FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(NEW ORLEANS, LA) – Ogden Museum of Southern Art is proud to announce the appointment of two new members to the Museum’s Board of Trustees: Fern Watters and Debra Fischman.
“We are grateful these outstanding individuals are joining Ogden Museum’s Board of Trustees,” says William Pittman Andrews, Executive Director of Ogden Museum. “Fern Watters and Debra Fischman have a long history of engagement with the arts, and a deep passion for our educational mission to broaden the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South. We will undoubtedly benefit from their experience as we plan for the Museum’s twentieth anniversary and the next decade of growth.”
Watters and Fischman join four other new members who became trustees over the past year, Penny Francis, Noah Hardie, Jack Little and Cleo Thomas.
Ogden Museum’s Board of Trustees includes 36 members and is led by Chairman Jessie Haynes.
ABOUT THE NEW TRUSTEES
Fern Watters, who is an avid collector and supporter of the arts alongside her husband, was born and lived most of her life in Ohio where she attended Marietta College and Ohio State Law School. She practiced law in Cincinnati, Ohio with a small litigation firm, Rending, Fry, Kiely, and Dennis.
After she retired, Watters sat on the Board of the Friends of the Bronxville Public Library for six years, serving as President for several terms before moving to New Orleans in 2019. Most recently, she was on the Board of Destination: College, a nonprofit organization that works in low-resource public high schools in Westchester County, providing assistance to high school athletes working to become academically eligible for NCAA scholarships. There, Watters served as a Program Head and Executive Vice President for several years after which she remained an emeritus member of the Board. She currently resides in the Garden District neighborhood of New Orleans.
Debra Fischman is a practicing lawyer and member of the Association of Women Attorneys; Louisiana State Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section; New Orleans Bar Association; Federal Bar Association; and Bar Association of the United States of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been practicing in the State of Louisiana since graduating from Tulane Law School in 1978.
Fischman is a member of Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, L.L.C. in the Firm’s Litigation Section defending school districts and the Louisiana Department of Education through the Recovery School District as well as other governmental bodies and agencies and private employers throughout the State of Louisiana in employment and professional liability matters consisting of wrongful termination, breach of contract, breach of tenure laws, retaliation, racial and gender discrimination, violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Age and Discrimination in Employment Act, Title VII (sexual, racial and gender discrimination and harassment), Title IX, and other wrongful acts; toxic tort, commercial litigation, and personal injury litigation.
ABOUT OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART
Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana since 1999 and open to the public since 2003, Ogden Museum of Southern Art invites visitors to experience and learn about the artists and culture of the American South. Ogden Museum is home to a collection of more than four thousand works, making it the largest and most comprehensive repository dedicated to Southern art in the nation, with particular strength in the genres of Self-Taught art, Regionalism, photography, and contemporary art. The Museum is further recognized for its original exhibitions, public events and educational programs, which examine the development of visual art alongside Southern traditions of music, literature and local craft.
Ogden Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
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 Museum is located at 925 Camp Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130. For more information visit ogdenmuseum.org or call 504.539.9650.