
The patron party begins at 7 pm, and the gala is 8–11 pm. Attendees are requested to dress to dazzle.
Gala tickets start at $300, with a special price of $150 for supporters ages 21–45 who are part of NOMA’s Contemporaries member group. Sponsors at the $2,500 level and above are invited to the Odyssey Sponsor Party on Thursday, October 26, hosted by Jennifer and Dennis Lauscha.
Tickets are available at noma.org/odyssey.
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About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and its Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden are home to innovative exhibitions, installations, educational programs, and research. Exploring human creativity across time, cultures, and disciplines, the global scope of the museum’s initiatives open a vibrant dialogue with the history and culture of New Orleans. The museum stewards a collection of nearly 50,000 works, with exceptional holdings in African art, photography, decorative arts, and Japanese art, as well as strengths in American and French art, and an expanding collection highlighting contemporary artists. The museum’s exhibitions and dynamic learning and engagement offerings serve as a forum for visitors to engage with diverse perspectives, share cultural experiences, and foster a life of learning at all ages. Recent exhibitions include Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers, The Orléans Collection (an exhibition of forty European masterpieces from the collection of the city’s namesake, Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans), East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth Century America Landscape Photography, Changing Course: Reflections on New Orleans Histories (seven contemporary art projects focusing on reimagining stories from the city’s past), and Ancestors of Congo Square: African Art in the New Orleans Museum of Art.
NOMA’s 12-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden expands visitors’ experiences of the museum with one of the most notable sculpture gardens in the country. The Besthoff Sculpture Garden, free and open to the public seven days a week, has nearly 100 sculptures and outdoor works of art situated in a unique landscape featuring Spanish moss-laden live oaks and a sinuous lagoon surrounded by an expansive ecosystem of native plants. The works in the garden range from the 19th to the 21st centuries, with pieces by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Ida Kohlmeyer, Claes Oldenburg, Sean Scully, Maya Lin, Do Ho Suh, Ugo Rondinone, Wangechi Mutu, Hank Willis Thomas, and many others. The Besthoff Sculpture Garden features contemporary design elements—including a sculpture pavilion, an amphitheater, and an architecturally significant canal link bridge connecting the garden’s original 2003 footprint with a 2019 expansion. Its water management practices support the health and resiliency of New Orleans City Park and the surrounding environment. Throughout the year, NOMA hosts outdoor programs in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden including festivals, performances, wellness classes, tours, and more.
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Press Contact
Charlie Tatum, Director of Marketing and Communications
New Orleans Museum of Art
ctatum@noma.org