The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA) is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee that has become one the South’s largest museums with over 10,000 works of art and 125,000 annual visitors. It opened in 1916 as the “Brooks Memorial Art Gallery” and was funded by a donation from the estate of Samuel Hamilton Brooks, a prominent local businessman at the turn of the 20^th century. ^{1 2 3}

MBMA receives 12 percent (15.7 percent in 2022) of its funding from government entities that became threatened in 2025 by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump and the subsequent announcement from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that federal grants would no longer be made for the purpose of supporting of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) politics and so-called underserved communities. ^{1 4 5}

Background

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA) is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee that has become one the South’s largest museums with over 10,000 works of art and 125,000 annual visitors. It opened in 1916 as “the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery” and was funded by a donation from the estate of Samuel Hamilton Brooks, a prominent local businessman at the turn of the 20^th century. ^{1 2 3}

Notable Exhibitions

In 2024, the Brooks Museum featured “On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger,” a traveling exhibition featuring transgender individuals on New York City’s Christopher Street in 2021 and 2022. The exhibition included text of personal stories, photographs, and a 20-minute film reflecting life in LGBT communities. The Brooks Museum received a $20,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for the exhibition, and the traveling exhibition has also received support from the Barr Foundation, Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, and Mass Cultural Council. ^{6 7 8}

In 2024, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art featured the Black American Portraits, Christian Siriano: People are People, Memphis on the Mississippi, and Art of the African Diaspora exhibitions. ⁹

Programs

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art provides educational programs including Super Saturdays, Art Builds Creativity, School Tours, Free Homeschool Days, Early Childhood Art Enrichment, and Juvenile Intervention and Faith-based Follow-up. ^{9 10}

The museum provides community programs such as Sounds of Memphis, Figure Drawing, Community Days, Inspired Aging, fashion events, and Seasonal Blooms. ⁹

MBMA collaborates with Decorative Arts Trust for talks from interior stylist Mieke ten Have, hosts the Couture Collective celebrating fashion, and partners with Memphis Jazz Workshop for Jazz Saturdays. ^{11 12}

Funding

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art received $671,448 in government grants in 2022 representing 15.7 percent of its $42,556,980 revenue excluding investment income. It typically receives an average of 12 percent of its revenue from government grants. ^{13 1}

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art future funding may be impacted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announcement that federal grants would no longer be made for the purpose of supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) politics and so-called underserved communities and that grantees must follow all executive orders from the President of the United States. ¹⁴

MBMA received a $40,000 grant in January of 2025 to support an exhibition on the Memphis College of Art’s history as one of National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 1,474 awards totaling $36,790,500. ¹⁵

The organization received a $40,000 grant in 2024 to support an exhibition featuring the photographs of David Uzochukwe. ¹⁶

MBMA received a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent government agency of the United States federal government, in 2024 to support moving the museum to Memphis Riverfront. ¹⁷

People

Zoe Kahr is the executive director of MBMA and previously deputy director of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Kahr led diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and accessibility for LACMA with exhibitions and development of new hiring programs. ^{18 19}

The chair of MBMA’s board is Carl Person, founder of the Customized Solutions firm which provides consulting in commercial development partnerships and business analysis. He is a member of the board of trustees of Metropolitan Inter-faith Association and Center City Development Corporation. ¹⁸

1. About the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.brooksmuseum.org/about.
2. “Memphis Brooks Museum of Art – Annual Impact Report.” online.fliphtml5.com. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://online.fliphtml5.com/tpcml/lacd/#p=4
3. “Samuel Hamilton Brooks (1834-1912) – Find a Grave…” Find a Grave. Accessed May 27, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8489889/samuel-hamilton-brooks.
4. Blair, Elizabeth. “‘Chilling Effect’: Arts Organizations React to End of DEI Initiatives from Fed Agency.” NPR, February 11, 2025. May 12, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293082/trump-executive-orders-dei-nea-arts-organizations.
5. “Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc.”. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. Form 990. 2022. Part VIII, line 1e, 1.
6. “On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger.” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/christopher-street-mark-seliger
7. “Exhibition: On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.” Exhibition: On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger | Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, September 17, 2021. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.brooksmuseum.org/exhibitions/on-christopher-street-transgender-portraits-by-mark-seliger.
8. USAspending.gov. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_1885858-44-21_5920
9. “Memphis Brooks Museum of Art – Annual Impact Report.” online.fliphtml5.com. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://online.fliphtml5.com/tpcml/lacd/#p=20.
10. “Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.” Memphis Brooks Museum of Art – GuideStar Profile. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/62-6063304.
11. “Current Exhibitions: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.” Current Exhibitions | Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.brooksmuseum.org/art/current-exhibitions.
12. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.brooksmuseum.org/.
13. “Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc.”. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. Form 990. 2022. Part VIII, line 1e, 1h.
14. Blair, Elizabeth. “‘Chilling Effect’: Arts Organizations React to End of DEI Initiatives from Fed Agency.” NPR, February 11, 2025. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293082/trump-executive-orders-dei-nea-arts-organizations.
15. Goldston, Jason. “NEA Supports the Arts in TN with $540,000 in Funding.” Tennessee Arts Commission, January 17, 2025. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://tnartscommission.org/news/nea-supports-the-arts-in-tn-with-540000-in-funding/
16. Grant announcement—FY 2024 State/City/Town List. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Spring-2024-State-List.pdf.
17. Staff, Action News 5. “Federal Grant to Assist Brooks Museum’s Move to Downtown.” https://www.actionnews5.com, August 9, 2024. May 12, 2025. https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/08/09/federal-grant-assist-brooks-museums-move-downtown/.
18. “Your Museum Team: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.” Your Museum Team | Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.brooksmuseum.org/about/leadership.
19. Brooks Museum of Art Announces New Executive director | localmemphis.com. Accessed May 12, 2025. https://www.localmemphis.com/article/life/people/brooks-museum-of-art-names-new-executive-director-memphis/522-cb1cace8-7a58-46fd-bbe7-5ef05f0d9445.