AccorHotels today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire 85% of 21c Museum Hotels, an award-winning hospitality management company pushing the boundaries of the museum and hotel worlds to create a new kind of travel experience. 21c combines a multi-venue contemporary art museum, boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants, with 11 properties currently open and under development across the United States.
21c Museum Hotels was founded in 2006 in Louisville by philanthropists and contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The pair had seen the region’s farmland and rural landscapes fall to development while the historic buildings of Louisville’s downtown sat vacant. Inspired by the idea that art can ignite urban revitalization and catalyze civic connection, Brown and Wilson rehabilitated a series of 19th century warehouses in Louisville’s downtown arts and theater district to open the first 21c Museum Hotel.
The success of the Louisville flagship created opportunities for expansion; today the company operates eight 21c properties in Bentonville, Cincinnati, Durham, Kansas City, Lexington, Louisville, Nashville and Oklahoma City, with three more in development in Des Moines, Miami and Chicago. 21c Museum is one of the largest contemporary art museums in the United States, and North America’s only collecting museum dedicated solely to art of the 21st century. Open and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 21c’s exhibitions and programs are free to the public. Each property remains an innovative union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design, artistic expression and culinary creativity.
21c Museum Hotels will join AccorHotels’ MGallery collection of boutique hotels, marking the introduction of the MGallery brand into the North American market. Each MGallery property has its own unique design and story to tell, from Hotel Molitor Paris – MGallery and INK Hotel Amsterdam – MGallery to Hotel Muse Bangkok Langsuan – MGallery and Harbour Rocks Hotel Sydney – MGallery. 21c Museum Hotels will benefit from AccorHotels’ support in terms of development opportunities, increased sales and marketing exposure, and access to one of the largest distribution networks in the industry.
This agreement will allow 21c Museum Hotels to leverage AccorHotels’ leading global hospitality platform while retaining its independent spirit. Co-founders Laura Lee Brown & Steve Wilson will retain a 15% stake in the company, and will remain closely involved in providing creative guidance and support of the unique combination of art, design and hospitality that defines the 21c experience. 21c Museum Hotels will continue to be led by President & CEO Craig Greenberg. Corporate headquarters for 21c will remain in Louisville, Kentucky.
The purchase price for the 85% stake is $51 million, including a potential earn out payment. No real estate is included in this acquisition. The transaction should be completed during the third quarter of 2018.
Kevin Frid, Chief Operating Officer, North & Central America, AccorHotels, said: “We are delighted to welcome 21c Museum Hotels as part of the AccorHotels family of brands, hence strengthening the Group’s footprint in North America in a very unique and promising niche. Together, we have a tremendous opportunity to grow the 21c brand, as well as introduce MGallery into the North American market, building both brand equities and further expanding the full range of unparalleled experiences for our guests. This strategic acquisition marks a new step in AccorHotels’ strategy of being the leading player in the Luxury and Lifestyle segment in North America.”
21c founder, Steve Wilson, said: “21c Museum Hotels is proud to announce our entry into the AccorHotels family. AccorHotels is one of the world’s leading hotel operators and will be a perfect partner and catalyst for 21c’s continued growth. We are confident that the unique spirit of 21c will not only be preserved, but will flourish within the MGallery collection of boutique hotels. 21c will continue to bring the work of today’s most dynamic and engaging contemporary artists to the public, and this partnership will be a tremendous boost for 21c’s continued development in North America and abroad. We are extremely excited to see what the future holds.”
ABOUT ACCORHOTELS
AccorHotels is a world-leading travel & lifestyle group and digital innovator offering unique experiences in more than 4,500 hotels, resorts and residences across 100 different countries.
With an unrivaled portfolio of internationally renowned hotel brands encompassing the entire range from luxury to economy, from upscale to lifestyle and midscale brands, AccorHotels has been providing savoir-faire and expertise for more than 50 years.
In addition to its core hospitality business, AccorHotels has successfully expanded its range of services, becoming the world leader in luxury private residence rental with more than 10,000 stunning properties around the world. The Group is also active in the fields of concierge services, co-working, dining, events management and digital solutions.
Relying on its global team of more than 250,000 dedicated staff, AccorHotels is committed to fulfilling its primary mission: to make every guest Feel Welcome. Guests have access to one of the world’s most attractive hotel loyalty programs – Le Club AccorHotels.
AccorHotels plays an active role in its local communities and is committed to promoting sustainable development and solidarity through PLANET 21 Acting Here, a comprehensive program that brings together employees, guests and partners to drive sustainable growth.
From 2008, the AccorHotels Solidarity Endowment Fund has acted as a natural extension of the Group’s activities and values, helping to combat the social and financial exclusion experienced by the most disadvantaged members of society.
Accor SA is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACRFY) in the United States.
For more information or to make a reservation, please visit accorhotels.group or accorhotels.com. Or join and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
ABOUT 21c MUSEUM HOTELS
21c Museum Hotels, an award-winning hospitality company based in Louisville, Kentucky, is pushing the boundaries of both the museum and hotel worlds to create a new kind of travel experience. The company was founded as a single property by contemporary art collectors and preservationists Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, whose mission was to share innovative contemporary art with the public and participate in the revitalization of downtown Louisville. The couple opened the first 21c in 2006 along downtown’s West Main Street, rehabilitating a series of 19th century warehouses to create a union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design and culinary creativity — all anchored by a contemporary art museum. Today, 21c operates eight museum hotels in Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, 21c projects are also under development in Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Des Moines, Iowa. The company is equally focused on creating unique, chef-driven restaurants that are as much a part of the community as each hotel. The 21c restaurant portfolio includes; Proof on Main, Metropole, The Hive, Counting House, Lockbox, Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge, Gray and Dudley, The Savoy, and Garage Bar.
Last week, the 21c museum team ventured to New York City for what is now called Armory week, during which they attended art fairs, visited artists’ studios, and explored current exhibitions. We sat down with our Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites to hear more about what they did and the works they saw.
Q: What was different about Armory this year?
A: We were immediately struck by one of the initiatives that Armory Show director Nicole Berry has pushed forward: commissioning artists to do special large-scale projects within the fair. Walking in, we were greeted by these colorful, larger-than-life-size hanging dresses by Jeffery Gibson. These works were inspired by the costumes worn in a Native American ghost dance. There was also a large architectural installation by Tara Donovan that was quite striking. She’s known for using everyday materials and this work was no exception, it was made completely out of plastic tubing.
21c artist Wilmer Wilson IV did a large-scale ongoing performance that was commissioned by Armory. We were excited to discover that Wilmer has another presence in New York right now. His artworks are featured in the New Museum’s triennial, Songs for Sabotage. It’s such an honor to be included in this. The triennial showcases the work of young artists, focusing on what’s new and what’s next. We’re especially thrilled to see Wilmer’s work there because three of his photographs are featured in Louisville’s upcoming exhibition, Dress Up, Speak Up.
(L-R): Jeffery Gibson, Wilmer Wilson IV
Q: Did you see any themes throughout the shows and exhibitions you visited?
A: Armory continues to be a strong and varied show with the presence of galleries from all over the world. Not just at Armory but everywhere we visited, we saw works that address our current sociopolitical climate. We also saw a lot of works promoting equality—whether that be for women, people of color, or the LGBTQI community.
Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown looking at work by artist Athi-Patra Ruga; Alice Gray Stites and artist Lina Puerta
Q: What acquisitions are you really excited about?
A: This year, we acquired works by artists from 5 different countries, including South Africa, France, and Japan. I am really excited about a work we purchased by French artist JR. He’s known worldwide as an artist, photographer, and filmmaker. He did a documentary last year called “Faces and Places” that was nominated for an Academy Award. He’s also won a TED Prize that allowed him to start a project called “Inside Out”—it encourages communities worldwide to take portraits of themselves and then JR and his team create these huge posters that they install throughout the city. He’s had solo shows all over the world, including at the CAC, our neighbors in Cincinnati.
He did a project where he took photographs of women’s eyes and created enormous reproductions that were then put on trains in Kenya. He’s now taken this concept and created miniature replicas of the trains, which is the work we acquired.
I’m not only excited about this work, but also thrilled to welcome JR to 21c. He’s an artist that fits in so beautifully within the 21c collection and with our mission. JR’s truly focused on bringing art to the public and using art to highlight social and economic issues. His work gives voice and vision to people who are largely unseen.
JR
Q: Speaking of 21c artists, who did you have a chance to catch up with?
A: We were lucky to see works by many of them while we were in town, and visit with several. We saw Mohau Modisakeng’s powerful new work about how Central Park came to be, and new works by Valérie Belin and Sebastian Bremer. We visited Fahamu Pecou’s new show “MEMORY” at Lyons Wier Gallery. Our friend Helen Toomer curated an installation at the fantastic “Spring/Break” fair, where we saw Brian Paumier’s work, along with a lot of interesting VR and interactive art. We also visited Hank Willis Thomas’s studio.
(L-R):Mohau Modisakeng, Sebastian Bremer, Valérie Belin
Derrick Adams has a solo show right now at the Museum of Art and Design called “Sanctuary” and it’s really fantastic. This body of work was inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book, an annual guidebook for black American roadtrippers that was published from 1936-1967. There is a series of houses made from milk boxes and he actually built a road in the gallery. The cars that you see on the road are made from driving caps because one of the directives The Green Book gave was on how to dress properly—or safely, if you will—while on the road. He also made beautiful collages inspired by the various themes from the book. I’m really proud to have him in our collection.
Derrick Adams
Q: Tell us a little more about your studio visit with Hank Willis Thomas.
A: Hank Willis Thomas’ studio was so inspiring. We saw a lot of his new artwork, in which he is continuing to use retroreflective screen printing, but adding in some painterly gestures. Introducing that practice into his use of historical photographs of protest brings in a reference to abstract art, which was in its heyday in the 1960s. There is certainly a gulf between who were recognized as the best artists of that time (largely white, male abstract expressionists) and the civil rights movement and Hank alludes to this tension in his new work.
We’re also excited to join Hank and his team in the For Freedoms project, a political super PAC that models how art and discourse can engage communities. He’s hoping to bring this to all 50 states during the midterm elections and all of our locations will be participating.
Hank Willis Thomas
Q: To wrap up the week, you participated on a panel at NADA with William Nathan of The Current Museum and Jason Foumberg of The Thoma Art Foundation. What were some of your takeaways from this?
A: The panel was on collecting and preserving art that wouldn’t exist without technology, such as film, video, VR and AR. These works are not defined by their technology and just like any other art, their message can be enhanced and amplified by including them in thematic multimedia exhibitions. We have a responsibility to know, understand, present, and support this kind of work because technology is integrated into everything we do and the future is coming fast. The digital world is one that we’re living in more and more. If we don’t want that realm to be defined by technology that is designed to increase the profit for the few and control of the many, then we need to have art in that space. Art is the space of freedom and imagination.
NADA Panel: “Keeping Time”
Two rule-breaking Louisville-based companies have joined forces to transform the hotel guest experience. 21c Museum Hotels and GE Appliances’ FirstBuild are seeking the next great idea for The Hotel Room of the Future.
Today’s travelers aren’t looking for just any place to lay their heads. Hotel guests today are more engaged, tech-savvy, design-aware and sensitive to their surroundings than ever before, yet the average hotel room and experience hasn’t changed much in the last several decades.
“After an engaging meeting with the FirstBuild team last year, we were inspired to find ways to continue the relationship,” said Craig Greenberg, president of 21c Museum Hotels. “Since our inception, 21c has been an innovator and disruptor in the hospitality space, changing and challenging the industry with an emphasis on a fantastic guest experience and access to contemporary art. Our hope is that the FirstBuild community’s innovative ideas can be integrated into 21c Museum Hotels, transforming the guest experience and enhancing the hotel room of future.”
21c Museum and FirstBuild are calling on designers, makers, engineers, artists and more to submit their inventive, functional designs to create the ultimate hotel stay. The winning concept will display innovation in guest experience – like comfort, entertainment and information – by integrating at least three innovative appliances and overarching design. Key focus areas could include cooking, refrigeration, cleaning, guest convenience, entertainment, lighting, acoustics and air/water conditioning, but contestants are limited only by their imagination and existing available building practices.
“At FirstBuild we create next-generation appliances by collaborating with our online and local community. Working with 21c Museum Hotels on this design challenge provides a unique opportunity for community members to look beyond the home to create for a hotel stay”, said Larry Portaro, Director at FirstBuild. “We are excited to see the submissions we receive and how they will come to life in 21c Museum Hotels.”
Interested participants will have the opportunity to engage with both 21c and FirstBuild experts and view a room at 21c Museum Hotel Louisville on Tuesday, March 21 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three entrants, determined by both community voting and a panel of expert judges. Prizes include a cash prize up to $2500, a 21c Museum Hotel experience at any of the group’s six museum hotels, the opportunity to visit the FirstBuild microfactory and selection of a FirstBuild produced product. More details about prizes can be found on the contest page.
Judges include 21c Museum Hotels Founder and CEO Steve Wilson, FirstBuild Director Larry Portato; principal for design firm Deborah Berke Partners, Terrence Schroeder; Louisville Metro Chief of Civic Innovation Grace Simrall and others. The winner will be announced mid-April.
The contest will launch via FirstBuild.com on March 7 and entries will be accepted through April 20. During that time, entrants will have the opportunity to interface with the FirstBuild and 21c design teams to ensure their entry fits within the rules and expectations of the challenge.
21c Museum Hotel and FirstBuild hope to integrate winning concepts into a guest room at 21c Louisville in the coming years. To learn more about the Hotel Room of the Future Challenge, visit http://cocreate.firstbuild.com/21c.
As part of the annual Moving Image Acquisition Award, presented in New York on February 27, two new works have been accessioned into the 21c Museum Collection: Jefferson Pinder’s video, Afro-Cosmonaut/Alien (White Noise) and Claudia Hart’s, The Flower Matrix, an augmented reality (AR) wallpaper.
“21c seeks to support visionary artists who are engaged with issues and conditions shaping our world today,” said Chief Curator, Museum Director Alice Gray Stites. “The addition of Jefferson Pinder’s Afro-Cosmonaut/Alien (White Noise) to the collection extends 21c’s focus on the subject of identity in a compelling time-lapse video addressing race, mythology, and power. Invoking a range of historical and cultural associations, Pinder’s imagery is both timeless and especially timely at this moment. Among the new Immersive Media projects presented by Moving Image this year, Claudia Hart’s Flower Matrix utilizes new technology to re-envision the still life with an augmented reality experience that transforms both physical and digital space. We are so pleased that this year’s award will be given to these two truly innovative and thought-provoking works.”
