What’s an auspicious sign for a museum’s grand reopening?
“We for sure did not get enough food!” laughs Carlos Bossard, Director of Programs and Museum Practice at the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC). A hundred guests were expected; nearly 200 came.
HAMOC is a cornerstone of Chicago’s Haitian community, which is as old as the city itself. The first non-Indigenous founder of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, was Haitian. Currently, about 40,000 Haitians and Haitian Americans live in Chicagoland, according to the Consulate General of Haiti.
“Our mission is to promote and preserve Haitian art, culture, history, and community in Chicago and beyond,” says Bossard. “Everything we do at the museum comes back to that mission.”
HAMOC has expanded twice in its 14 years. Most recently, it purchased a building on Chicago’s north side, opening its doors in March. The new space offers more square footage, plus a gallery named for the late Nicole Smith—founder of the first Haitian gallery in Chicago, whose collection makes up the bulk of HAMOC’s—and her mentor, Francine Murat [legendary late director of Le Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince, Haiti].
“Nicole asked that when [HAMOC] had a permanent space, there would be a space honoring Francine and her contributions,” says Bossard. “It was a promise kept.”
Another new feature? No admission fee! Just a $5 suggested donation.
“Accessibility is really important to us,” says Bossard. “Taking away that financial barrier means lots of people who have never gone to a museum, or heard of this museum, are now learning about Haiti.”
HAMOC’s new home—along with a $15,000 Arts & Wellness grant from the GIG Fund—is now the launchpad of one of HAMOC’s signature programs: Healing Through Art workshops.
“The workshops provide students with creative, art-based experiences designed to support emotional wellness, self-expression, and personal reflection,” says Bossard. “They can explore things like race and identity through coloring, painting, emotional responses to music, using movement to release tension…all in a safe and supportive environment.”
The grant will allow HAMOC to continue offering funded field trips, including a guided tour and creative wellness-oriented activities, for schoolkids in grades 3 through 8. The museum also brings funded workshops directly into Chicago schools that don’t have art teachers or curriculum. Each 3.5-hour program features different artists rotating through 50-minute workshops, during the school day.
HAMOC plans to create an exhibition—in person or virtual, to be determined—of the student work that blossoms from these workshops and visits.
“Museums have a very important role in the conversation between art and wellness,” says Bossard. “When we created these workshops post-COVID, social and emotional learning in schools was a big topic of discussion. We’re really trying to be inclusive and proactive so if the community needs something, we’ve already thought of it and can produce and provide.”
“Transformation”—HAMOC’s theme for their gala this year—is at the heart of this new chapter, Bossard says: “How can we continue to transform the museum so that it is a space of, by, and for the Haitian community, and be what they need us to be?”
Arts Midwest’s GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness is a grant of $2,000 – $15,000 for nonprofits offering arts programs with a wellness focus in Midwestern communities. It also offers professional development opportunities for grantees.