The 9 Best Art Museums in New Orleans, Louisiana (LA)

Contemporary art gallery in the French Quarter, near Jackson Square. Featuring sculpture by DeBusk, and paintings by Reid, Haynes, Bonney, Akers, Cermanski and Bowers. Est. 2001, for 15 years known as the William & Joseph Gallery in Santa Fe - relocated back to New Orleans in 2016. All original artworks!

Treme’s Petit Jazz Museum will tell you the true story of jazz right here where it all first started. Through a tour of the exhibits with a local expert you’ll discover Treme, the oldest integrated neighbourhood in all of America, and why it became the birthplace of jazz. Treme has always been an important center of African-American and Creole culture; New Orleans’ beating heart for brass bands, Mardi Gras Indians, and of course, the jazz that is the life blood that pulses through the city. Visit this one of a kind local museum, and gain an insider’s glimpse of the influences, legends, and historical events that gave rise to the music that has kept this community's, and the world’s, feet tapping since 1895.

Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Southern art and is recognized for its original exhibitions, public events and educational programs which examine the development of visual art alongside Southern traditions of music, literature and culinary heritage to provide a comprehensive story of the South. Established in 1999, and in Stephen Goldring Hall at 925 Camp Street since 2003, the Museum welcomes almost 85,000 visitors annually, and attracts diverse audiences through its broad range of programming including exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, and concerts which are all part of its mission to broaden the knowledge, understanding, interpretation and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South.

The Newcomb Art Museum builds on the legacy of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, founded in 1886 as the first degree-granting coordinate college for women in America. Presenting inspiring exhibitions and programs that engage communities both on and off campus, the museum fosters the creative exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary collaborations around innovative art and design. The museum preserves and advances scholarship on the Newcomb and Tulane art collections.

The CAC is a multidisciplinary arts center that is dedicated to the presentation, production, and promotion of the art of our time. The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), a 501(c)(3) organization, was formed in the fall of 1976 by a passionate group of visual artists when the movement to tear down the walls between visual and performing arts was active nationwide. The CAC began as an artist-run, artist-driven community organization in the nearly empty arts district of New Orleans. As the burgeoning arts district grew, so did the CAC, evolving to meet the increasing needs of a diverse audience and artist communities. Renovated in 1990, and donated to the CAC in 1999, the CAC's building mixes the timelessness of New Orleans' historic architecture with contemporary materials and usable open spaces. Throughout the CAC's 40 years, the center has remained active in the visual and performing arts and arts education communities.