Afro-Cosmonaut/Alien (White Noise) is an escapist video narrative that ends in destruction when the protagonist plummets back to Earth after a mystical space journey. Like the doomed Icarus of Ancient Greek myth, the epic fall comes after reaching a brilliant zenith that is both mesmerizing and lethal. This white-faced Butoh-inspired performance is a crude metaphor of the civil rights legacy. Taking cues from experimental films, Pinder plants himself within the work, asking the viewers to watch the images of propulsion and power. Utilizing time-lapse animation, “White Noise” consists of over 2,000 photographs, with each frame forming an individual pose. Together, they form a continuous flow of activity.
Jefferson Pinder’s work provokes commentary about race and struggle. Working primarily with neon, found objects, video and performance, Pinder investigates identity through the most dynamic circumstances and materials. Through his meditative exploration with light and sound or his intensely grueling corporeal performances, he delves into conversations about race. His exploration of sound, music and physical performance are conceptual threads to examine history, cultural appropriation, and portrayals of exertion and labor. Creating collaged audio clips and surreal performances he under score themes dealing with Afro-Futurism and endurance.
Jefferson Pinder is among five contemporary artists and collaborators who will be honored at The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Spring Gala, set for May 6.
The Flower Matrix uses Claudia Hart’s custom Looking Glass augmented-reality application created for smartphones and tablets. By viewing Hart’s patterned wallpapers, viewers see animated flowers harvested from The Flower Matrix embedded in them. Hart’s decorative patterns are in fact also computer codes – augmented “tags”
functioning like QR – that permit users to see fantastical animations embedded in them through their hand-held devices.
The Flower Matrix is a liminal space, an imaginary “Alice in Wonderland” world of inversion where the rational order of reason and technology turns in on itself. Hart’s decorative patterns are in fact also computer codes – augmented-reality “tags” functioning like QR – that permit users, via her custom-designed augmented reality app, to see her fantastical embedded animations.
The Moving Image Acquisition Award seeks to further the representation of video art in permanent public collections internationally. Previous Awards have gone to artists Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck, Jessica Faiss, Rollin Leonard, Chris Doyle Kalliopi Lemos and Alexandre Mazza.
Moving Image was conceived to offer a viewing experience with the excitement and vitality of a fair, while allowing moving image-based artworks to be understood and appreciated on their own terms. Participation is by invitation only. The newly formed Moving Image Curatorial Advisory Committee for New York 2017 invited a selection of international commercial galleries and non-profit institutions to present single-channel videos, single-channel projections, video sculptures, and other larger video installations. The 2017 Moving Image Art Fair was held February 27 – March 2 at the Waterfront New York Tunnel.
“The permanent collection of 21c Museum Hotels is a constant inspiration to us, in terms of both how we think about the interaction of the public with contemporary art, and how the art of our time can and should be acquired, presented, and preserved. The range of their collection is typified by their choice of these works, from Jefferson Pinder’s powerful political statement to Claudia Hart’s cutting/edge innovations. We are honored to have 21c Museum Hotels’ continued support for the Moving Image Acquisition Award, and delighted to know how many more viewers these works will now receive thanks to their dedication to widening the audience for contemporary art,” said Edward Winkleman and Murat Orozobekov, co-founders of Moving Image.
About Jefferson Pinder
Jefferson Pinder’s work has been featured in numerous group and solo shows including exhibitions at new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC; The 2016 Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China; The Driskell Center, College Park, MD; The Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, IA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; Showroom Mama in Rotterdam, Netherlands; The Phillips Collection and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Pinder recently won a prestigious 2017 USA Fellowship. He resides in Chicago where he is a Professor in the Sculpture dept. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jefferson Pinder is represented by Curator’s Office, Washington D.C.
About Claudia Hart
Claudia Hart has been active as an artist, curator and critic since 1988. She works with digital trompe l’oeil as a medium, directing theater and making media objects of all kinds including multi-channel 3D animation installations, sculptures using industrial production techniques such as Rapid Prototyping, CNC routing, and virtual and mixed reality environments, and augmented-reality custom apps.
She is widely exhibited and collected by galleries and museums including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum, the New Museum, Eyebeam Center for Art + Technology, where she was an honorary fellow in 2013-14. She works with Transfer gallery in New York. She is married to the Austrian media artist Kurt Hentschlager, and lives in Chicago where she is a tenured professor at the School of the Art Institute. Claudia Hart is represented by Transfer, Brooklyn, NY.
There’s just a few more days to show your true penguin colors and vote for 21c Museum Hotels in the 2017 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards, showcasing the greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports and more.
We’re up for awards in both the hotel and hotel brand categories, so we humbly ask you to spend a few minutes sharing some love!
Voting closes on March 6, 2017. Vote now and help send us to the top of the list.
Gray & Dudley, a new restaurant and lounge led by Executive Chef Levon Wallace, will open this spring at 21c Museum Hotel Nashville (221 2nd Ave. North), the seventh property developed by the award-winning Louisville-based boutique hotel, contemporary art museum and restaurant group.
The restaurant name is an homage to the building’s past life housing the Gray & Dudley Company, which redeveloped the building around 1899 using the first floor as its retail showroom and upper floors for wholesale hardware operations. The former use of the building provided inspiration to 21c and the design team led by Deborah Berke Partners as they reimagined the space as a restaurant and lounge, embracing and celebrating high and low, new and old.
The largely communal menu will offer guests the opportunity for shared experiences and culinary discovery, regardless of whether Gray & Dudley is their destination for social gatherings, special celebrations or casual bites. On any occasion, guests will receive heartfelt hospitality at every encounter. Wallace’s approach is eclectic with a variety of influences, inspired by the Mediterranean, regions of France and Italy and his own West Coast roots. Among the culinary techniques Wallace will showcase on his menu, the traditional hearth cooking used throughout these regions will shine. The market-driven menu will change frequently with a selection of dishes that are fresh, bright, simple and playful.
“The menu and experience we’re shaping at Gray & Dudley reflects my journey as a chef. It’s my coming of age,” said Wallace. “I’ve found inspiration in my heritage, my travels and this building, and it all amounts to creating a genuine experience for guests to enjoy at their own pace and without any level of pretense.”
Guests at Gray & Dudley can expect a thoughtfully curated list of classic cocktails and an informed and engaged staff to guide those who seek to venture beyond familiar territory. The wine list is also tightly focused, hinging on timeless standards, while still harboring a few surprises.
Wallace previously worked with 21c Museum Hotels in Louisville, when he joined Proof on Main in 2012. During his time at there, 21c Louisville was selected among Bon Appetit’s “10 Best Hotels for Food Lovers” and he was selected by Star Chefs as the 2014 Rising Star Chef. Wallace returned to 21c Museum Hotels in September after serving as the opening Executive Chef of James Beard Award winner Donald Link’s Cochon Butcher Nashville.
The front-of-house team at Gray & Dudley will be led by Food and Beverage Director Shane Batchelor, previously of Nashville’s Strategic Hospitality where he oversaw restaurant operations, employee training and development and brand growth. Batchelor will also oversee banquets, catering and in-room dining services.
Guests will enter Gray & Dudley via Banker’s Alley, between Second and Third Avenues in downtown Nashville. Inside, they’ll find a lively yet relaxed reprieve from the commotion of Broadway, and an ambiance that plays with the grit of the building’s history but maintains an element of sophistication. The east dining room, bar and lounge space soars with double-height ceilings, grounded by a custom wood and blackened steel bar with copper and zinc accents. The rich color palate and industrial materials juxtapose the space’s past and future. The west dining room is intimate, with a more refined décor of marble accents and softer materials. Two private dining rooms, with seating for 12-14, can be used in unison for casual or more ceremonious group outings. Large historic windows overlook an outdoor dining area on the alley, bringing renewed spirit to the underutilized downtown passage. Adjacent museum galleries showcasing contemporary art, including permanent site-specific installations and rotating curated exhibitions, will foster exploration over cocktails or following a meal. Gray & Dudley offers abundant opportunities for any type of dining experience.
Gray & Dudley will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily as well as weekend brunch, in addition to providing all banquet and catering services and in-room dining for 21c Nashville. For more information, visit GrayAndDudley.com or follow on Instagram @GrayandDudley.
Room reservations, packages, group bookings and events at 21c Nashville are now available for May 14, 2017 and beyond. For information or to book, visit www.21cNashville.com or call 615.610.6400.
What the world needs now is love, no matter what it looks like. Join 21c to celebrate cupid’s main obsession whether you just met your love, are enjoying many happy years or want to rock with your besties. Grab a drink, stroll through the museum galleries, and then indulge in a delicious farm-to-table dinner. To keep the fire lit, stay in luxury upstairs with a romantic overnight package. Whatever your desire, we have your Valentine’s Day covered.
21c Louisville
Whether you’re in love, or just in love with a good meal, join us at Proof on Main this Valentine’s Day. Our infatuation for locally sourced ingredients knows no bounds. Our executive chef Mike Wajda’s fresh from the farm dishes will have you swooning. Treat your sweetie to a romantic overnight getaway with a special Valentine’s Day Package. Learn more…
21c Cincinnati
At Metropole, our fireplace is ablaze with love – love for local food and hearth-roasted, old-world delights. This Valentine’s Day celebrate love with a decadent farm-to-fireplace meal masterfully prepared by chef Jared Bennett. and then show your love how you feel with an overnight package. Do you prefer your romantic getaway to be Mild or Wild? Learn more…
21c Bentonville
Make 21c Bentonville your destination for an amorous affair this Valentine’s Day. On TUES 02.14.17, spoil your special someone with a five-course table d’hôte Valentine’s Day dinner by chef Matthew McClure. Want to treat your sweetie to a romantic night for two? We’re offering a special Valentine’s Day package that’s sure to turn up the heat. Learn more…
21c Durham
Move over cupid, 21c Durham knows how to make the magic happen. From a romantic dinner at Counting House, to a one of a kind gift for your sweetie in our 21c Shop, let us help you craft the perfect night out this February. Want to score major bonus points with your Valentine this year? Set the mood with 21c Durham’s Valentine’s Day Package. Learn more…
21c Lexington
At Lockbox, we’re having a love affair with fresh food from the heart of the Bluegrass. This Valentine’s Day celebrate love with a soulful farm-to-table meal thoughtfully prepared by chef Jonathan Searle. If things start heating up over dessert, you can chill out knowing that we’ve got you covered upstairs. Book our romance package. Learn more…
21c Oklahoma City
Experience the five languages of love at a romantic dinner at Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge. Each love language will be highlighted in a five-course menu featuring dishes like West Coast oyster, lamb leg with walnuts and minted yogurt, and Strawberry Panna Cotta. Want to keep the romance going all night? Enjoy a romantic escape with the perfect Valentine’s Day Package. Learn more…
Each month, the College Art Association’s Committee on Women in the Arts selects the best in feminist art and scholarship. We are pleased to announce that 21c Louisville’s current exhibition, The Future Is Female, has been recognized as an exhibition that “should not be missed.”
Founded in 1911, the College Art Association promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts and in creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practices of art. And much, much more.
> Learn more about the exhibition
Image: Frances Goodman (South African), Medusa, 2013-2014. Acrylic nails, glue, polyurethane.
We’re going to let you in on a little secret. The most popular booking window for our guests is between one and seven days before their arrival. That tells us you guys ain’t planning ahead! Also, without time to research, you’re probably missing out on fun things to do once you get here!
Vacation Planning Day is today, January 31st and we want you to join in the fun and plan ahead for something spectacular! Treat your future self!
According to Project Time-Off, “51% of Americans skip the one step that could help them vacation: planning. Individuals who plan are more likely to use all of their time off, take more vacation days at once, and report greater levels of happiness…” So, here at 21c we’ve hired a team of scientists* to deduce the following:
Planning vacation leads to happiness.
You deserve to take your vacation time. Do it for your health, your happiness and possibly the happiness of everyone around you.
Planning is fun but planning with a little help is even more fun. We have created city guides for all of our 21c destinations. These will help you find the best local shopping, eating and adventuring in your fave 21c cities! Let us help you plan something magical, relaxing and enriching. After all, a penguin knows good fun when they see it. #planforvacation
> Vacation in Louisville
> Vacation in Cincinnati
> Vacation in Bentonville
> Vacation in Durham
> Vacation in Lexington
> Vacation in Oklahoma City
*We actually didn’t hire any scientists.
Do the penguins hold a special place in your heart? Don’t be afraid to proclaim your love for the world!
Voting is now open for the 2017 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards, showcasing the greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports and more. Show some love to propel 21c Museum Hotels to the top these rankings, which will be released in the August issue of Travel + Leisure Magazine.
You can vote for your favorite 21c location (or throw caution to the wind and vote for each one!) in the hotels category, which is organized by location and divided into regions. Hotels rankings are based on ratings in the following categories: rooms/facilities, location, service, food and value.
While you’re at it, click on over to the hotel brands category, and vote for 21c Museum Hotels.
You can only vote once, so make your vote count! Voting closes on March 6, 2017. Vote Now!
21c Museum Hotels, and its founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, have been honored with the annual Martha Stewart Living American Made Award, which celebrates those who have turned their passions for hand-crafted, well-made goods into viable small businesses.
Martha Stewart and the editors of Martha Stewart Living hand selected the honorees across the fields of food, style, design and technology, for their inspiring efforts to change their local communities and influence the way America does business. 21c Museum Hotels and the nine other honorees appear in the January/February issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine, available now.
“Opening 10 years ago was a major risk. A lot has changed since then, but through the success of 21c Museum Hotels and the development we’ve remained steadfast in our strong and shared belief in the power that art has to transform a community,” said co-founder Laura Lee Brown. “The company has demonstrated what Steve and I always thought possible – that art and commerce can coexist in harmony.”
The founding couple was honored at the 2016 Martha Stewart American Made Summit, held October 22 in New York City. The full-day event included educational, inspirational panels for creative entrepreneurs, held at Martha Stewart headquarters. Presentations were made by innovators, celebrity entrepreneurs and successful business owners including Jessica Alba, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Honest Company and Honest Beauty; Jim Cramer, Host of CNBC’s “Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer” & Co-Anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”; Sarah Michelle Gellar, Co-Founder, Foodstirs; Zac Posen, Fashion Designer; Geoffrey Zakarian, Chef, Restaurateur and TV Personality; Linda Boff, Chief Marketing Officer, General Electric; Emeril Lagasse, Chef, Restaurateur, and Television Personality and more.
