Brooklyn Museum to Open Permanent African Art Galleries in 2027

The Brooklyn Museum is creating a dedicated permanent exhibition space for its Arts of Africa collection, scheduled to open in fall 2027. The $13 million project will transform 6,400 square feet of underutilized storage areas on the museum's third floor into galleries that will house over 4,500 objects. The renovation is led by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Peterson Rich Office (PRO) in collaboration with the museum's exhibition design team and curatorial staff including Curator Ernestine White-Mifetu, Associate Curator Annissa Malvoisin, and Curatorial Assistant Yara Doumani. The new galleries will connect with existing Egyptian art spaces to create a more integrated presentation of African cultural heritage. The inaugural installation will feature over 300 works organized around themes of material and cultural exchange across natural pathways like the Nile and Niger Rivers, Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, and the Sahara desert, rather than following post-colonial national boundaries. Curators have selected previously unseen works for conservation and display, including a 19th-century Lulua sculpture called 'Bwanga Bwa Cibola,' a Tuareg traveling sack, and a mask from Sierra Leone's Ordehlay society. The museum began collecting African art in the early 20th century, established the Arts of Africa department in 2016, and now holds works spanning 2,500 years of history. The project comes after recent institutional challenges including a $10 million budget deficit that led to staff reductions, though capital project funds cannot be redirected to operating costs according to museum leadership.