NEW ORLEANS – The Ogden Museum of Southern Art has experienced notable growth with the election of three new Trustees and the appointment of Board Officers.
Joining the Ogden Museum Board of Trustees in 2018 are Richard Ford, novelist, winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, executor of the literary estate of Eudora Welty and editor of a two-volume edition of her selected works; L. Kasimu Harris, photographer and Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing at Dillard University; and Troy Scroggins, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Oschner Health System.
“These new Trustees bring a deep appreciation for the arts and a variety of new perspectives to help us connect to our audience and better reflect the community we serve,” says William Pittman Andrews, Executive Director of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Newly elected to the position of Board Chair is Charles Urstadt, President of Urstadt Property Company. Allison Kendrick, former Chair, will continue to have a presence in the role of Secretary. Officers returning for an additional term are Lloyd N. “Sonny” Shields, Vice-Chairman and Bryan W. Fitzpatrick, Treasurer.
“The Ogden Museum has always impressed me with its wide-range of programs and exhibitions,” says Charles Urstadt. “People now expect museums to be more than just quiet places to admire pictures on a wall. I am eager to help move the Museum into the next, forward-thinking phase.”
“With an increase in visitors of over 200% in the past five years, the Ogden Museum continues to advance and reach an expanding audience with its mission, and that is because of the vision and support of our Trustees and the hard work put forth by our dedicated staff,” says Andrews. “Our team will continue to push new boundaries and develop as an institution, and in turn, have a greater impact in New Orleans as a regional museum with a national mission and an international audience.”
Bryan Fitzpatrick, Treasurer
Bryan Fitzpatrick is a current Board member and serves as Treasurer. Fitzpatrick joined the Ogden Museum in April 2014, and is a Richardson Society member. Fitzpatrick is a Director and Investment Management Consultant at Crescent Capital Consulting, LLC. He has lived in New Orleans for more than a decade, and moved here after receiving his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He is also a board member of the Libby Dufour Foundation, and is an avid military historian. Fitzpatrick and his wife, Lauren Fitzpatrick, reside in uptown New Orleans with their three children.
Richard Ford, Trustee
Richard Ford joined the Ogden Museum Board of Trustees in 2018. Ford is the Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, a novelist, executor of the literary estate of Eudora Welty and editor of a two-volume edition of her selected works. He has authored 12 books, including the novels “The Sportswriter,” “Independence Day” and “Canada.” Ford’s work has been awarded The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Prix Femina in France, The Princess of Asturias Prize in Spain and The Athens Prize in Greece. He attended Michigan State University, the University of California and Washington University Law School in St. Louis. Ford resides with his wife, Kristina Ford, in East Boothbay, Maine and in New Orleans.
L. Kasimu Harris, Trustee
L. Kasimu Harris joined the Ogden Museum Board of Trustees in 2018. Harris is the Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing at Dillard University. He is a storyteller who uses writing, photography and video to push the narrative. His work has been in more than 20 group exhibitions across America, two abroad and three solo photography exhibitions. Harris created “Parish Chic,” a style column for the Oxford American and has been published in Yahoo Food, Southern Living,The FADER, Thrillist, Edible New Orleans, the Bitter Southerner was selected for the book, “Best Food Writing 2016.” Harris graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in entrepreneurship from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Mississippi. Harris was named one of the “Eight Louisianans of the Year” for 2017 by Louisiana Life magazine.
Allison Kendrick, Secretary
Allison Kendrick is the immediate past Board Chairman of the Ogden Museum, and is now the Secretary of the Board of Trustees. She is also a Richardson Society member, and has been a member of the Museum since September 2007. Kendrick is also a former Vice President of the board of the New Orleans Film Society. Her Garden District home has been featured in Elle and the New York Times. Her historic home was the site of the 2013 Richardson Society dinner, and she has hosted many other gatherings there for Ogden Museum donors and friends. She has a daughter, Megan Kendrick, who lives in New Orleans and a son, Taylor Kendrick, who resides in Brooklyn.
Troy G. Scroggins, Trustee
Troy G. Scroggins, Jr., M.D. joined the Ogden Museum Board of Trustees in 2018. Scroggins is Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology for the Ochsner Health Systems in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received his Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Kansas in 1982, and received his Medical Doctor degree from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1986. He completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Scroggins has served on numerous community and regional boards, including the American Cancer Society, Project Lazarus, the Historic District Landmark Commission, No Aids Task Force and Kid SMART, among others. In 2014, he was honored by St. Charles Magazine as one of their activists of the year.
Lloyd N. “Sonny” Shields, Vice-Chairman
Lloyd N. “Sonny” Shields is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Along with his wife, Laura Shields, Shields has been a member of the Ogden Museum since the Museum’s inception in 2003. They are also members of the Richardson Society. Shields has more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer and has served on the national board of directors for the American Arbitration Association. He was a member of the Louisiana Supreme Court committee to establish the Civil District Court pilot mediation program and has mediated several hundred cases, primarily in the construction industry. For many years, he has been an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School on the subject or the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure and at Tulane Law School on the subject of Historic Preservation Law. Shields is active in the New Orleans community in the areas of historic preservation, having served as President of the Preservation Resource Center and as Chairman of the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission. Shields and his wife live in uptown New Orleans.
Charles Urstadt, Chairman
Charles Urstadt joined the Board of Trustees in 2016 and has served on the Executive and Finance Committees. He was elected Chairman of the Board in 2018. Urstadt has over 35 years of experience in the real estate field and currently serves as President of Urstadt Property Company, Inc., a real estate investment corporation based in New York. He is also Vice Chairman of Urstadt Biddle Properties, a Greenwich, Connecticut real estate investment trust. Previously, he was a Chairman and Director of the Miami Design Preservation League and Chairman and member of the City of Miami Beach Planning Board. He has served as a Director of the Friends of Channel 13/WNET and member of the New York State Board for Historic Preservation. Urstadt and his partner, David Bernard, live in the Garden District.
About the Ogden Museum of Southern Art:
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 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 Ogden Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. with extended hours on Thursdays from 6 – 8 p.m. for Ogden After Hours. Admission is free to Museum Members and $13.50 for adults, $11 for seniors 65 and older, $6.75 for children ages 5-17 and free for children under 5.
The Ogden Museum is free to Louisiana Residents on Thursdays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. courtesy of The Helis Foundation. The Helis Foundation is a Louisiana private foundation, established by the William Helis Family. The Art Funds of the Helis Foundation advance access to the arts for the community through contributions that sustain operations for, provide free admission to, acquire works of art and underwrite major exhibitions and projects of institutions within the Greater New Orleans area.
The Museum is closed Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.
The Museum is located at 925 Camp Street, New Orleans Louisiana 70130. For more information visit ogdenmuseum.org or call 504.539.9650.