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Press

Our communications team has everything you need to know about the Barnes, including press releases, media kits, and the latest news coverage.

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.

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.

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.

The Barnes Foundation has announced special extended hours between the Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays—opening as early as 9 am and closing at 6 pm on select days. Normally open Thursday through Monday, the Barnes will also be open on Tuesday, December 28, and Wednesday, December 29, to welcome more visitors during the week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes Foundation, today announced the appointment of James Claiborne as the Barnes’s new Curator of Public Programs. A program and visual arts curator and educator with over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit cultural sector, Claiborne most recently served as the Public Director of Programming at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP). He began his post at the Barnes in September.

The Barnes Foundation has announced its annual benefit, the Barnes Art Ball, taking place on-site at the Barnes on Friday, October 15. Funds raised from the Barnes Art Ball directly support the Barnes’s educational mission and its dedication to caring for the collection, pursuing scholarly projects, presenting diverse exhibitions, and providing innovative programs for the community and its broad array of visitors.

The Barnes Foundation announces Cézanne in the Barnes Foundation, the first publication dedicated to its expansive collection of works by the renowned artist Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)—one of the largest and most significant in the world.

The Barnes Foundation has announced Early Learner Summer Pods, a citywide effort realized with seven other cultural organizations in Philadelphia, offering summer activities for children ages 5 and under living in underserved communities where the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted systems of education and support. Made possible with support from the William Penn Foundation, Early Learner Summer Pods will take place over six weeks, from July 6 through August 13, 2021, and will engage more than 1,000 early learners and their caregivers through play, art, science, nature, and stories.

The Barnes Foundation and People’s Emergency Center Community Development Corporation (PECCDC), through their collaborative initiative Barnes West, have announced five West Philadelphia-based social-impact artists who have been selected to participate in Everyday Places Artist Partnerships: Keyonna Butler, Marshall James Kavanaugh, Jahwula Seapoe, Karen Smith, and Andrea Walls.

The Barnes Foundation announces the fourth Barnes on the Block with Mural Arts Philadelphia, taking place together with Wawa Welcome America—Philadelphia’s annual July 4th festival—and its inaugural Our America Now event, on Friday, July 2, 6 – 10pm.