Stay engaged and explore your creativity through Art Thrives!

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. Part of a larger “creative aging” movement across the country, Art Thrives provides the opportunity for older audiences to learn new creative skills and build community.

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.

Creative Aging Focus Groups 2025

The New Orleans Museum of Art is embarking on a new phase of its Creative Aging initiative—and we’d love for you to be a part of it.

With support from E. A. Michelson Philanthropy, NOMA is working in partnership with Concordia to enhance the spaces within and around the museum where older adults gather to learn and share through art-making, fostering connection, improving overall health, and exploring new skills. Over the next several months, we’ll be reimagining physical areas of the museum, including the Maker’s Space, a Dedicated Living Room, and Interstitial Spaces, with the goal of making them more welcoming, flexible, and responsive to the evolving needs of the Creative Aging and Art Thrives communities.

This is more than a renovation, it’s a co-design process, built with the insight and experience of those who know the program best: alumni, teaching artists, staff, and community members. As a part of this process, we are asking for feedback through the Creative Aging @ NOMA Survey.

NOMA will be hosting two focus group sessions in partnership with Concordia:

• Focus Group #1 – Co-Design Workshop
  • Date: Monday, July 21, 2025 | Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Location: Lapis Center for the Arts (please arrive through the Café NOMA / Coleman Courtyard entrance.)
  • We’ll explore big ideas and opportunities using the survey findings as our starting point. This session will include a brief tour of the Maker Spaces and related galleries, a presentation and co-design session. Refreshments and materials will be provided.

Focus Group #1 has already occurred. Thank you to all participants!

• Focus Group #2 – Design Feedback Session
  • Date: Monday, August 18, 2025 | Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm| Location: Lapis Center for the Arts (please arrive through the Café NOMA / Coleman Courtyard entrance.)
  • We’ll present draft plans and gather your input before anything becomes final. This session will include a brief tour of the spaces being explored, a presentation and co-design session. Refreshments and materials will be provided.

Register Now for Focus Group #2

Workshops

Throughout the year, NOMA offers art courses in a variety of media inspired by themes, ideas, and techniques on view in exhibitions and the museum’s permanent collection of nearly 50,000 objects. In museums across the country, much hands-on art programming is focused on youth and families, and Art Thrives crucially provides opportunities specifically for adults to learn and share through art-making, fostering connection, improving overall health, and exploring new skills. To learn about upcoming Art Thrives workshops, visit our online events calendar, or email artthrives@noma.org.

Elders Sacred Talk Series with Congo Square Preservation Society

In 2023, NOMA and the Congo Square Preservation Society began collaborating on the Elders Sacred Talk Series, programs that celebrate the lives of prolific elder New Orleanians and provide visitors the opportunity to learn firsthand about the impact they’ve had on the city. The Elders Sacred Talk Series complements the museum’s art-making workshops and underscores the important role of storytelling in New Orleans.

Art Thrives was launched in 2022 with the support of E.A. Michelson Philanthropy’s Vitality Arts Project for Art Museums.