Press
Our communications team has everything you need to know about the Barnes, including press releases, media kits, and the latest news coverage.
The Barnes Foundation Announces the 2022 Barnes Art Ball
The Barnes Foundation has announced its annual benefit, the Barnes Art Ball, taking place at the Barnes on Friday, October 21. An art-filled celebration of creativity, this year’s Art Ball brings together artists, philanthropists, collectors, and connectors to celebrate the Barnes’s centennial and tenth anniversary on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Funds raised directly support the Barnes’s educational mission and its commitment to caring for the collection, presenting diverse exhibitions, and providing innovative programs for the community.
The Barnes Foundation Presents “Modigliani Up Close”
This fall, in celebration of its centennial, the Barnes Foundation will present Modigliani Up Close, a major loan exhibition that shares new insights into Amedeo Modigliani’s working methods and materials. On view in the Roberts Gallery from October 16, 2022, through January 29, 2023, Modigliani Up Close is curated by an international team of art historians and conservators: Barbara Buckley, Senior Director of Conservation and Chief Conservator of Paintings at the Barnes; Simonetta Fraquelli, independent curator and consulting curator for the Barnes; Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes; and Annette King, Paintings Conservator at Tate, London.
This summer, the Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia present Faces of Resilience, an exhibition of original artwork created by emerging artists from Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Guild program—a paid apprenticeship for formerly incarcerated individuals and young adults on probation—and artists at the State Correctional Institution: Phoenix (SCI: Phoenix), southeast Pennsylvania’s maximum-security prison for men. Free with general admission to the Barnes, Faces of Resilience will be on view in the first-floor gallery classroom from July 8 through August 22, 2022.
In celebration of Isaac Julien: Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die) at the Barnes Foundation—a new immersive film installation by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, CBE RA, commissioned for the Barnes’s centennial—cultural partners across Philadelphia, including The Fabric Workshop and Museum; Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania & BlackStar Projects; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, are presenting film screenings and exhibitions of Isaac Julien’s work throughout the summer and beyond.
The Barnes Foundation Celebrates Centennial with Major Exhibitions & Series of Programs and Events
This year, the Barnes Foundation celebrates the 100th anniversary of its establishment with a constellation of exhibitions and public programs that reflect its commitments to education, community engagement, and diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Additionally, this month marks ten years since the Barnes opened its doors on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
Barnes West Announces Artists Selected for Second Annual Everyday Places Artist Partnerships
The Barnes Foundation and People’s Emergency Center (PEC), through their collaborative initiative Barnes West, have announced seven West Philadelphia-based social-impact artists who have been selected to participate in the second annual Everyday Places Artist Partnerships initiative: Nikki Brake-Sillá, Shanina Dionna, Gigi McGraw, Anssumane Silla, Jaime Wiesner & Joanna Booth, and Yidan Zeng.
The Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation today announced that Gregory E. Deavens, President and Chief Executive Officer of Independence Health Group, has been elected to the Board of Trustees. The Board has also announced that current trustee Armando I. Bengochea, PhD, has been named a Lincoln University–nominated trustee, having been officially nominated by Lincoln University’s Board of Trustees and elected by the Barnes Foundation’s Board.
This summer, in celebration of its centennial, the Barnes Foundation will debut a newly commissioned film installation by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien, CBE RA (b. London, 1960). On view in the Roberts Gallery from June 19 through September 4, Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die), a five-screen installation, explores the relationship of Dr. Albert C. Barnes and Alain Locke, a cultural theorist known as the Father of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Barnes Foundation Names Sheronda Whitaker Deputy Director for Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer
Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes Foundation, today announced the promotion of Sheronda Whitaker, MS, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, to Deputy Director for Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer. A human resources professional with over 20 years’ experience in the nonprofit, business, and financial sectors, Whitaker joined the Barnes as Director of Human Resources in 2018 and became Chief Human Resources and Diversity Officer in 2020.
The Barnes Foundation Presents “Water, Wind, Breath: Southwest Native Art in Community”
This spring, the Barnes Foundation will present Water, Wind, Breath: Southwest Native Art in Community, a major exhibition of historic and contemporary Southwest Native art, including Pueblo and Navajo pottery, textiles, and jewelry. Exploring living artistic traditions that promote individual and community well-being through their making and use, this exhibition is the Barnes’s first dedicated to Native American art and will be on view in the Roberts Gallery from February 20 through May 15, 2022.