2016 Honorees Include:
21c Museum Hotels – Louisville, KY
Eagle Street Rooftop Farm – Brooklyn, NY
Girls Who Code – New York City
Harry’s Berries – Oxnard, CA
Loki Fish Company – Seattle, WA
M&S Schmalberg – New York City
NYCitySlab – Yonkers, New York
Stony Creek Colors – Nashville, TN
Sweetgreen – Washington, DC
Uplands Cheese – Dodgeville, WI
Since opening the first 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville in 2006, the boutique hotel, multi-venue contemporary art museum and restaurant group has expanded to six properties and seven chef-driven restaurants with more than 1,000 employees.
The inviting hearth at Metropole on Walnut is more than just a fireplace. Chef Jared Bennet and his team use a variety of methods to create a spread of dishes guided by fire. For this holiday season, Chef Bennet’s Charred Sweet Potatoes with Feta Pimenton Pecans and Sorghum brings all the glorious flavor of the hearth, without the risk of playing with fire.
Jared Bennet’s Charred Sweet Potatoes, Feta, Pimenton Pecans & Sorghum
Ingredients
4 sweet potatoes, medium
Salt & pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots,sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
Red wine vinegar
½ c whole pecans
1/4t smoked paprika
1tb sorghum
1/4c feta, crumbled
1t chives, minced
1t parsley, chopped
1 lemon, to zest & juice
sea salt
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean sweet potatoes. Place in foil pack and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 25 to 35 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool.
Add shallots and garlic in a non-reactive mixing bowl. Pour red wine vinegar over till they are covered. Pickle for 20 minutes.
In a 350 degree oven, roast pecans for 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Toss with salt, smoked paprika, and olive oil until coated.
Heat a cast iron skillet until smoking hot. Slice cooled sweet potatoes long ways in half. Brush with olive oil and season with salt. Place cut side down in skillet. Sear until charred.
Plate charred sweet potatoes with cut side up. Drizzle with sorghum. Add pecans. Then mix lemon zest, chives, parsley and feta on top. Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice all around plate. Top with pickled shallots. Finally, top with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Serve warm.
Executive Chef Mike Wajda of Proof on Main brings technical expertise translated to the home chef to his Hazelnut and Mushroom Ragout with Spaghetti Squash. Bring this richly flavored dish to your holiday party and impress the palette of the most discerning houseguest.
Mike Wajda’s Hazelnut and Mushroom Ragout with Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients
2 each Heirloom Spaghetti Squash
½ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Grape seed oil
2 each Garlic Cloves, small dice
2 tsp Fresno chili, small dice
1 tbsp Shallot, small dice
4 sprigs Fresh Thyme
3 quarts Mushrooms (we recommend oysters, chanterelles, hen of the wood, Beech)
¼ cup Bourbon
½ cup vegetable stock
1 ½ cups Toasted Hazelnuts, crushed
¼ cup Heirloom Squash oil (pumpkin oil can also be used)
1 tbsp Fine herbs
1 tsp rosemary, minced
Kosher Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 375° F. Using a sharp knife cut squash in half, length wise, using a spoon to scrape and discard the seeds.
Place squash on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and season with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the squash is tender to the touch.
Place a large pan with tall sides on high heat and add your grape seed oil, add mushrooms to the hot pan and saute until mushrooms are golden brown. Turn the heat to medium and add the fresno, shallot, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper and allow to sweat for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and carefully add the bourbon to the pan avoiding a flare-up. Turn the heat back to medium and add the vegetable stock, simmer for about 10 minutes and fold in the crushed hazelnuts.
Once the squash is out of the oven and cool enough to handle use a fork to scrape the flesh into a bowl. Right before serving, season the squash with the fine herbs, rosemary and squash oil. Top the squash with the warm mushroom ragout.
Garnish with black pepper, more hazelnuts and squash oil.
Continuing our efforts to make you the superstar of holiday potlucks, we’re sharing a full collection of recipes from 21c chefs that are sure to make you shine! Today, we’re whipping up a modern take on traditional green bean casserole from Chef Jason Campbell of Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge.
Jason Campbell’s Green Bean Casserole
INGREDIENTS:
2 shallots, one chopped, one thinly sliced
¼ cup tehina
¼ cup cider vinegar
Pinch black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
4 cups green beans, trimmed and cut into 1in pieces
1 ½ cups quartered crimini mushrooms
¼ cup canola oil
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
TO PREPARE:
Combine chopped shallot with tehina, vinegar, black pepper, and pinch of salt in a food processor and puree. If the mixture gets thick just add a bit of ice water to thin back out, season with more salt if needed.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet, once hot add mushrooms and seat until golden brown, add shallot and cook until soft, add green beans and cook until tender, one tender transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon, discard any extra oil, keep in a warm spot.
In a small sauce pan over high heat, add canola oil, and garlic stir until the garlic turns golden brown, the garlic will continue to cook a bit after removing it from the oil, so you can take it off when the garlic hits a light golden brown, and drain on paper towels and season with salt.
TO ASSEMBLE:
Making sure green bean mixture is warm, mix with tehina sauce, adjust seasonings if needed. Spoon mixture onto a platter, drizzle with lemon juice and zest of one lemon, add chopped dill and add crispy garlic. If you don’t want to use the garlic, feel free to use the old school crispy onions strings!
Scenario: You’ve been tasked with bringing a dish to grandma’s for the holidays and you’re stuck. You want to show off your skills, but you’ve spent hours down the Pinterest rabbit hole and come up with empty hands. Enter: 21c chefs to the rescue.
We’ve rallied the 21c teams to offer up sure-fire crowd-pleaser holiday recipes that you can make at home and impress even the most discerning foodie at your holiday table.
Why not go big and rule the kitchen with the main course? James Beard Foundation Awards Semifinalist Chef Matthew McClure of The Hive in Bentonville saves the day with Roasted Chicken with Garam Masala spices and roasted root vegetables. Full recipes can be found below.
Not quite ready to tackle the main course? A bevy of sides and snacks will roll out in the next few days to help fill the holiday table from end to end.
Roasted Chicken with Garam Masala Spices
Ingredients:
1 whole Chicken
2 garlic cloves
¼ lemon
¼ cup garam masala (recipe below)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp. rendered chicken fat, (schmaltz)
Method:
Rinse and dry the chicken.
Season the chicken with salt, then massage it with the fat and garam masala spice.
Truss the chicken, then stuff the garlic and lemon in the cavity.
Roast chicken in oven at 375˚F for 45-60 minutes, until the juice runs clear
Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.
For the spice:
Ingredients:
2 star Anise
1 Guajillo pepper
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp anise seed
½ tsp pink peppercorns
½ tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
½ tsp cloves
Toast spices then grind into fine powder.
Roasted Root Vegetables
Ingredients:
3 carrots, peeled and chunked
1 onion, peeled and slice into 8 wedges
1 sweet potato, peeled, cut in 6 wedges
1 rutabaga, peeled, cut into 8 wedges
½ cup Honey
4-5 bay leaves
Method:
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients in a roasting pan and cover ¼ with water and a splash of olive oil.
Cover and roast, about 1.5 hours or until very tender and caramelized
This summer, we opened our 6th property, 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City. Housed in a reimagined Model T Ford factory, the story of this remarkable building dates back 100 years and through several generations.
For this project, 21c partnered with Fred, Kirk and Brooks “Boots” Hall, grandsons of Fred Jones who started on the floor of the factory and went on to become an archetype of the American Dream. Fred Jones once called the Oklahoma City Ford Motor Company building his “Camelot.”
Learn more about the rich history and visionary reuse of this treasured Oklahoma City building.
21c Museum Hotel Lexington is like a beautiful little jewel box filled with treasures. With intricate, restored 100-year details, contemporary art around every corner and a palette complemented with rich jewel tones, a visit to our fifth property is sure to please.
Opened in February 2016, 21c Lexington offers 7,000 square feet of contemporary art exhibition space open free of charge to the public, an 88-room boutique hotel and Lockbox restaurant and bar.
USAToday’s 10Best editors teamed up with a panel of hotel experts to hand-pick 20 of the best hotel openings in the past year and 21c Lexington is counted among them.
Vote once per day for 21c Lexington to help our jewel get the crown of Best New Hotel in 2016. Voting is open until January 2 at noon, so there’s still plenty of time to show some love. Visit 10Best to vote!
What better way to shake off the cold than by giving yourself something to look forward to? Plan a springtime getaway to 21c Museum Hotel Nashville, which is now accepting reservations for May 14, 2017 and beyond.
In celebration of our new favorite city, we’re offering a set of dynamic packages built to show off the vibrant culture of Nashville and help you get the most out of your stay.
Whether considering a relocation to the Music City, or just looking to experience the city like the locals do, the 21c Nashville Live Like a Local package brings together the best of Nashville’s makers, merchants, musicians, dining and drinks, including:
- Fuel up with breakfast at 21c Nashville’s in-house restaurant
- City map of insider tips, curated by 21c Nashville Executive Chef Levon Wallace, local artists, musicians and more
- GooGoo Cluster turndown
- Rocks glasses and whiskey stones from the 21c Museum Shop
- Complimentary valet parking with in and out privileges
If the rich history of music in Nashville is calling, the Honky Tonk Getaway package answers. This package offers the best of Nashville’s past and present, including:
- Dinner and two local beers at 21c Nashville Restaurant
- Two tickets to Country Music Hall of Fame
- Tour of Ryman Auditorium
- Fortification at Robert’s Western World with two Recession Specials
- Hatch Show Print souvenir from the 21c Museum Shop
For lovers seeking a romantic getaway or an adults-only staycation, the Romance Package offers relaxation and pampering for two, including:
- Sparkling wine upon arrival
- $100 credit towards dinner at 21c’s in-house restaurant
- Rose petal turndown
- Two signature 21c robes
Guests can also reserve the Dine with Art room rate, which includes a $25 voucher (per room night) to experience 21c Nashville’s restaurant; the Relax with Art room rate, including a $100 spa voucher; or the 21c Easy Escape, featuring a $50 credit to 21c Nashville’s in-house restaurant, a $25 credit to the 21c Museum Shop and complimentary valet parking.
21c Nashville will offer 124 rooms, including rooftop-level suites with private terraces and sweeping views of the Cumberland River and downtown and 10,500 square feet of contemporary art exhibition and event space. The property will also include a spa, fitness center, business center and valet parking. Deluxe King rooms start at $299.
Rooms and packages are now available for booking online or by calling 615.610.6400.
For those who have been around 21c since the beginning, you know our pajama parties are legendary. So, to celebrate our 10th year we’ve teamed up with Surface magazine to take our talents on the road for a pajama party during Art Basel Miami Beach.
This year’s iteration will feature performances by The Skins, Narcissister and Joseph Keckler, with DJ sets by Mia Moretti and Devin Lucien. Miami-based artist Karelle Levy will outfit guests with Quickie Couture, including handmade pajamas and accessories. The event will feature street-faire style nosh by James Beard Award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein.
Narcissister employs a spectacle-rich approach to explorations of gender, racial identity, and sexuality. Humor, pop songs, elaborate costumes, contemporary dance, and her trademark mask are her tools in deconstructing stereotypical representations. Straddling the worlds of music, art, and performance, Joseph Keckler has garnered acclaim for his rich, versatile 3+ octave voice and sharp wit in his unexpected spin on opera.
When the first 21c Museum Hotel opened 10 years ago, we never envisioned more than one. Today, 21c operates six museum hotels and a diverse portfolio of seven restaurants. 21c Nashville is set to open Spring 2017, and other projects are currently under development in Kansas City, Missouri and Indianapolis, Indiana. In November, the brand announced its plans for 21c Miami, located within HELM Miami’s mixed-use development in the Design District.
And we’re not done yet. Expect to hear more from us in the coming years as we bring today’s most dynamic contemporary art to unique neighborhoods across the U.S. In case you missed it, check out the November issue of Surface Magazine, detailing how 21c is bringing contemporary art to the heartland.
Missing Miami? Stay tuned to Instagram #21cTurnsTen and #21cHotels for a glimpse of the fun.
21c Museum Hotels is thrilled to announce that Durham-based artist Stacey Kirby was the winner of the $200,000 Grand Jury Prize at ArtPrize 2016 for her interactive performance and installation, The Bureau of Personal Belonging.
Artist Stacey Kirby took home a $5,000 grant awarded at the first ArtPrize Pitch Night event of 2016, held earlier this year at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina, for The Bureau. A panel of art experts chose this project over the work of four other artists — each given five minutes and five slides to sell their idea of an ambitious installation for ArtPrize Eight in Grand Rapids.
The Bureau of Personal Belonging is an installation comprised of three ongoing works where visitors offer written and verbal responses as they interact with the artist and other performers within a meticulously recreated 60’s era bureaucratic office space. Visitors are taken through a process to determine if they are indeed valid members of our community. The work points to the often absurd way bureaucracies define identity — particularly sexual and gender identity — and encourages viewers to contact Michigan lawmakers regarding certain pieces of legislation.
About ArtPrize
ArtPrize is an international art competition, open to any artist and decided by public vote. It invites artists to try out new ideas on a large and diverse population of people. It seeks to broaden the critical dialogue around contemporary art by awarding the world’s largest art prize. Two $200,000 awards are decided by public vote and expert jury, and an additional $100,000 in prizes is awarded to the top entries in each category. Registered artists and venues connect online at artprize.org and agree to present the artwork for public display during the 19-day event. The public votes using mobile devices and the web to distribute their awards, while a group of international art experts determines the winners of the juried awards. ArtPrize Eight will include 1,453 entries representing 44 countries and 40 U.S. states and territories. ArtPrize annually attracts more than 400,000 active participants. Since its inception, individuals of all backgrounds have cast more than 2.8 million votes for public art.
ArtPrize is made possible in part through the generous support of many organizations. The Corporate Leadership sponsors include Amway, DTE Energy Foundation, Founders Brewing Company, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, Meijer, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, PNC Bank, Switch, West Michigan Honda Dealers, and X-Rite Pantone. Premier sponsors include Consumers Energy; CWD Real Estate Investment; Edward Jones; Haworth; Herman Miller Cares; ITC, Your Energy Superhighway; Michigan Lottery; Steelcase; and Wolverine Worldwide.
