She’s making history and bringing it home!
Anne Collins Smith has recently been appointed as Chief Curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), Essence reports. The appointment is historic, Smith becoming the first Black American and the first Black NOLA native to hold a full curatorial role at the museum. But beyond breaking barriers, her new role is an intentional return to her roots and a powerful declaration that representation in art isn’t just overdue—it’s essential.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Smith.
It’s a moment that caps a career shaped by deep scholarship and community engagement. Smith’s journey began at Spelman College, where she laid the foundation for her work in African American art before continuing her studies with a master’s degree in visual arts administration at NYU. Her path has taken her across the country, where she has held positions at some of the nation’s most respected institutions, including the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.
At each stop, she carried her commitment to ensuring that art, particularly Black art, was not only seen but felt. That passion followed her to Atlanta, where she helped center Black women artists in exhibitions, such as the one she curated on Maren Hassinger, an artist she had first studied as an undergraduate.
“To date, there has been none since,” she noted, underscoring how rare such moments remain.
Her return to New Orleans and NOMA is more than professional—it’s personal.
“It means that I’ve done the work, and I can be a representative of all that’s great about New Orleans,” she said. “It means that I get to represent a plethora of communities that help to shape me.”
Smith considers herself a “vernacular cosmopolitan,” borrowing from postcolonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha to capture her blend of high-brow training and grounded community experience.
“I am trained in a traditional sense, but I’m also rooted in the community sense,” she explained.
With that lens, Smith is already shaping the future of NOMA. She’s preparing for the reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection and curating retrospectives on Southern artists Hayward Oubre and Willie Birch. Yet, she emphasizes that her role is as much about people as it is about paintings.
“My role is to make the art resonant, accessible, and enjoyable by everyone,” Smith told ESSENCE. “There’s something completely universal about the museum, and I want to bring that about, and I want to make people feel welcomed.”
For Smith, curating isn’t just about what hangs on the walls—it’s about who sees themselves in the story. She draws inspiration from a poem outside of Alex Haley’s Tennessee farm, “Bring That Learning Back Home,” where a mother urges her child to go out, gather knowledge, and return to serve their community.
“I want to be a bridge builder,” Smith said.
And that’s exactly what she’s doing—connecting past to present, elite institutions to everyday people, and the culture of New Orleans to the world. With her at the helm, NOMA isn’t just preserving history. It’s rewriting it.
Cover photo: Spelman Alumna Anne Collins Smith Makes History as First Black Chief Curator at New Orleans Museum of Art/Photo credit: Taylor Hunter/The New Orleans Museum of Art