While the new Memphis Art Museum got the green light to begin construction on Front Street last week, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Overton Park is expanding its public programming by 400 percent.
The Brooks will change its name when it moves Downtown. For now, museum officials said they want make it a hang out spot for the entire community.
“We are quadrupling the number of public programs with a goal to deepen community bonds for countless Memphians — and we’re just getting started,” said Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr. “We’re excited to grow the many ways Memphis’ art museum can be the go-to place for Memphis’ families all week long, all summer long. The museum is not only a place to view beautiful artwork, but also a gathering place for everyone in our community.”
The museum is not only a place to view beautiful artwork, but also a gathering place for everyone in our community.”
Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr
Expanded programming highlights include:
Music events held weekly: cabaret-style performances in the Terrace Room, gallery performances inspired by the art on display, and headliner shows in the Hohenberg Auditorium.
Super Saturday: Free, drop-in art-making sessions for families will now happen weekly instead of monthly starting August 3rd. Registration is required, but the sessions are free.
Figure drawing: Five times a month, artists of all levels can practice and improve their skills drawing the human form at Memphis’ art museum. All sessions are led by a local artist and either include a clothed or nude model.
Wine and art events: Wine classes, wine tastings, flower arranging workshops, art dinners, and and more.
“Christian Siriano: People Are People”: The fashion exhibition closes on August 4th.
The Brooks will also now be open late (until 8 p.m.) on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays.
Barbara Hyde brought a gift to the groundbreaking of the future Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Speaking before a crowd of dignitaries and press under a tent at Union Avenue and Front Street Thursday morning, she announced that she and husband Pitt were making a $20 million commitment toward the completion of the facility that is expected to open in 2026.
That contribution brings the total raised to 75 percent of the $180 million fundraising goal for the project.
Zoe Kahr, the Brooks’ executive director, said she was confident that the museum will reach its goal. “Memphians invested $100 million in their new art museum before seeing a single rendering,” she said. “Tennesseans committed another $35 million to their oldest and largest art museum before construction began.”
Groundbreaking for the Brooks on the Bluff, June 1st. Photo by Jon W. Sparks
Four years ago, the museum had an event on the site to announce that renowned design firm Herzog & de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland and New York, would collaborate with Memphis-based archimania, the architect of record.
Occupying the site that day was a fire station and parking garage. In recent months, those have been razed and plans are proceeding to do seismic work and construction.
The new 122,000 square-foot building will feature nearly 50 percent more gallery space than the museum’s current home in Overton Park. The space will be used to to exhibit Memphis’ growing permanent art collection, as well as new spaces for education and art-making for all ages. Officials said the new Brooks will include “600 percent more art-filled public spaces than the current facility.”
The new Brooks will have a restaurant and gift shop, highlighting Memphis markers and artists. A community courtyard in the heart of the building will be 10,000 square feet, the size of two full NBA courts. The rooftop will provides visitors with an expansive green-space: an art park in the sky with an event pavilion. The courtyard and the rooftop will be open to the public without museum admission.
The museum campus will include a new pedestrian plaza shared by the museum and Cossitt Library as well as connecting the Bluff Walk, which now ends behind Cossitt Library, and the River Walk on Union Avenue.
The museum’s wide open areas will afford views of the Mississippi River. Pedestrians on Front Street will have a view into the gallery level. The other side facing the river will be more closed off to minimize the effects of sunlight, but there will be two windows.
Brooks executive director Zoe Kahr faces the media at the museum groundbreaking on June 1, 2023.
“Our architects did a beautiful job of thinking about the site and how to optimize that pedestrian experience where you look into the museum and you understand what’s in there so you’re not intimidated,” Kahr said.
She also noted that the entire rooftop will be a garden. “It will have art, it’ll have programs, it’s going to have a beautiful event pavilion. I think it’s going to be the best place to get married in Memphis, but I may be biased.”
Kahr said that the museum is intentional about its art spaces. “We’re creating discrete moments where you’re immersed in the art and then you’re brought back to the river. Its public spaces are all about the river.”
When she arrived to take over at the Brooks last November, Kahr knew that changes and challenges would be in the mix, and she was looking forward to it.
“It’s so unusual to get the chance to reexamine and reinstall your permanent collection,” she said. “I’d say we’re leading with that as a set of projects, and our curatorial team has really been spending a lot of time thinking about what stories we can tell from our collection.”
They’re also looking at what objects are not in the collection. “What do we need to tell those stories that we think are important? That’s been a primary focus. But then we’re also thinking about what will be on view here in terms of loan exhibitions.”
Zoe Kahr has been named as the next executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Kahr comes to Memphis from her current position as deputy director for curatorial and planning at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where she led a staff of 80 professionals and oversaw the museum’s artistic programs. At LACMA, Kahr produced more than 300 exhibitions and developed new museum partnerships in Asia, Latin America, Australia, and the Middle East. She also conceived and launched Local Access, which expands access to LACMA’s collections through a series of exhibitions touring to museums in Los Angeles County and adjacent areas.
She joined LACMA in 2010 and was previously the assistant director of exhibition planning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Kahr holds a B.A. in Art History (Magna Cum Laude), and an M.B.A. with a specialization in Nonprofit Management from Yale University, as well as a PhD in Art History from University College London.
She was chosen by the Board of Trustees of the museum and starts at the Brooks on November 1st, 2022. Mark Resnick, who has been acting executive director, will remain with the Brooks to facilitate a smooth transition process.
“From our first meeting with Zoe, it was clear that she was the perfect person for this role: eminently qualified, universally well-regarded among her peers, and excited to lead our museum forward,” says board chairman Carl Person. “The process undertaken by our search committee was professional, thorough, and rigorous, and concluded with the selection of the perfect candidate. Dr. Kahr’s deep curatorial experience, global perspective, and managerial acumen make her ideally suited for this position.
Kahr also led DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) efforts for LACMA through its exhibitions and acquisitions, as well as through the development of programs to attract and retain staff from diverse backgrounds in the museum field. She oversaw the gallery design for LACMA’s 350,000-square-foot David Geffen Galleries, currently under construction, and secured significant funding for the project.
She currently serves on the boards of the French American Museum Exchange and FEAST (Food Education Access Support Together) Los Angeles. In addition, she is an Accreditation Visiting Committee Member and Museum Assessment Program Peer Reviewer for the American Alliance of Museums.