Leading Foundation Supporters include The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, the Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation, CDV5 Foundation, the Frey Foundation, the Peter C. and Emajean Cook Foundation, The Wege Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
CWD Real Estate Investment is the Official Real Estate Provider. Honda is the Official Vehicle of ArtPrize. MLive Media Group is the Official Provider of the ArtPrize Event Guide. The Rapid is the Public Transportation Partner. WOOD TV8 is the Official Broadcast Media Partner of ArtPrize.
The Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation is the Founding Sponsor of ArtPrize.
Show us your community
This fall, we’re celebrating the people, places, food, arts and culture that make each of our cities such unique and exciting places to live in and travel to. We know you have as much community pride as we do! Join the conversation for a chance to win a stay at your favorite 21c.
Follow @21chotels on Instagram, share a photo of your community and tell us why you love it or share a travel tip. Tag us and include any of the following hashtags:
#21cIsCommunity
#21cIsLouisville
#21cIsCincinnati
#21cIsBentonville
#21cIsDurham
#21cIsLexington
#21cIsOKC
for a chance to win an Easy Escape package at the 21c property of your choice, including a two night stay, a $50 credit to the restaurant at the selected property, a $25 credit to our Shop at 21c and free valet parking.
Enter anytime between now and 11.22.16 for a chance to win.
When Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson founded 21c Museum Hotel 10 years ago, it was about hometown and the desire and commitment to make their community a more vibrant and globally connected place through contemporary art.
We’ve taken our founders’ vision to heart, making each 21c a reflection of the local community and a gathering place for cutting edge contemporary art, inspired conversation, delicious food and genuine hospitality.
This fall, we celebrate the people, places, food, arts and culture that make each of our cities such unique and exciting places to live in and travel to. We’ll be sharing travel tips, insider info, video content and more, and inviting you to join the conversation for a chance to win a stay at your favorite 21c (more to come on that soon!) We simply can’t wait to share some of the best things about our cities with you, and can’t wait for you to join the conversation.
Follow #21cisCommunity for travel tips, video content and more:
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Explore our communities
Book one of our custom experiences and let us localize your itinerary.
21c Museum Hotels, the award-winning Louisville-based boutique hotel, contemporary art museum and restaurant group, announced today the appointment of Levon Wallace as executive chef of its forthcoming restaurant, which will be located in 21c Museum Hotel Nashville (221 Second Avenue North). The as-yet-unnamed restaurant is scheduled to open Spring 2017 near the city’s Printer’s Alley district.
Wallace previously worked with 21c Museum Hotels in Louisville, when he joined Proof on Main in 2012, succeeding opening executive chef Michael Paley. During his time at Proof on Main, 21c Louisville was selected among Bon Appetit’s “10 Best Hotels for Food Lovers” and he was selected as the 2014 Rising Star Chef from Star Chefs. Wallace returns to 21c Museum Hotels after serving as the opening executive chef of Cochon Butcher Nashville.
“The creative vision that 21c brings to its properties is something that has always been a source of inspiration in my cooking and approach to leadership,” said Wallace. “I’m excited, energized and looking forward to returning to 21c to be a part of that vision here in my current home of Nashville. I have developed great relationships with local farmers and purveyors and look forward to showcasing the region’s extraordinary agricultural pantry and working with a terrific team.”
Wallace will shape the 21c Nashville dining experience with his distinctive interpretation of a market-driven menu that will change frequently. In addition to the daily breakfast, lunch and dinner service and weekend brunch, Wallace will oversee private events and in-room dining for 21c Museum Hotel Nashville.
“Levon Wallace and 21c Museum Hotel Nashville are a perfect marriage,” said Sarah Robbins, chief hospitality officer for 21c Museum Hotels. “In many ways, his cooking is a reflection of his soul. He’s really put down roots in Nashville – the South has truly become home for this California native – and you’ll see his unique mix of influences play out on the menu. We’re excited for Levon to return to our team, bringing his soulful, honest and playful cooking to 21c Nashville and making 21c Nashville an unexpected destination for locals and visitors alike.”
Guests will enter the new restaurant via Banker’s Alley, between Second and Third Avenues. Inside, they’ll find a space and menu that plays with both the grit of the building’s history and the restaurant’s location on the alley, but with an element of unexpected sophistication. The space’s retained original features reference the building’s history as a hardware store and warehouse, while a variety of spaces offer opportunities for both lively social gatherings and intimate shared meals. The east dining room bar and lounge space offers double-height ceilings with a palette of rich colors with wood and steel accents. The intimate west dining room offers a more refined décor, with marble accents and softer materials. Adjacent museum galleries showcasing contemporary art, including permanent site-specific installations and rotating curated exhibitions, will foster exploration over cocktails or following a meal.
Quick Facts:
• Located inside 21c Museum Hotel Nashville at 221 Second Avenue North, with the restaurant entrance off Banker’s Alley
• Restaurant and lounge will offer seating for approximately 125 guests
• When fully operational, the restaurant and bar will offer full breakfast, lunch and dinner service and provide banquet and catering services for private events, as well as in-room dining.
• Two private dining rooms, with seating for 12-14
Construction is currently underway for 21c Nashville, the seventh property from developer and management company 21c Museum Hotels. 21c Nashville will feature 124 guest rooms, including rooftop level suites with terraces overlooking downtown, and more than 10,500 square feet of contemporary art exhibition and event space. The property will also include a spa, fitness center, business center, and valet parking.
21c Museum Hotel Nashville is looking for dynamic people to join the team. To view the current job openings and learn about the 21c culture of YES, visit: 21cmuseumhotels.com/careers.
It’s September, which means we’re celebrating the Spirit of the season: Bourbon. This year, 21c Museum Hotels will honor America’s Native Spirit throughout Bourbon Heritage Month with a number of spirited delights!
Like your Bourbon with a side of dinner? Check out 21c Museum Hotels events all month long:
Metropole Fork + Bottle Bourbon Dinner:
Thursday, September 8 at 5:30 p.m.
Join executive chef Jared Bennett who will be preparing a special four-course tasting menu with Bourbon cocktail pairings. The menu will feature unique themed dishes like the Braised Beef Cheek with stone fruit mole, and yellow corn polenta, paired with the Best Case Cynario with Old Forester, Cynar, Cocchi Torino and aromatic bitters. Reservations can be made by calling 513.578.6660.
Counting House Sunday School “All About Bourbon” Cocktail Class:
Sunday, September 11 at 4:00 p.m.
Kicking off a new monthly series of cocktail classes, participants will be guided through the world of Bourbon with interesting tidbits and innovative demonstrations by Counting House bartenders. The class will include a brief history lesson on America’s Native Spirit, a tasting of Bourbon’s major styles and a demonstration on how to make your own classic Bourbon cocktails. Tickets to Sunday School are $40 per person. Bourbon flight, cocktails and Bourbon inspired snacks are included. Seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling 919.956.6760.
Lockbox 1792 Dinner:
Thursday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m.
Barton 1792 Visitor Center Manager Josh Hollifield will join executive chef Jonathan Searle to host a three-course dinner featuring pairings by Barton 1792 Distillery. Tickets are $79 per person. Seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling 859.899.6860.
Counting House Underground Pop Up Cocktail Series:
Friday, September 16 from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
This Bourbon themed celebration will feature an all-Bourbon cocktail list including unique takes on classics like the 1903 with Old Forester signature bourbon, Cynar, Cocchi Americano and lemon, available exclusively during the event. Space is limited and access will be granted on a first come, first served basis. For more information on the Underground event, call 919.956.6760.
Metropole’s Bourbon themed Sunday School:
Sunday, September 18 at 4:00 p.m.
In honor of Bourbon Heritage Month and the series’ second anniversary, Metropole will serve up a Bourbon themed cocktail class. Students will learn new takes on the classics and look toward the future with innovative Bourbon cocktails. Tickets for Sunday School are $35 per person. Drinks and snacks are included. Seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling 513.578.6660.
Proof on Main Willett Bourbon Dinner:
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.
Join executive chef Mike Wajda for a cocktail reception followed by a three-course feast with master distiller Drew Kulsveen of Willett Distillery. Dishes will include the Proof Kielbasa with bourbon barrel apple kraut, charred squid noodle and Woodland Farm Bison Shank with bourbon braise, pumpkin ragu and pepita. Each dish in the dinner will be paired with a Bourbon libation. Tickets are $85 per person. Reservations can be made by calling 502.217.6360.
The Hive Bourbon Heritage Month Fork + Bottle Dinner:
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.
The evening will kick off with snacks like Fig Crostini, accompanied by the Braithwait lemonade cocktail comprised of Old Forester Bourbon, spiced apple shrub, cider and lemon. The four-course feast will feature dishes like bone-in pork belly and sorghum roasted duck. Each dish in the dinner will be paired with a Bourbon libation. Tickets are $59 per person. Seating is limited, reservations can be made by calling 479.286.6518.
Lockbox Buffalo Trace Dinner:
Thursday, September 29 at 6:30 p.m.
Lockbox and executive chef Jonathan Searle will welcome Buffalo Trace Senior Distillery Supervisor Josh Wheatley for a special dinner including a featured cocktail and passed appetizer; three-course prix fixe dinner with Bourbon pairings. Tickets are $79 per person. Seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling 859.899.6860.
Prefer your bourbon in a cocktail? Find special all-Bourbon cocktail menus at 21c Museum Hotels throughout the month of September, like this all Bourbon cocktail menu at Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City.
Want to cozy up with your favorite flight? Book a Just Add Bourbon package at your favorite 21c Museum Hotel:
Why hold back? Take the 21c Bourbon experience home with you. Now made possible with 21c Selects, a limited edition single barrel selection of Bourbons, ryes and brandys. Available at the Museum Shop at 21c Museum Hotel Louisville and 21c Museum Hotel Lexington.
Can’t make it to a 21c Museum Hotel this month? Deliver the Bourbon experience to your door with whiskey stones, julep cups and t-shirts from the 21c Online Shop.
As the humidity of the summer shows its early signs of breaking and the laid back days of summer come to a screeching halt with the return to school days and schedules, at 21c we look to one of our favorite months: September. There are many reasons to love this month, but the celebration of Bourbon Heritage Month and rich history that comes with it is ours.
Bourbon is at the core of who we are at 21c. It’s part of our DNA. The way we see it, you can’t have modern southern hospitality without a good pour of it. That’s why, in honor of Bourbon Heritage Month, celebrated annually in September, we decided it was time to get a bit more involved in the bourbon selection process.
This month, we launch 21c Selects – a carefully honed collection of handcrafted bourbon, ryes and brandies available only at 21c Museum Hotels, and only in Kentucky.
Over the years, we have been fortunate to forge great alliances within the spirits industry as a whole, and the Bourbon world in particular. The 21c Selects Barrel Program is a way to share and celebrate the great relationships we’ve made over the years. Each barrel is hand selected by our team, alongside some of the best Master Distillers in the business.
We’ve partnered with Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Old Forester, Copper & Kings and Whistle Pig to bring barrel-strength selections that embody the spirit of the 21c food and beverage program. Available in extremely limited quantities, these selections will be available by the drink only at Proof on Main, Lockbox and Garage Bar, and by the bottle at the 21c Museum Shop in Louisville and Lexington.
At 21c, we’re all about discovery, and these new barrel-strength selections are a flight of fancy for the Bourbon novice, while remaining nuanced and complex enough to satisfy the palates of our guests with the most discerning taste.
We’re working to add even more great selections to this collection, so stay tuned for updates on our latest endeavors.
Current offerings include:
Eagle Rare 10 Year Proof Selection offers a rare barrel, picked in 2012; its sweet and mellow profile makes it ideal for a Bourbon newcomer, yet it has enough depth and nuance to please the most discerning connoisseur. On the nose, this Bourbon is sweet, with lots of fruit; apple and pear give way to dried fruit, tea and vanilla. Caramel and toffee are secondary. The taste is sweet with nice wood and tannin notes and hints of caramel apple. It’s got a medium body with great mouth texture and builds in nuance. The finish is long, smooth and sweet, ringing out with cocoa and butterscotch, atop a warm woodiness. This unique selection has mellowed out in the best way possible over the years, without losing depth. Drinking this selection neat is a must. This 90 proof Bourbon is available in extremely limited quantities for $25 (375ml).
Blanton’s Proof Selection, picked in 2015 and bottled at 93 proof, is very expressive with more fruit and depth with greater harmony than the normal bottling. Showing its depth from the onset, the nose brings caramel, vanilla and toffee, hearty fruits like apple and apricot, and a slight earthiness with toasted wood and grass. The taste is sweet with baked caramel apple and cocoa. Its firm but pleasant wood and tannin texture gives it a medium plus body and Rye spice. The finish on this special barrel is long, with rye spice and campfire undertones. This Bourbon retails for $85 (750ml) in the 21c Museum Shop.
Copper & Kings 21c Private Cask Brandy is a Bourbon-lovers brandy, bottled at cask strength and aged in Bourbon barrels for two years. On the nose, it is initially sweet, with huge waves of vanilla and caramel on a tuft of smoke. Upon sitting, it opens up to reveal grass and florals, dried fruits and cocoa. The two years of Bourbon barrel aging hits first with rich sweet vanilla, caramel and baking spice – adding cherry, citrus rind, wood and a touch of earthiness and herb on a medium plus body. The finish is very warm, full of toasty wood notes and fruit. This 128.2 proof brandy retails for $90 (750ml).
Additional exclusive barrel selections are forthcoming and include Buffalo Trace Single Barrel, Old Forester Single Barrel and Whistle Pig 10 year Rye Single Barrel. More details on those selections will be announced in the coming months.
Be inspired by your surroundings. Sleep with art at 21c for $169 on Sundays. This offer includes a complimentary upgrade to a suite or best available room type, plus a $30 credit to breakfast in bed for next level rejuvenation. Offer valid until WED 08.03.16 at midnight.
> Book 21c Louisville
> Book 21c Cincinnati
> Book 21c Bentonville
> Book 21c Durham
> Book 21c Lexington
> Book 21c Oklahoma City
Now booking holiday parties
Every year it seems like the holidays creep up on us and planning the perfect event can quickly become a daunting task. Want to host a holiday shindig that will be the talk of the town? Look no further than our art-filled event spaces.
