A New Year message from Halona Norton-Westbrook

Aloha HoMA Community, 

Happy holidays from the Honolulu Museum of Art! This time of year brings a milestone for me as January 2025 marks my fifth anniversary with the museum. It has been an inspiring journey getting to know the museum, its collection and people, our supporters like you, and the wider community. The ‘ohana that surrounds and supports the museum is truly a remarkable one and I am so honored to be part of it. 

My first three years here were spent navigating the museum through the pandemic and its immediate aftermath. Although challenging at times, this experience has left me with renewed conviction that in addition to being a steward of the world’s cultural treasures, a museum’s priority is deepening its connections to community. 

How museums share and interpret works of art is rapidly evolving. Museums have the power to become vital hubs for our communities, places for gathering, learning, and engaging more deeply with the most compelling ideas of our time and the world around us.  

I firmly believe that museums have the power to positively change our society. As the world faces mounting issues, more than ever people need a connection to art to be able to think in a more empathetic, critical, holistic way.  

This past year is a testament to all the great work the museum’s dedicated staff does towards this goal. Our focus on local art and artists continues with Home of the Tigers: McKinley High and Modern Art, Satoru Abe: Reaching for the Sun, Allyn Bromley: At the Edge of Forever, and Kenyatta Kelechi: Laulima. Additionally we are excited to be a partner venue of Hawai‘i Triennial 2025: ALOHA NŌ, opening in February.  

Less glamorous than exhibitions, but equally important are our initiatives to steward the campus—we recently waterproofed the area around the café, an example of the museum’s commitment to safeguard this campus and the treasures it holds or future generations. 

While highlighting Hawai‘i art is a curatorial priority, we also strive to share the best of the global art world with Hawai‘i. With that in mind, I am thrilled to announce our big summer show: Mary Cassatt at Work. Mary Cassatt was the only American to join the French Impressionists, and this critically acclaimed exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and now on view at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, showcases her as a modernist pioneer. HoMA is incredibly proud to bring this internationally recognized exhibition to Honolulu in June.  

In our mission to inspire and uplift our community through transformative art experiences, we offer plenty to see, do, and hear at HoMA in 2025—and so much of it is made possible by your support. Mahalo to all of you. I wish you a very happy New Year filled with art and joy. 

Warmly, 

Halona Norton-Westbrook 

Top banner
Kapa Kuiki Moa Kāne (Roosters Hawaiian Quilt) (detail), c. 1930. Cotton, hand and machine sewn. Gift of Fran Liu, 2024 (2024-03-01).

PS: If learning about new directions for institutions like HoMA interests you, I encourage you to attend the talk “The Changing Museum” on Jan. 10. I will be joined by art-and-culture scholar Dr. Vishakha Desai (former president of the Asia Society); Rosina Potter, executive director of Hawai‘i Contemporary; and Marques Hanalei Marzan, the Wayne Pitluck and Judith Pyle curator for cultural resilience at Bishop Museum to discuss this timely topic. The evening will be moderated by Shangri La executive director Ben Weitz.