Kimbrielle Boult didn't think she was moving back to New Orleans after college.
After graduating with a degree in art history and visual culture from Bard College in upstate New York, Boult lived in New York City for a few months with the goal of working in a gallery or a museum.
But Boult missed the specific rhythm of New Orleans. She was not really “a New York girl," she realized. Since moving back to New Orleans in 2023, she has started paying more attention to what makes her so drawn to her hometown.
Her job is a big help, she says.
Harvey Orth adjusts his art piece titled, "Impression of the Past," on the last day of the 8-week Art Thrives program at NOMA in New Orleans, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
Now 23 years old, Boult organizes classes for older adults at the New Orleans Museum of Art as part of the Art Thrives program, which she calls the museum’s “55+ club.” The program, which was established in 2022 with the support of E.A. Michelson Philanthropy, has art workshops that last around eight weeks for adults over 55, featuring visiting artists and culminating in a final showcase of the participants' art. The classes typically have around 16 to 18 students.
In connection with the program, Boult also organizes a monthly conversation in collaboration with the Congo Square Preservation Society in the fall, called the Elders Sacred Talk Series, with members of different New Orleans communities, including Mardi Gras Indians and older artists.
In her role, Boult says she learns about New Orleans history and traditions from the participants.
Kimbrielle Boult helps put a piece titled, "My Eye's On You," by Dale Aronson on the wall during the last day of the eight week Art Thrives senior program at NOMA in New Orleans, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
“I learned a lot from attending the Elders Sacred Talk series and from talking to the teaching artists,” she said.
Boult said some people have historically not gone to NOMA because they didn’t feel like it was for them — she hopes to help change that.
“Being a young Black person from New Orleans, I think that my face is a familiar face. I think it's a friendly face,” she said.
Having worked at the front desk at the museum and as a gallery attendant, she says she realized there were ways the museum could specifically be more welcoming to older people, something she hopes to help accomplish through the Art Thrives program.
Tapping into the creative vein
Joel Blazek shows pictures of detailed quilts to Kimbrielle Boult on the last day of Art Thrives at NOMA in New Orleans, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
The most recent Art Thrives workshop that Boult helped organize focused on clay and wire sculptures and was done in connection with an exhibit of the work of Hayward Oubre, an American modernist sculptor who was the first student to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Dillard University.
“I was like, 'OK, clay and wire are two materials that he used in his exhibition. What [is] the importance of these materials?'” Boult said. “Here in Louisiana, here in New Orleans, there’s clay in the soil."
For one of the workshop participants, Harvey Orth, 76, the clay provided an opportunity to connect to Louisiana in another way: he made ceramic coins with impressions of Mardi Gras doubloons.
When Orth was 10 years old, his father had given his grandparents a money tree made out of wire and silver dollars for Christmas. Inspired by that childhood memory and by the work of Oubre, in the workshop Orth decided to make a “money tree” with copper wire roots and ceramic coins hanging from the branches.
An art piece titled, "Impression of the Past," by Harvey Orth, is put on display on the last day of the eight-week Art Thrives program at NOMA in New Orleans, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
“I was afraid my ambitions could not be met by my skills,” recalled Orth, who is also a museum donor and docent.
But he said the teachers in the class made sure that didn’t happen. It “tapped a little bit of a creative vein that maybe I didn’t fully appreciate until the class,” he recalled.
Dianne Honoré, who led a beading workshop for the Art Thrives program in 2025, said “a lot of them come in, thinking, ‘I’m not an artist,’ and they make the most beautiful art.”
“It’s a wonderful experience in that they share a lot of similarities in age-related experiences, life experience," Honoré said.
She said Boult helped ensure everything went smoothly in each class.
Bridget Bergeron, 63, a retired educator who lives outside of Lafayette and has participated in Art Thrives programs, said she appreciated that the museum has prioritized people in her age group. Boult, she added, is “way younger than all of our participants,” but is “very open to allowing us to have a voice."
Naomi Kornman poses with a necklace she made during the Art Thrives program at NOMA in New Orleans, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
'Talk to your grandma'
Boult was involved in the arts from a young age, marching in bands from around 10 years old and later participating in the Teen Art Council at NOMA. She continues to identify as an artist herself — she is a writer and dancer — and has a blog where she writes about Black queer art.
She grew up in New Orleans East and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School, where she participated in the Bard High School Early College program, which grants an associate degree upon completion of high school. Two years later, she finished her undergraduate degree in Art History and Visual Culture at Bard in New York at the age of 19.
Boult said she was someone who always liked to hang out with older people and learn history from them. She is a triplet, and she and her siblings grew up knowing both grandmothers and some great-grandmothers.
“Talk to your grandma. Talk to your grandad. Talk to your people, and get them involved, even if it's not in the museum,” Boult said. “Just talk to them and soak up as much as you can from our elders.”
Those interested in registering for a workshop at the New Orleans Museum of Art can visit for more information or call (504) 658-4100. There is a fee of $65 for the Art Thrives workshop, which covers the classes and a final showcase.