Ready to reserve?
> 21c Louisville inquiries, contact Lou.Events@21cHotels.com
> 21c Cincinnati inquiries, contact Cin.Events@21cHotels.com
> 21c Bentonville inquiries, contact Ben.Events@21cHotels.com
> 21c Durham inquiries, contact Dur.Events@21cHotels.com
> 21c Lexington inquiries, contact Lex.Events@21cHotels.com
> 21c Oklahoma City inquiries, contact OKC.Events@21cHotels.com
21c Museum Hotels is pleased to announce that Artist Alexandre Mazza was granted the 2016 Moving Image Acquisition Award at Moving Image Art Fair NY on THURS 03.03.16. The work featured at the show, “If it’s meant to be love, may it brand the soul!”, will become part of 21c Museum Hotel’s permanent collection.
The Moving Image Acquisition Award seeks to further the representation of video art in permanent public collections internationally. Previous Awards have gone to artsits Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck, Jessica Faiss, Rollin Leonard, Chris Doyle, and Kalliopi Lemos.
Moving Image co-founders Murat Orozobekov and Edward Winkleman explained, “21c Museum represents one of the most innovative approaches to collecting and presenting contemporary art to emerge in the recent past. We are delighted and honored in this, their 10th Anniversary year, to have 21c Museum present the Moving Image Acquisition Award. We are also very excited that work from the fair will be entering this impressive collection of contemporary art.”
Alice Gray Stites, 21c Museum Director and Chief Curator, adds, ” 21c is dedicated to collaborating with innovative cultural organizations that broaden the audience for contemporary art. We are honored to develop a partnership with Moving Image, as the fair offers an accessible and inspiring art experience to collectors, institutions, and the public alike. Presenting the 2016 Moving Image Acquisition Award creates a great opportunity to express our shared passion for supporting the work of today’s visionary artists working with lens-based technology, and to add significant new artwork to the 21c Collection.”
About Moving Image
Moving Image was conceived to offer a viewing experience with the excitement and vitality of a fair, while allowing moving image-based artworks to be understood and appreciated on their own terms. Participation is by invitation only. The newly formed Moving Image Curatorial Advisory Committee for New York 2016 is inviting a selection of international commercial galleries and non-profit institutions to present single-channel videos, single-channel projections, video sculptures, and other larger video installations.
About 21c Museum Hotel
A multi-venue museum, 21c was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors and preservationists who are committed to bringing works of art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate contemporary art into daily life. 21c Museum presents a range of arts programming curated by Museum Director, Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites, including thought-provoking solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today, as well as site-specific, commissioned installations, and a variety of cultural events. The organization collaborates on arts initiatives with artists and organizations worldwide, including North Carolina Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, The Barnes Foundation, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Creative Capital Foundation, and others. Since opening in Louisville, KY in 2006, 21c Museum has presented more than 85 exhibitions, including Cuba Now!; Alter Ego: A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea; Blue: Matter, Mood, and Melancholy; Aftermath: Witnessing War, Countenancing Compassion; Seeing Now; Wild Card: The Art of Michael Combs, a Fifteen-Year Survey; Dis-semblance: Projecting and Perceiving Identity; Albano Afonso: Self-Portrait as Light; and Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art.
21c Museum Hotels President Craig Greenberg and SVP of Operations Sarah Robbins will participate in the 2015 Independent Lodging Congress on WED 10.21.15 through FRI 10.23.15 in New York City. The Independent Lodging Congress is an annual conference where thought leaders from outside the hotel industry join industry leaders to present their research, experience and vision for the future of hospitality.
Craig Greenberg will be a speaker on the “Defining Independence” panel, featuring the industry’s top executives. Participating in the discussion are: Benchmark Resorts and Hotels President and CEO Alex Cabañas; Bunkhouse Group Creator Liz Lambert; Destination Hotels President & COO Jamie Sabatier; and ACE Hotel Groups Principal Brad Wilson. Sarah Robbins will speak in the “Hotel Bar Renaissance” breakout session, featuring Death and Company Founder and Co-Owner David Kaplan; restaurateur Ken Oringer; and Waxstone Group President and Co-Founder Howard Greenstone.
21c Museum Hotel Durham and Louisville are nominees in the inaugural 2015 INDIE Hotel Awards, presented by the Independent Lodging Congress. 21c Durham is nominated for “Innovative Hospitality Design.” 21c Louisville is nominated in the “Best of the Best Independent Lodging” category.
> View the agenda
> Learn more about the Independent Lodging Congress
Move over, tomatoes…your time in the sun has passed. With the weather turning crisper, a new crop of produce is set to steal the limelight. Here is what our 21c chef’s and bartenders are excited about this fall:
INSPIRATION
With the weather this year, there’s been lots of late blooming vegetables, so preserving the harvest is something that Executive Chef of Proof on Main Mike Wajda is feeling excited about this season while Executive Chef of The Hive Matt McClure and Executive Chef of Metropole Jared Bennett are looking forward to roasting and braising the heartier ingredients of fall, like dry aged beef and kale. Since newly-opened Counting House at 21c Durham has not experienced a fall season yet, Executive Chef Josh Munchel is looking forward to seeing what the farmers have in stock and utilizing what is in season and fresh for his new fall menu.
FAVORITE INGREDIENTS AND TECHNIQUES
It wouldn’t be fall without pumpkins, and Proof‘s Chef Wajda can’t wait to get his hands on some Marina di’Chioggia, a savory heirloom variety. Over at the The Hive, Chef McClure is ditching pumpkin spice in favor of muhammara, a rich, spicy condiment made with red peppers, walnuts, red chili and pomegranate molasses which makes a perfect compliment to grilled meats and veggies. Chef Bennet likes the juxtaposition of heartier dishes from Metropole‘s fireplace paired with a lighter, fresher side like slaw or raw shaved vegetables. Since it’s October, Chef Munchel is excited about some new twists on sauerkraut at Counting House this fall season.
BOTTOMS UP
Belly up to the bar this fall season and our bartenders will mix up what they are loving this fall season. At Metropole, Maggie and JP are excited about changing up their techniques by actually cooking ingredients for their cocktails like roasting cranberries, charring peppers and juicing yams for syrups. Cillian at Proof on Main has been experimenting with flips (cocktails made with whole eggs) and morphing cocktails that change as you consume it, like a bourbon cocktail with cappelletti ice nuggets. At The Hive, the beverage team is enthusiastic about utilizing hyper-local ingredients in their cocktails, like Arkansas Black Apples from the orchard at The Peel Mansion. In Durham, the bartenders at Counting House are excited about the new local Durham Distillery, producing spirits like an overproofed Navy Strength Gin. Along with some new product, Counting House is also looking forward to experimenting with fizzes (iceless cocktail made with egg white and soda water) paired with punchy baking spices this fall. Cheers!
- Visit Metropole to sample Chef’s fireplace chicken hearts with paw paw vinaigrette and shaved fennel and order a Rich Girl cocktail from the bar made with a coffee, raspberry and cinnamon syrup.
- Visit Proof on Main to check out the Marina di’Chioggia Pork Ragu with Jamaican Jerk Dumplings on the fall menu and book a seat for the Oct. 29th Fork + Bottle Dinner to try Cillian’s morphing cocktail.
- Visit The Hive to sample the latest fall produce from the Northwest Arkansas region and order The Colonel cocktail, made with fresh Arkansas Black Apples.
- Visit Counting House to order the Brat Spiced Pork Porter House with Curtido (a Salvadorian sauerkraut) and an apple fennel salad and head down to The Vault for a collaboration with Durham Distillery on Oct. 16th.
PRESS RELEASE – 21c Museum Hotels, the award-winning Louisville-based boutique hotel, contemporary art museum and restaurant group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Searle as executive chef of its forthcoming restaurant, Lockbox, which will be located in 21c Museum Hotel Lexington. Lockbox will showcase Searle’s commitment to sourcing local, high-quality seasonal ingredients and using thoughtful yet simple preparations and cooking techniques. Searle comes to Lockbox from another 21c Museum Hotels restaurant, Proof on Main, in Louisville, KY, where he served as executive sous chef. His announcement as executive chef reinforces the company’s commitment to developing talent and promoting growth from within its properties and restaurants.
“Jonathan is such a perfect fit for Lockbox,” says Sarah Robbins, Senior Vice President, Operations. “He started his career in Lexington and has maintained close relationships with colleagues in the kitchens of many of Lexington’s great restaurants. His dedication to sourcing the highest quality, local produce available is truly showcased in his cooking.”
Lockbox will be located within 21c Lexington in the historic Fayette National Bank Building, at the corner of Main and Upper Streets in downtown Lexington. The building was originally designed by the prominent architecture firm McKim, Mead, and White and reflects the significance of the banking industry at the time of its construction as the Lexington’s first skyscraper in 1913. The restaurant and bar will occupy the historic banking hall, and its name references its original use. Deborah Berke Partners serves as the Design Architect and Interior Designer to reinvent this historic space as a contemporary brasserie. Large windows flood the historic space with natural light; historic marble floors and wainscoting and decorative plaster details provide a beautiful backdrop for the contemporary furnishings and art that will occupy the space. The historic safe deposit vault is repurposed as an intimate private dining room near a private service bar and glass-front bourbon cabinets, housing an extensive offering of more than 50 Kentucky bourbons. Communal tables in both the dining room and lounge provide opportunities for large groups to dine together, or for individual guests to meet new people while they dine.
The kitchen at Lockbox will be open to the dining room and visible to pedestrians walking by the Upper Street storefront windows. A custom American-made Jade cooking suite will allow Searle to lead his team in a highly collaborative manner. His menu will change frequently as the availability of local product will inform his offerings. Diners can expect the menu to be focused and seasonal, and include a number of options that are suitable for sharing. The intimate bar and lounge will occupy the corner space. The cocktail program will highlight the prominence of the bourbon industry in the area. Beyond the bourbon selection, guests can expect an extensive wine list, seasonal cocktail lists, and an assortment of craft beers.
Searle is returning to Lexington, where he started his culinary career in the kitchens of Bellini’s and Dudley’s on Short. He joined the kitchen team at Proof on Main in 2011, helping it earn accolades including a place on Bon Appetit’s list of “10 Best Hotels for Food Lovers.”
“I am very excited to be returning to Lexington to take the helm at Lockbox,” says Searle. “I look forward to opportunities to collaborate with my many industry friends and quality purveyors, and to meet those that I haven’t yet worked with in the community. It feels like an exciting time to be part of the food culture in Lexington.”
Lockbox will open in early 2016 and will serve dinner, lunch, and breakfast daily, and brunch on the weekend. For more information, visit www.LockboxLex.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LockboxLex, and on Instagram at @LockboxLex.
Recruiting is under way for a Food & Beverage Director. For information on career opportunities, please visit http://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/company/careers/.
About 21c Museum Hotels
21c Museum Hotels was founded by contemporary art collectors and preservationists Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The couple opened the first 21c Museum Hotel in 2006 in Louisville, KY, rehabilitating a series of 19th century warehouses along downtown’s West Main Street. Much more than just a place to spend the night, 21c is an inventive union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design, and culinary creativity — all anchored by a contemporary art museum with thought-provoking exhibitions and cultural programming. 21c currently operates hotels in Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH; Bentonville, AR and Durham, NC. A hotel is under construction in Oklahoma City, OK and Nashville, TN and projects are under development in Kansas City, MO. The company is equally focused on creating unique, chef driven restaurants that are as much a part of the community as the hotel. Currently, 21c operates a diverse roster of restaurants including Proof on Main, located in 21c Louisville; Metropole, located in 21c Cincinnati; The Hive, located in 21c Bentonville; Counting House, located in 21c Durham and Garage Bar in Louisville, KY.
For more information visit www.21cMuseumHotels.com.
> Want to meet the chef? Watch the Lockbox video now.
21c Museum Hotels co-founder Laura Lee Brown will present her latest exhibition, From Near and Far: New Painting and Photography by Laura Lee Brown, a solo exhibition of original oil portraits, photographs and photographic collages inspired by the artist’s travels at Swanson Contemporary in Louisville, KY. The exhibition opens on Friday, July 24 and will be on view through August 22.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, Laura Lee Brown began traveling on photographic journeys all over the world, capturing the spirit and sensibility of the people and places she encountered. “There are so many other ways to live, and I am curious to see, to learn, to understand,” says Brown, “How do women live with lip plates? What are the initiation rites boys from some African communities experience as they transition into manhood? What is it like to have no dependency on money, only on cattle? What does a mare’s milk taste like? How do you carry a baby lamb in a saddle bag? All of these mysteries whip me around the world like a magnet. But curiosity is sometimes a double-edged sword: despite my mild addiction to global travel, I also succumb to homesickness, even while the rush to see what I may have missed quickens as the years pass.”
This exhibition presents photographs concurrently on view at 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville, featuring imagery from Namibia, Tanzania, Mongolia, France, Utah and Kentucky. Also on view are photographic collages from Brown’s series now featured in guest rooms at 21c Museum Hotel Durham, which combine imagery from both the artist’s lens-based work and her paintings, created during and following a 2012 trip to Ethiopia. The original oils on canvas are portraits, a genre that continues to inspire the artist: “Faces are the heartbeat of a person,” observes Brown. “Glances, glasses, tresses or the lack thereof, as well as makeup, demeanor, smiles, and stares all let me truly see a person: expression generates the magic of communication. Words are rarely spoken and often not needed. Mountains, paths, pastures, caves, trees and animals create the sets for my characters to inhabit and activate. This is the theatre of my other life.”
There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Friday, August 7 at 7 p.m. at Swanson Contemporary at 638 E Market Street in Louisville, KY.
All sales of the works will benefit the International Contemporary Art Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. Through the generosity of private collectors and founders of 21c Museum Hotels, the International Contemporary Art Foundation has been able to share its collection with the international art community.
About Laura Lee Brown
Laura Lee Brown has exhibited her work in group shows at numerous venues in Louisville, including the Chapman Friedman Gallery, Focus 2001 at Hertz Gallery and Document Depict Deconstruct, Photography and the Figure at Zephyr Gallery. Brown’s previous solo exhibitions include Precious Are Our Children at Planned Parenthood Louisville and Tibetan Tapestries at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Brown’s series of portraits of well-known Louisvillians, Name, was exhibited as the inaugural exhibition at restaurant Proof on Main. She has participated in a number of immersive, on-site workshops in Mongolia, Tibet, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, France, and the Canadian Rockies. Brown and husband Steve Wilson are the creative force behind 21c Museum Hotels. Brown is a graduate of Sweet Briar College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts and sciences colleges for women, and the Center of Photographic Studies in Louisville, KY. She is a Kentucky native and currently resides at Woodland Farm in Goshen, Kentucky, where she and her husband Steve Wilson raise bison along with much of the produce served at their restaurants, Proof on Main and Garage Bar.
