With so much to do in New Orleans, many forget that the city’s art scene is just as vibrant as the food and music. Fall brings exciting exhibit openings at various museums. Check out the highlighted exhibits below and search our calendar to find even more art in New Orleans.

Expressions of America

The newest attraction at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans brings history to life like never before. Opening November 12, Expressions of America is an immersive outdoor sound and light show that combines cutting-edge technology and special effects with the real words and stories of everyday people who made a tremendous impact during a time of monumental conflict. Held as a nighttime experience, attendees will enjoy an unforgettable evening of music, stunning imagery, vintage cocktails, festive food options, and entertainment as 90-foot-tall projections transport you back in time. Purchase tickets here. 

Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition

The Historic New Orleans Collection brings world heritage to life with a 360-degree augmented reality immersion into the 850-year history of Notre-Dame Cathedral and its ongoing restoration in the aftermath of the tragic fire of April 15, 2019. Notre-Dame de Paris is designed and produced by Histovery, a French technology firm, in collaboration with the public institution in charge of the cathedral’s conservation and restoration, and with the generous support of L’Oréal. This visually stunning experience joins other interactive technology on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection’s state-of-the-art new exhibition center at 520 Royal Street in the French Quarter. Visitors will navigate Notre-Dame de Paris through the ages by using a HistoPad™, an augmented reality touch-screen tablet developed by Histovery. The handheld device transports visitors back in time through its immersive, interactive reconstructions available in more than 10 languages. Catch the exhibit from November 15 to March 1, 2023.

Honey Dripper ’84: A Juke Joint Experience at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum

Travel back in time at The Southern Food & Beverage Museum for the Honey Dripper ’84 – a fully-immersive museum exhibit representing the era of Juke Joints – informal community spaces at the center of African American life in rural communities where drinking, dancing, music, and gambling brought workers from farms and fields to gather together and unwind. The exhibit opened on October 15 and will continue for the next few months.

SEEING BLACK: Black Photography in New Orleans 1840 & Beyond

SEEING BLACK is a multimedia, research-based project chronicling and celebrating the history, influence, performative aesthetic, and futurity of Black photography in New Orleans. From photography's pre-Civil War beginnings to its 21st-century practices, SEEING BLACK engages the intellectual inquiry, cultural histories, political positioning, and innovative versatility of historical and contemporary Black photography. First Frame, the preludial exhibition for SEEING BLACK: Black Photography in New Orleans 1840 & Beyond, is an immersive installation centering the photography of Florestine Perrault Collin, the first documented Black female photographer in New Orleans, and work by early Black photographers documenting Black life, self-expression, political struggles, and social achievement through the camera. Catch it at the New Orleans African American Museum from October 6 to June 4, 2023.

Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers

In a stunning exhibit spanning centuries, the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Called to the Camera reframes the history of American photography by placing Black photographers and subjects at the center of that story, arguing for a reconsideration of how historians and institutions evaluate and display photography. This exhibition brings together over 250 photographs, many of them unique objects, from the nineteenth century to the present. Celebrating famous portrait photographers such as James Presley Ball, James Van Der Zee, and Addison Scurlock, it additionally brings attention to more than two dozen other photographers. This exhibit opened on September 16 and will remain on view until January 8, 2023.