PRESS RELEASE – 21c Museum Hotels has been presented with a 2014 Global Vision Award from Travel + Leisure magazine in the Culture category. The 2014 Global Vision Awards recognize hotels, tour operators, airlines and innovators that are transforming the way travelers see the world, now and in the future. The awards were juried by a distinguished group including Bonnie Burnham, president and CEO of the World Monuments Fund; Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize–winning economist and Anya Schiffrin, director of Columbia University’s media and advocacy program, and others. Winners are named in categories that include Sustainability, Culture, Conservation, Community, and Leadership. Conservancy Safaris Namibia, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Naked Stables Private Reserve in China are among this year’s honorees. The full list of 2014 Global Vision Award winners is featured on www.TravelandLeisure.com and in the November issue of Travel + Leisure magazine.
“We are thrilled to be included in this group of organizations that share our missions of community building and preservation,” said Steve Wilson, Founder and CEO of 21c Museum Hotels. “My wife and I started 21c to create a new kind of travel and cultural experience, with the belief that contemporary art can engage communities locally and connect them to the global conversation. We are excited to see the positive effects of our efforts within the communities we operate in, and we look forward to bringing the 21c experience to new markets.”
Recognized by Travel + Leisure as an “an innovative hotel brand turning unexpected American cities into art-driven destinations,” 21c Museum Hotels was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors who sought to marry their passion for urban revitalization with their vision of integrating contemporary art into daily life. 21c is an inventive union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design, and culinary creativity — all anchored by a contemporary art museum that is open free of charge to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company operates properties in Louisville, Cincinnati, and Bentonville, Arkansas, and historic renovations under construction in Durham and Lexington. The company is also developing hotels in Oklahoma City, Kansas City and Nashville. With over 30,000 square feet of contemporary art exhibition space across the three current properties, 21c presents thought-provoking exhibitions and collaborates with local arts organizations and non-profits to create a full roster of cultural programming.
In early 2015, 21c Museum Hotel Durham will launch in the rehabilitated Historic Hill building on North Corcoran Street, and will feature 125 guest rooms, 10,500 square feet of contemporary art exhibition space, and Counting House restaurant.
For reservations or to learn more about 21c Museum Hotels, visit www.21cMuseumHotels.com.
About 21c Museum Hotels
21c Museum Hotels, the award-winning Louisville, Kentucky-based boutique hotel and restaurant group, was founded by contemporary art collectors and preservationists Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The couple opened the first 21c Museum Hotel in 2006 along downtown Louisville’s West Main Street, rehabilitating a series of 19th century warehouses. Much more than just a place to spend the night, 21c is an inventive union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design and culinary creativity — all anchored by a contemporary art museum with thought-provoking exhibitions, interactive site specific art installations and a full roster of cultural programming. 21c currently operates hotels in Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH and Bentonville, AR. A hotel is under construction in Durham, NC (opening first quarter of 2015) and Lexington, KY and projects are under development in Oklahoma City, OK, Kansas City, MO and Nashville, TN. The company is equally focused on creating unique, chef-driven restaurants that are as much a part of the community as the hotel. Currently, 21c operates a diverse roster of restaurants including Proof on Main, located in 21c Louisville; Metropole, located in 21c Cincinnati; The Hive, located in 21c Bentonville and Garage Bar in Louisville, KY.
For press information contact:
Chloe Mata Crane/Amanda Schinder
Baltz & Company
212.982.8300 x104/212.982.8300 x129
cmcrane@baltzco.com
aschinder@baltzco.com
Stephanie Greene
21c Museum Hotels
502.882.6231
sgreene@21chotels.com
21c Museum Hotels is pleased to announce the appointment of Gerry Link to the position of General Manager and Cathy Shaffer to the position of Associate Director of Sales and Marketing of 21c Museum Hotel Durham, opening the first quarter of 2015. A 25-year hospitality industry veteran and previously General Manager at 21c Cincinnati, Link has experience with both branded luxury and independent boutique properties. Shaffer joins the 21c team with over 25 years of extensive experience in hospitality sales and management.
Link’s experience spans all areas of hotel management including food and beverage, marketing, development, finance and sales. As General Manager of 21c Cincinnati, he oversaw both the pre-opening and opening phases of the hotel and was responsible for all hotel operations, sales, and community and guest relations. Under his management, 21c Cincinnati was named the #1 Hotel in the U.S. by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Prior to joining 21c, Link spent 13 years with Hilton Hotels and nine years with Renaissance Hotels.
Link notes, “The 21c brand of genuine hospitality combined with an engaging and ever-changing contemporary art museum, collaborations with local arts organizations and delicious food and drink make 21c a place for locals and travelers alike. After seeing the community of Cincinnati embrace 21c, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this engaging and inclusive cultural resource to the city of Durham.”
Shaffer brings an intimate knowledge of the Triangle area and experience in sales, marketing, account management and business development to 21c Museum Hotels. She began her career at Marriot Hotels and has held sales positions at a number of national hotel brands. Most recently, Shaffer was the Mid Market Account Executive of the Mid-Atlantic Region at Marriot Hotels International. There she was responsible for a number of corporate and university accounts in the Raleigh/Durham area.
Craig Greenberg, President of 21c Museum Hotels adds, “As 21c continues its rapid expansion, we are focused on creating strong leaders within the company. Gerry and Cathy are seasoned veterans who bring a wealth of knowledge to the table while simultaneously offering a forward-thinking approach that fits with the 21c philosophy. I look forward to watching their success in Durham.”
About 21c Museum Hotel Durham
21c Museum Hotel Durham, opening first quarter of 2015, is a combination boutique hotel, contemporary art museum and chef-driven restaurant. Building on its mission of engaging the public with contemporary art and supporting the revitalization of American downtowns, 21c is rehabilitating the historic Hill Building in downtown Durham. The 125-room property will feature a contemporary art museum open to the public free of charge 24/7 and offering curated exhibitions, interactive site specific installations and a full roster of cultural programming; a ballroom in the historic banking hall; three suites with private terraces and a spa. 21c Durham will also be home to an as-yet-unnamed restaurant that will draw on local influences and ingredients, focusing on new techniques for roasting, rotisserie, and slow-cooking, as well as celebrating North Carolina’s rich history of fresh seafood by way of a raw bar.
Calling all penguin lovers!
Voting is now open for Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards, showcasing the greatest hotels, restaurants, cities and more around the world. We’d love for you to take a few moments to share your 21c experience within the survey.
You can vote for your favorite 21c Museum Hotel in the “hotels and resorts” category. As a bonus, with each completed rating, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a dream trip for two.
Voting closes on June 30th at 11:59p.m. ET and rankings will be released later this year.
MALIN+GOETZ bath and body amenities have become a fixture in the 21c experience and it’s not by chance. Their products have not only become a mainstay for consumers looking for quality and simplicity, they’ve become a mainstay in all 21c Museum Hotel rooms and suites. Our guests have been enjoying the luxurious M+G products since we first opened our flagship hotel and museum in Louisville, KY in 2006.
We sat down with founders Andrew Goetz and Matthew Malin to gain some insight into how their iconic brand and products began and how it’s all been going:
Can you tell us a bit about the M+G origin story? How did you all meet and when did you decide to start a business together?
Andrew and I have had a personal relationship for 29 years and a professional relationship for the last 18 of those. We met in a bar in the East Village of NYC and ten years later, started M+G. Andrew is the entrepreneur and had been working for a family run Vitra in marketing with a focus on design and architecture. I had been in the beauty industry, mostly working for independent, family run businesses. Andrew noticed that many small independent start up beauty businesses were being sold off to large corporations like Estee Lauder and L’Oreal. He suggested that we pool our experiences of design and beauty and fill a void–make skincare easy and uncomplicated. This was March 2004. We self-funded and here we are, 18 years later…
What’s most important to you when you think about beauty products and skincare?
Less is more. The beauty industry has overmarketed to us, created gendered products and vast regimens. Our grandparents did not use products like that and apothecaries of past created a simple treatment to address a specific concern. Our ancestors had nice skin.
How are your personal skincare regimens similar or different?
Andrew is oily and resilient and I am dry and sensitive. When I met Andrew, he used a bar of soap to wash his face, body, hair and to shave. I used a thousands things and my skin was a mess. I have spent my adult life using topical and oral medications for rosacea, eczema, and seborrhea. The goal was to create a brand that we could share, with limited space in a small NYC bathroom, that looked great on our shelf, and that worked. Today, we both use a similar regimen of cleansing and moisturizing and add an item as needed, based on our skin and concerns at that time. Our products are geared to be daily staples for all skin types, so we are easily able to share most of our items.
Can you tell us a bit about your product development process?
It is not simple, not easy and quite detailed and exacting. We spend an inordinate amount of time looking to create a single item that is necessary, fills a void, has mutiple benefits, and can address the majority of individuals–even the most sensitive. We test on ourselves and volunteer family and friends. We work with specialty chemists and manufactures–local to NYC–to ensure that we get each detail right. Sometimes we get lucky and create something in six months, sometimes, it can take four years (like our Eucalyptus Deodorant).
Anything new on the horizon that you can tell us about?
We are excited to extend our reach for both product and shopping convenience. We have just relaunched a limited edition scent, Strawberry, as a permanent product! It has been a great success. We are working on a Cream Cleanser, based on consumer demand, and a new Retinol Serum! We are also opening two new shops in Manhattan, making that seven in NYC and a new shop in London and San Francisco for a total of 15 stores globally.
What did you set out to do when you founded M+G and how have your goals for the business changed over time?
We planned to make skincare uncomplicated and continue with this idea. We want to make it easy, effective and genderless. I think that we are on to something…
How do you all divide and conquer?
After 18 years, we have a wonderful CEO and incredible team that support all of our efforts and goals. However, Andrew and I have always approached the business from different perspectives and collaborate on everything. Andrew always oversaw manufacturing, production, operations, and creative. I ran sales, training, product development and we both managed brand marketing. Team effort!
Any learnings from COVID that you’d like to share?
Digital is a must and brick and mortar are still vital. Our sales staff is more important than ever, and we can get through anything as a team.
Check out the Malin+Goetz collection of products as well as save on their current promotion!
Another Thanksgiving is upon us, and if you are celebrating at home this year, 21c chefs have come together and created the ultimate menu once again…..The 2021 Very 21c Thanksgiving. From Vanessa Miller’s Shaved Cauliflower Salad to Matt Bell’s Sweet Potato Chess Pie, you’ll make the best of Thanksgiving 2021. See the full menu below and click the link to open the full cookbook. Cheers!
Click here to download the entire 21c Thanksgiving Cookbook.
And be sure to hashtag #AVery21cThanksgiving and tag us @21chotels on Instagram to show off your culinary creations!
PS: if you’re more of a “no mess, no stress” kind of holiday person….don’t worry, each of our restaurants are hosting Dine In and many are also providing take-out options on Thanksgiving. See their websites for more information.
Appetizers
Clams Casino & Oysters Rockefeller by Executive Chef Jeff Seizer of Counting House at 21c Durham
Smoked Pork Belly by Executive Chef Matthew McClure of The Hive at 21c Bentonville
Salad
Shaved Cauliflower Salad by Executive Chef Vanessa Miller of Metropole at 21c Cincinnati
Sides
Smoked Oyster & Country Ham Cornbread Stuffing by Executive Chef Jeff Dailey of Proof on Main at 21c Louisville
Sweet and Sour Roasted Carrots by Executive Chef Joe West of The Savoy at 21c Kansas City
Entrees
Seared Grit Cake & Succotash by Executive Chef Nick Fisherkeller of Lockbox at 21c Lexington
Barded Heritage Turkey by Executive Chef Brandon Brumback of The Savoy at 21c Kansas City
Dessert
Sweet Potato Chess Pie by Executive Chef Matthew Bell of Gray & Dudley at 21c Nashville
Pumpkin Spice Bread Pudding by Executive Chef Jeff Patton of Mary Eddy’s at 21c Oklahoma City
Not quite sure how it got here so fast, but Thanksgiving is just around the corner. From cookbooks to staycation plans, carryout meals and dine in solutions, 21c is here to make this holiday seamless and easy.
Wanting to get away for the holiday? Use our Take Your Time offer to save more, the longer you stay. Our properties have been busily curating fall and winter itineraries so you’ll know just what to do and see during your time with us.
Just looking for some Thanksgiving dinner solutions? We’ve got those too. See below for each restaurant’s plans this holiday season.
From Noon to 7pm, executive chef Matthew McClure and culinary team will be serving up a “not to be missed” menu of twists on Thanksgiving classics like turkey with cornbread stuffing, pumpkin panna cotta and more.
See full menu and make reservations here
Metropole is making Thanksgiving twice as easy this year by offering both a dine in and to go option.
For dine in, join us from 2pm-8pm on Thanksgiving Day and help us raise money for Freestore Foodback by adding an extra “side” to your meal. Choose from starters like caramelized brussels salad and crispy deviled eggs before diving into a turkey dinner and slice of pumpkin pie. $10 kids turkey dinner also available.
You Host and We Roast? Sounds like a great plan. Pre order your half or whole turkey dinner and pick up prior to your festivities getting underway. You can also add on charcuterie grazing boards and a detox breakfast (if you indulge in a little too much red wine making it through the dinner family dialogue!)
Menus, order forms, and reservations can all be found here
From prime rib and roasted turkey breast to stuffed squash and banana bread pudding, Thanksgiving in Lexington is sure to be delicious. Lockbox is hosting two seating options on Thanksgiving Day; Noon and 2pm.
Make your reservations and view entire menu here
Proof on Main at 21c Louisville
From 1 to 7pm on Thanksgiving Day, indulge in best culinary treats Louisville has to offer at Proof’s Thanksgiving celebration. Chef Jeff Dailey and his team are working up treats like turkey porchetta and short rib, as well as apple walnut cobbler and dark chocolate & peanut butter mousse bars. Even better…you can purchase a “leftovers” plate so the feast can continue into the weekend.
Full menu and reservations here
Dine in and Carry-out offerings are both hitting the menu this Thanksgiving in Durham. From soft pillowy butter rolls to perfectly seasoned turkey, chef Jeff Seizer and team are bringing a meat and four style menu that will please.
Dine in from 1 to 7pm or pre order and pick up to please all of your guests. And no matter how you dine, help us raise money and much needed goods for our friends at Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. You can add “extra love” to your bill to donate or participate in our in house canned food and toiletry drive.
More information on take home and dine-in Thanksgiving here
Mary Eddy’s Dining Room at 21c Oklahoma City
Executive chef Jeff Patton and the fantastic team at Mary Eddy’s are doing all the cooking, so you can just do the hosting. Mary Eddy’s To-Go is back this Thanksgiving and filled with items to please all your guests. Indulge in sweet potato casserole, freshly baked parker rolls and of course, perfectly cooked turkey. Orders are due by Saturday, November 20th by 5pm for pick up on the day before Thanksgiving.
More information and place your order here
Gray & Dudley at 21c Nashville
Chef Matt Bell has two ways for you to avoid the kitchen this holiday; dine in at Gray & Dudley or bring home a Thanksgiving Take-Home kit.
Thanksgiving dinner will be served in the Gray & Dudley dining room from Noon until 6pm (last seating is at 5:30pm) and features an all star turkey breast dinner or hearth roasted cauliflower alongside delicious sides like whipped sweet potatoes and fried brussels.
The same amazing delicacies are featured in the take home kits, including whole versions of the featured desserts.
To make a reservation or place your order, click here
The Savoy is doing all the heavy lifting this year and you can experience Chef Brandon’s interpretation of beloved Thanksgiving classics at the restaurant OR at home. ed blue cheese. Choose from three savory entrees – Chef’s twist on the traditional Turkey, a Norwegian Faroe Island-caught Salmon, or a tender Herb Crusted Beef Prime Rib- and then end the meal with a chocolate-topped pumpkin pie or a delectable Brown Sugar & Vanilla Pecan Tart.
To make a reservation or place your order, click here
On Friday, October 29th, artist Tim Lytvinenko will be taking over 21c Durham’s Instagram for the day. Tune in to see a day in the life of Tim Lytvinenko!
How are you feeling today? This week? This year?
Today: hopeful. This week: I’m enjoying the cooler weather. This year: anxious. It’s been a tough year. How many lifetimes were packed into this time of the pandemic? It’s been a weird liminal space for most of the world. I do enjoy a different kind of peace I have now than from the “before times” and hope some of that will stick around.
What are you looking forward to in your art practice?
I got a new printer after two quit on me this year. It’s difficult and fun and a lot of work to figure out what I can do with the new tool. Sometimes it means I can’t do processes I’ve done previously. Which is difficult to take sometimes, it’s easy to see and do what you’re used to doing. It’s more difficult to be open to things that have never occurred to you.
I recently got a commission to create an artwork directly on someone’s wall at home. I haven’t ever done anything like this and am very excited about it. It’ll be like a mural but with one of my processes!
Do you have any #protips or things you have learned in the past year that you would like to share with fellow artists?
Make YOUR work, tell YOUR story, and love your work. At that point it’s ok to feel vulnerable when you share it because it’s yours.
What is your go-to food of choice these days? Any new recipes that you have tried that you are excited to make again?
Oh man, I’ve been cooking so much lately and I love it. Recently I stared making pizza at home and one of my favorites is a dessert pizza with—mozzarella, peach and apricot jams, sliced apples, and cinnamon.
I’m also very excited about soup season. I love Japanese soups. One of my recent favorites has been a miso curry broth, noodles, sautéed vegetables and a runny egg.
What are you reading or watching or listening to that you would recommend to others?
TV: Dark and Westworld. Both very heavy in ideas and difficult to watch sometimes.
Taskmaster—a British comedy show. Seriously there are twelve seasons and it has been going on since 2015, and why did it take me this long to hear about it?
Books: Three Body Problem
Manga: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This book was so calming and beautiful. I read it last year and am nearly 3/4 through it again.
Artist Bio:
Tim Lytvinenko is a photographer and printmaker. With a background in computer science and 15 years as a fine art and documentary photographer, Tim explores ideas of what it means to be human. Experimenting heavily with print processes and manipulating digital photographs, Lytvinenko creates emotional and detailed multi-media works on the subject of self. His recent work can be seen across the Raleigh skyline on the 66-foot-tall facade of The Dillon and in private collections across the East coast and the South.
To learn more about Tim’s practice, check out his website or follow him on instagram @newtim
On Thursday, October 28, in celebration of the Louisville Photo Biennial, 21c Museum Hotel Louisville, KMAC, and Moremen Gallery will all host concurrent receptions that are open to the public. Rodolfo Salgado of River City Tintype will be at 21c Louisville from 5-9, making tintype photographs. This is a 19th-century process (also known as wet plate collodion photography), that involves coating a metal plate with light-sensitive chemistry to create an image. Join us at 21c Louisville to view the process from start to finish, and book your portrait session here.
What are you looking forward to in your art practice(s)?
We’re working on a collaborative project called “On the Map” which documents 19th and early 20th-century post office sites with the process of tintype photography. Traveling tintype artists would bring mobile darkrooms to small towns and rural areas, making tintype an affordable and stable means for Americans to mail images of themselves, their homes, and landmarks to distant family and friends. This fall, we’re driving a pickup truck and mobile darkroom around the state of Kentucky, meeting the owners of historical post office sites, and learning about the present and futures of these anchors of place. We hope to exhibit the work and make a book with images, maps, and stories. We’ve already had a lot of fun writing letters to property owners, corresponding with them, and then meeting in person. It’s an adventure, and we’re grateful to everyone who has shared their time and stories with us so far.
How can people continue to support artist in their communities?
No matter where we are in our careers (and lifestyles) as artists, meeting, and working with other artists is a real boost to our work. So, we’re committed in many activities—through our studio Calliope, our work in arts organizations nationally and locally, and socially—to making places artists can trust and feel comfortable taking risks. Artists need space and time, and both resources are hard to get and balance with paying bills and working sometimes several jobs. We’d love to see more people and organizations buy original artwork, support artist-run exhibition and studio spaces, and provide venues for artists to show and sell their work.
Do you have any #protips or things you have learned in the past year that you would like to share with fellow artists?
Find out what grants are available to you in your region, and write recipients to learn more about their experience. Chances are, they’ll be happy to tell you about their proposal and what they did with the funding they received. Be ready to apply for opportunities more than once, keeping careful records of what you’ve written so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time you apply for something. Great Meadows Foundation has an Artist Professional Development Travel grant, which is an excellent example of providing funding (and therefore space and time) for artists to travel, view artwork, attend events, and connect with others. We’ve received this award twice, and it has been a real catalyst for our work.
What is your go-to food of choice these days? Any new recipes that you have tried that you are excited to make again?
We have a huge garden this year and pet chickens, so we’re making lots of vegetable- and egg-based recipes. We love making hot sauces and giving them to friends and family.
Artist Statements and bios:
Rodolfo Salgado’s multimedia artworks explore the ways we try to understand and control the inner workings of our bodies. Installations include extensive, ordered collections of found and invented artifacts and printed matter. They surround viewers with colorful, interactive displays recalling quack medicine, ‘snake oil salesmen’, and roadside attractions, with lithographs and etchings that linger between the scientific engraving and the circus poster. Industrial and organic forms function together in these displays, exercised with a hoarder’s compulsions and an archivist’s care. By placing found and handmade objects in conversation with one another in invented systems, Rodolfo transforms spaces into alternate worlds.
Rodolfo’s artwork incorporates printmaking, hand-blown glass, ceramics, mixed media sculpture, and performance, and explores the relationship of the body to industrial forms and social norms. Originally from southern California, Rodolfo received an MFA in Printmaking with a minor in Ceramics at the University of Iowa in 2012, and a BFA in Printmaking from California State University, Chico in 2007. International and national exhibitions have featured Rodolfo’s artwork, at venues such as the Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China; the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; the Janet Turner Print Museum, Chico, CA; Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA; the Quad City Art Center, Rock Island, IL; the Sioux City Conservatory of Music, Sioux City, IA; the Green Building Gallery, Louisville, KY; and the City Gallery, Lexington, KY.
Rodolfo is Co-founder and Executive Director of Calliope Arts, a collaborative printmaking workspace in Louisville, KY. In 2017 and 2018, he was a Visual Arts faculty member at Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts, a summer arts intensive for high school students. Recent artist residencies include Kunstnarhuset Messen, Alvik, Norway; Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA; and Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, Scotland. In summer 2019, Rodolfo will lead a collaborative, interdisciplinary session at Mildred’s Lane, a 94-acre installation and research space in Beach Lake, PA created by J Morgan Puett and Mark Dion.
To learn more about Rodolfo’s work, check out his website HERE or follow Calliope and River City Tintype on Instagram @calliopearts and @rivercitytintype
Susanna Crum conducts research-led projects that investigate maps and printed ephemera as social artifacts at the intersection of past, present, and future. With cyanotype, lithography, video, and sculpture, Susanna merges digital and analog technologies and emphasizes print media’s roles in maintaining relationships – and erasures – between people and place. Her multilayered images combine community-based research with archival materials like letters, maps, newspapers, and oral histories, and propose an interpretation of place in which past and present are concurrent and vital.
Susanna received her MFA and MA in Printmaking with minors in Sculpture and Intermedia from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, and her BFA from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Her work has been featured in international and national exhibitions at venues such as Museu do Douro in Portugal; Nicole Longnecker Gallery in Houston, TX; 1078 Gallery in Chico, CA; Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center in Cincinnati, OH; the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville, KY; and the Liu Haisu Art Museum in Shanghai, China. Recent artist residencies include Kunstnarhuset Messen, Ålvik, Norway; Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA; Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2016, and Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA, 2017.
Susanna returned to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to start the city’s first shared printmaking workspace, Calliope Arts Printmaking Studio & Gallery, with fellow artist and partner Rodolfo Salgado Jr. Since 2015, she has taught printmaking as an Assistant Professor at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN, and as the Associate Director of Calliope Arts. From 2018-2020, she served as President of the Mid America Print Council.
To learn more about Susanna’s work, check out her website HERE or follow her on Instagram @susannacrum
ALL 9. ALL THANKS TO YOU.
Condé Nast Traveler today announced the results of its annual Readers’ Choice Awards with all nine 21c Museum Hotel properties recognized on the 2021 awards list. 21c Kansas City took the #1 spot in the Midwest and #15 in the world, while 21c Chicago debuted as the #5 hotel in the Windy City. 21c hotel properties have earned top spots in the Readers’ Choice awards since 21c Louisville first hit the list in 2008. This year’s results for the brand are:
Top 20 in the World
- #15 21c Kansas City
Top 20 in the Midwest
- #1 21c Kansas City
- #4 21c Oklahoma City
- #9 21c Cincinnati
Top 10 in Chicago
- #5 21c Chicago
Top 25 in the South
- #3 21c Louisville
- #6 21c Bentonville
- #7 21c Durham
- #8 21c Lexington
Top 10 in Nashville
- #4 21c Nashville
More than 800,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers submitted responses rating their travel experiences across the globe to provide a full snapshot about the places they can’t wait to return to next. The Readers’ Choice Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry. The full list of winners can be found here.
“We continue to be humbled by the support of our fans and guests who make the effort to recognize us,” said Sarah Robbins, chief operating officer of 21c Museum Hotels. “21c is more than a place to sleep. We seek to create an enduring connection with our guests and the communities we are a part of, and to be a meaningful part of the cultural and economic life of our cities. This award is a testament to that connection and to the heartfelt hospitality that our team extends to every person who visits.”
The 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards are published on Condé Nast Traveler’s website at cntraveler.com/rca and celebrated in the November issue.
For further information:
Stephanie Greene
21c Museum Hotels
502.475.3862
On Thursday, August 26, Women’s Equality Day, 21c Museum Director and Chief Curator, Alice Gray Stites, spoke with Michele Pred and Autumn Breon on Instagram Live about their ongoing initiative The Art of Equal Pay, the recently opened exhibition, New Time: Art and Feminism in the 21st Century at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, and the exciting plans for Wide Awakes Day at 21c Kansas City on October 3.
Michele Pred is a Swedish American conceptual artist whose practice includes sculpture, assemblage, and performance. Her work uncovers the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects, with a concentration on feminist themes such as equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. Pred’s projects also contain social components that drive the conversation into public spaces. Michele is represented in the 21c collection and her work from the Reflections series is on view in the exhibition, The Future is Female, currently at 21c Durham.
Autumn Breon uses art to reimagine global narratives. A graduate of Stanford University, she studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications for NASA. Autumn went on to advocate for global access to affordable education in South Central Los Angeles, India, and South Africa. During her frequent travels throughout the African continent, Autumn examined contemporary art throughout the Diaspora and its impact. Based in Los Angeles, Autumn Breon curates and creates art to communicate ideas related to liberation, identity, and Diasporic memory. Her work has been recognized by Artsy, the Smithsonian Institution, Aspen Institute, TED, the Obama Foundation, LA Magazine, and Artnet and so much more.
Alice Gray Stites (AGS): I am waiting for Autumn and Michele to join so we can talk about Women’s Equality Day. It’s not so much a celebration as a moment to honor that effort, the ongoing effort to make sure that women get equal pay, and equal recognition, and equal rights. AH! There is Michele.
Michele Pred (MP): Hello! And here is Autumn!
Autumn Breon (AB): Hello!
AGS: Last time I met you, Autumn, was at the ForFreedoms Congress in L.A. Autumn I loved meeting you, hearing you speak, and seeing the exhibition that you put together at Crenshaw Dairy Mart.
AB: Thank you!
AGS: Welcome to 21c Museum Hotels Instagram Live! It is Women’s Equality Day. What are you guys doing at The Art of Equal Pay? Tell us about The Art of Equal Pay and why artists are involved with this initiative.
MP: Well, it’s a way for us to work on equity, and working on pay equity for every single woman-identifying person in the country seems so daunting. I felt like, if I start an initiative, that feels like something I can grasp with my greater community. I feel like this is something I can maybe handle and approach. And so that is why I decided well, why don’t I approach pay equity in the arts. What we aim to do is decrease the gender and racial pay gaps for women identifying artists. Autumn and I met at a Hank Willis Thomas opening and immediately I was drawn to Autumn and her energy and her mind. And so, I brought her in on the team.
So, just quickly to explain a little more of what The Art of Equal Pay does: we’re asking women artists to increase their prices by up to 15% to help decrease that gender pay gap. We also recognize and understand that not everyone can do that so we have created a survey for all artists—both male and female identifying artists—to fill out so we can gain more information and understand more the discrepancies and how we can further make differences. If you go to The Art of Equal Pay website, you can find both the survey and how to get involved. Working for equality is something I have done all of my life—I grew up in Berkeley, California—it’s really in my blood, and I have been doing these activations and performances. So, Alice and I are both heading up to the Upstate Art Weekend founded by our friend Helen Toomer, and Autumn is unfortunately not joining this activation, but I am here with a core group of women that I work with for my parade. Michelle Hartney is sitting here driving, and we have Yvette Molina, and Ann Lewis joining us, and Holly Ballard Martz, and we are all going to be performing tomorrow at the Stoneleaf Retreat, which is Helen Toomer’s artist residency. And the performance there is titled Emergency Response to Pay Equity so I am really excited to do that performance. It is a new type of performance, it is not a parade and we’re going to be displaying the emergency situation of inequality.
Documentation post-performance at Stoneleaf Retreat as part of Upstate Art Weekend, August 27, 2021.
AGS: Autumn, I want to hear about your involvement and why you were drawn to what Michele is working on. I love that you come from a non-traditional background and entered into the arts as a way of making a difference, something you feel very strongly about.
AB: Yeah. I think the unique career trajectory that I have is actually a huge part of why I was so drawn to The Art of Equal Pay and this work because, as you said Michele, this is a universal issue, unfortunately. What is so special about women in the arts and this movement is that it is a leader-full movement. The fact that I’m joining from Englewood, ya’ll are both on the other side of the country, and we have people joining us from around the world—this is such a universal issue and we are attacking it with this grassroots approach–it really allows for anyone to find their point of entry, which is so important. And that is why I was so excited, especially about the survey, because it can feel like such a daunting issue but this is one first step where it is just like “hey, put this information down so that we can start by gathering information.” I think it helps break apart the problem into something more digestible and it allows so many people everywhere to take action, which is what we need to face this issue in the arts and across all industries.
AGS: I love that when you started this initiative, Michele, and spoke about it at the (ForFreedoms) Congress. You were explaining that collectors could get involved by making sure that when they pay an artist, that they are paid equitably, that if you are an artist that you are charging equitably. You gave concrete steps for each person. There is a lot of obfuscation in the art market so, let’s recognize that, and giving people an entre and a way to do it, to make a difference and push that needle, is fantastic and very inspiring.
MP: And we can’t increase our prices without galleries supporting what we are doing, especially the collectors. And that’s why—and if you go to the website you will see this—we have a list of collectors that have pledged to buy artwork that is at a higher price to support female identifying artists. It’s an ecosystem that really has to be supported by so many different people and obviously museums representing more women with museum shows, especially women of color, so there are all of these things that are part of the whole system. And there have been museums and curators and writers who have all signed to support the initiative as well. So, if you are in the art world and, let’s say you are a curator or a writer, we would love for you to sign up on the website to show your support because it really takes everyone, everybody to get involved. That is what these events are for, to have a discussion to increase and continue talking about it so we can make a difference.
AB: And it really decreases the likelihood of performative ally ship, because by providing opportunities and methods of entry for everyone in the ecosystem there is no excuse. We are being very clear about what the demand is and how you can take action.
Michele Pred, My Body My Business Vanity. Photo: Suzy Gorman @suzygormanphoto
AGS: I don’t want to let more time go by without also mentioning that you will be flying back to the West Coast for the opening of a show at your home town art museum, the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, called, New Time: Art and Feminism in the 21st century. I’m a total supporter in the need to support feminism because it’s not just about biology, but about equity and experience and about recognizing the validity of lived experience from a variety of perspectives. So, congratulations, the show opens on Saturday, August 28. Tell us a little bit about the show and what’s your perspective.
MP: So, actually the artist and patron dinner was last night so I literally left from the dinner last night and went directly to the airport. It was a little insane, but that is what we do as artists. So, it’s a really amazing exhibition curated by Apsara DiQuinzio, it includes 70 artists focusing on different eras and different themes. It is a beautiful exhibition with pieces from Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker, Kiki Smith, Lava Thomas.
AGS: How long is the show going to be up, for those of us who might want to make the trek out there?
MP: Yeah! It is going to be up through the beginning of January. This is really special to me because I grew up in Berkeley, California, it’s my hometown. My father was a professor there for over 42 years, so it is particularly meaningful to me. It’s a place I used to go with my father—the Berkeley Art Museum. My father was extremely political, leaning on the left pretty hard, so he was a huge inspiration and is still a huge inspiration even after his passing. Please let me know if anyone comes to town. I would love to show you the exhibition, Alice, all of you.
We’d also love to talk about somethings that are brewing at 21c in Kansas City. Do you want to talk about that? Autumn and I are working on it.
AGS: I am so excited, so we are pursuing various different activations for Wide Awakes Day, which, for anyone who doesn’t know is October 3. The first one was last year and we did an online activation through 21c Louisville, and this year in Kansas City we’re so excited to do a major activation thanks to Michele and Dwight and our Museum Manager, Jori, and you’ll be there as well, Autumn. I think I am going to need to get myself to Kansas City and join the parade. We’re going to have a parade. We’re going to have an installation and we’re going to draw attention to the efforts of the Wide Awakes to wake people up and have our eyes open with all times with each other to drive progress and change.
AB: Yeah, it’s really special that Wide Awakes Day is when we are going to have this installation and programming at 21c because October 3 was actually the biggest Wide Awakes rally in the 19th century with the original Wide Awakes. So it is really special that we are continuing that legacy and embracing this love movement and being Wide Awake, like you said and an essential part of that is pay equity and gender equity, so it’s special that we are bringing The Art of Equal Pay to 21c that weekend, we’re really excited about an installation that we are working on, there is going to be a cape making workshop and some really fun, engaging, safe, and educational interactive stuff that we will be able to do with each other in Kansas City to celebrate.
AGS: Well, I can’t wait to be with you in person, if I can, and I want to say that it is so great to celebrate and honor Women’s Equality Day with you and to have artists, curator, activists, scientists—all of which we have here—engaged in art as a platform for change.
AB: Thank you so much, and thank you for having us.
About the artists:
To learn more about Autumn Breon, check out her website and follow her on Instagram @autumnbreon
To learn more about Michele Pred’s work, check out her website and follow her on Instagram @Michelepred
The Wide Awakes of 1860 were a grassroots political movement in the United States – a force behind abolition who supported the election of Abraham Lincoln. Through collective action and the dissemination of powerful visuals, texts and songs, the original Wide Awakes allowed people to envision a world in which abolition was possible. On October 3rd of 1860 the Wide Awakes marched in the name of emancipation with massive torchlight parades around the country; all carrying lanterns and clad in oil cloth capes.
Today, the Wide Awakes are an open-source network who radically reimagine the future through creative collaboration. They are a community of voices that welcome the ideas and membership of all as we grow this movement to create a new culture together in pursuit of liberation of mind, body and spirit. Anyone can be a Wideawake!
Wide Awakes Day is celebrated on October 3rd in commemoration of the emancipation parade held in 1860. 21c is proud to partner with Wide Awakes on this day and is holding celebrations across many of our properties. See below for opportunities to join us!
NASHVILLE:
Sunday, October 3
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Gray & Dudley Alleyway
FREE
Wide Awake: An Afternoon of Spoken Word and Art Activism
Join 21c Museum Hotel Nashville for a gathering of merriment, making, and envisioning a positive future! Visual artist Marlos E’van, spoken word artist Cameron Mitchell, and 21c invite you to an afternoon of interactions exploring the ways that art and culture meet activism. The program is held in conjunction with Awakening 2021, a series of global events taking place on October 3 organized by the Wide Awakes, a network of thousands of artists, cultural workers, and activists who radically reimagine the future through creative collaboration.
Marlos E’van will lead a drop-in activity where participants can make their own flags emblazoned with messages of hope, peace, and change.
Cameron Mitchell will host transformational spoken word and trumpet performances that will take place on the hour at 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, and 3:00 pm.
KANSAS CITY:
Saturday, October 2nd and Sunday, October 3rd
Saturday, October 2nd
5:30-7:30pm | Wide Awakes Exhibition Reception
featuring work by Michele Pred, Yvette Molina, Autumn Breon, Mona Cliff, Michelle Hartney, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin and Nedra Bonds
During this time, we will have a temporary exhibition featuring the above artists which will be on display at 21c Kansas City until January 2022.
Sunday, October 3rd
11:30am-1:30pm | Cape & Flag Making Workshop with Yvette Molina
1:30-2pm | Wide Awakes Walk | 21c to Ilus W. Davis Park
2-3pm | Wide Awakes Celebration in the Park
Land acknowledgement – Jose Faus or Mona Cliff’s husband
Dancers
Drummers
Radical Love meditation
Poetry by Glenn North
BENTONVILLE and OKLAHOMA CITY:
Friday, October 1st through Sunday, October 3rd
Lyndon Barrois Sr.’s film FOR…FREEDOM will be presented in our Video Gallery
In today’s media and politics, truth and facts often get spun out of control. FOR… FREEDOM is an animated film by Lyndon Barrois that takes inspiration from this concept of “spin,” putting at its center artist Shantell Martin who is caught circling through the landscape until she breaks free – her lines find the shapes of each state in our country. Set to Aja Monet’s poem Sometimes An Artist, this film is a meditation of the important role that art, artists, and everyday Americans play in unifying a torn nation.
Lyndon Barrois Sr., FOR…FREEDOM, 2020
Director and Animator – Lyndon Barrois Sr.
“Somewhere an Artist” – Aja Monet
Drawings – Shantell Martin
Producers – Tanya Selvaratnam and Taylor Block
“Amazing Grace” Composition and Sounds Effect – Willard Hill
“Amazing Grace” French Horn courtesy of Robert Lee Watt and Todd Cochran
LOUISVILLE:
Inspired by Awakening and Wide Awakes, 21c Louisville is proud to partner with Kentucky Refugee Ministries all month long
Beginning Sunday, October 3rd and running each Sunday of the month:
5-6pm in the Lobby Gallery, Free and open to the public
KRM Live at 21c: Tiny Lobby Concert Series, that will feature artists across disciplines who are immigrants, refugees and US-born individuals to celebrate our community’s global musical culture.
All month long:
Poof on Main
Support Kentucky Refugee Ministries through our Cocktail for a Cause program. Simply purchase our featured cocktail, Amore, during the month of October and a portion of proceeds from the cocktail will go directly to KRM. For more information, click here.
Last May 2020, 21c checked-in with Lexington-based Crystal to see how she was doing in the middle of lockdown. A year and a half later, we asked her again. Read on for her answers!
How are you feeling today? This week? This new year?
Crystal Gregory (CG): This year has been a lot. For everyone. I feel the most gratitude, the most proud, and the most precarious I ever have. This year has brought personal and communal struggles as well as familial and communal connections. It seems hard to hold all the contradictions in one body, but I think in that way it has expanded my emotional landscape and allowed me to grow.
What are you looking forward to doing this year in your art practice?
CG: I feel so lucky to be working on some of the biggest works of my career so far.
The first is a site-specific installation in a commercial building in San Antonio. I am building a hand-woven installation which will cascade from the 5th to the 11th floor staircase. Brightly colored threads are woven, vibrantly patterned in huck variations. Weighted in the valley of each drape are pockets of reflective metal. Layers of fabric plunge, fold and accumulate for a unique viewing at each vantage point.
For this project I have developed a new material combination that will debut in San Antonio. Utilizing ball chain as weft, I interlace the flexible metal with brightly colored cotton warp thread, creating a woven installation of draped fabric. The introduction of metal into the weaving gives weight to the valleys of each drape as well as glittering reflections of light embedded into an open fabric.
I am also working on a new series that will launch with Tappan Collective LA. In this new series I am harvesting natural dye and making dye baths of brightly colored local materials. The yarn is turning out beautifully ranging from golden yellows to magentas, blues and peaches. I will then take this material and weave on a digital jacquard loom combining digital weave structures with hand processed dyed yarns. The slowness of the dye process feels expansive paired with the quickness of the digital weaving process.
Lastly, I have been invited by the European Cultural Center in Venice, Italy to exhibit in a seven-month exhibition called Personal Structures that will coincide with the Venice Biennale. For this project I am proposing to collaborate with the Moving Architects and produce another work based on The Event of a Thread exhibited originally at 21c Lexington in early 2020. We are still in the planning stages, but our hope is to work with local dancers to create a movement piece that interacts with my woven installation.
What is your go-to food of choice these days? Any new recipes that you have tried that you are excited to make again?
CG: I am not sure if it is all the natural dye research I have been doing or becoming a new mom (my sweet son just turned 1-year-old), but I have been really into making herbal teas for me and my family. I love the ritual, the intent and the attention it requires to make someone (including myself) a combination of tea. I have been combining chamomile with lemon balm, nettle, and oat straw. My family loves it!
What are you reading or watching or listening to that you would recommend to others?
CG: Braiding Sweetgrass; Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This book is so beautiful and has so many valuable lessons. I find it touching all parts of my life from studio to classroom to family.
Artist Bio:
Crystal Gregory is a sculptor whose work investigates the intersections between textile and architecture. Gregory received her BFA from the University of Oregon and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago from the Fiber and Material Studies Department. In 2013 she was awarded The Leonore Annenberg Fellowship for the Performing and Visual Arts. With this grant, she moved to Amsterdam NL where she took a role as Guest Artist at The Gerrit Rietveld Academie of Art. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally including Through the Thread at the Rockwell Museum of Art, Devotion/Destruction: Craft Inheritance at Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Projects, Load Barring: The Art of Construction at The Hunterdon Art Museum and Crossover at Black and White Project Space and has been reviewed in publications such as Hyperallergic, Surface Design Journal, Art Critical, and Peripheral Vision Press. Gregory is an Assistant Professor within the School of Arts and Visual Studies at the University of Kentucky and currently shows with Tappan Collective in Los Angeles, CA as well as Momentum Gallery, NC.
To learn more about Crystal’s work, check out her website https://www.crystalgregory.org and follow her on instagram @crystalirenegregory
