Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025.
About the Event
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is 25-29 June 2025
Kolaj Fest returns to New Orleans on 25-29 June 2025 for a gathering of collage artists and art professionals; a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society; where the focus is how we celebrate and elevate the status of collage.
Presenters will lead panel discussions and explore key curatorial issues. Artists will exhibit artwork, and create special activities and demonstrations. We will meet, network, share community, camaraderie, and fellowship. We will leave armed with new ideas for our artmaking, writing, and curatorial projects, but more importantly, we will leave Kolaj Fest New Orleans prepared to champion this artform in the year to come.
Registration
With your registration for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025, you have access to all sessions and activities, as well as the printed program guide for the event. You also receive access to collage making and workshop spaces.
Early Registration
$145 if you register by 18 May 2025 (Save $30)
Registration: $175
Where to Stay
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a decentralized event that extends across New Orleans. There is no official host hotel. New Orleans is rich with housing options, from traditional hotels to B&Bs at a range of price points. We recommend booking in the Central Business District/Warehouse District, French Quarter, or in the Marigny/Bywater, all places well served by public transportation and ride share services. New Orleans & Co., the city’s visitor and convention bureau, offers a free hotel and B&B booking service.
Artist Opportunities at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
CALL TO ARTISTS
Amuse-Bouche at LeMieux Galleries
Deadline to Submit: 15 May 2025. An amuse-bouche is a small tasting of what is offered on the menu, often served as an hors d’œuvre or appetizer. With this culinary tradition in mind, we would like to invite registered participants of Kolaj Fest New Orleans to submit to an exhibition that will take place at LeMieux Galleries during the event. The exhibition is being juried by Christy Wood, the director of LeMieux Galleries, and Kolaj Magazine Editor Ric Kasini Kadour. The exhibition will open during Arts District New Orleans’ First Saturday Art Walk and end on the last day of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, 6-29 June 2025. Space is limited and the logistics of this exhibition are particular. Please take a moment to read this Call in its entirety and ask any questions you may have before submitting.
CALL TO ARTISTS
Where Photography Meets Collage
Deadline to Submit: Sunday, 18 May 2025. This exhibition, in conjunction with Kolaj Institute and Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025, takes place at the New Orleans Photo Alliance in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 25 June-14 August 2025. New Orleans Photo Alliance and Kolaj Institute are working together to investigate the intersection of photography and collage. We are seeking work by artists who collage their own photographs, make photomontages, use a collage-like process in either the composition of photographs or in the darkroom. The exhibition is juried by Naomi White, artist and faculty chair of the photography department at the New York Film Academy in Burbank, California. We are open to any artwork where the artist feels the image speaks to this intersection. To learn more about the exhibition, requirements for entry, and submission fees, read the full call to artists.
Image: Excavations 7: Mallet and Chisel, Pick and Gad by Naomi White
18″x14″; collaged artist photographs and magazine fragments; 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
What Happens at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
AT KOLAJ FEST
Symposium
The program at Kolaj Fest is a unique experience. We have multiple goals and are serving multiple audiences: We aim to breakdown hierarchy and foster dialogue among art professionals working in a variety of capacities. We aim to build bridges between the collage community and the larger art world; between the art world and the general public. To see what happened in 2024, VISIT LAST YEAR’S PROGRAM PAGE.
The full roster of panels, workshops, film screenings, and events will be posted in May.
AT KOLAJ FEST
Collage Making
Collage making takes place each day of Kolaj Fest New Orleans. In addition to free time to make collage, the space will host artists leading demonstrations and workshops. The space has scissors, X-acto knives, glue, and a collection of papers and materials.
THURSDAY AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Kolaj Fest Heads to the New Orleans Museum of Art
On Thursday, 26 June, Kolaj Fest New Orleans will head to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park for a day of activities. The day kicks off with a Daily Collage Congress where Kolaj Institute’s Ric Kasini Kadour will officially open the festival.
Special Events at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
EVENING EVENT
Welcome Reception
Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 3-5PM
Artisan Bar
Located just down the street from Kolaj Institute in the Bywater, Artisan Bar is a friendly neighborhood cafe. Join us on Wednesday, 25 June 2025 from 3PM to 5PM for a Welcome Reception & Collage Making. Attendees will be able to check into Kolaj Fest and meet the organizers and other folks attending Kolaj Fest. Cash bar.
EVENING EVENT
Collage on Screen
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 7-9PM
Cafe Istanbul
Collage on Screen, an annual, eclectic evening of moving images, is part of Kolaj Institute’s Collage in Motion project, which explores collage and the moving image, a broad, loosely defined category that includes animations, film cut-ups, collage film, stop-motion, documentaries about collage artists, and other forms of media in which collage—as medium or genre—is present.
SATURDAY
Collage Art & Book Market
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 1PM to 5PM
The Collage Art & Book Market is an opportunity for the general public to meet artists and publishers and to take in the rich and diverse cultural production of the international collage community. The public will be invited to peruse vendor displays or attend a talk or demonstration. The event is free and open to the public.
SUNDAY
Great Collage Swap
Sunday, 29 June 2025, 10:30AM
On Sunday, we will gather one final time to say our goodbyes and to conduct The Great Collage Swap. To participate, bring a collage to exchange to the Info Table before 10AM Sunday. In return, you will be given a number. All of the collages will be displayed. During the program, a collage will be selected and matched with a number and the holder of that number will receive the collage. As the collages are matched, each artist has a chance to share their story.
The Great Collage Swap takes place at LeMieux Galleries on Julia Street.
CALL FOR ARTISTS, PROJECTS, & PAPERS
How do you want to manifest at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025? Presenting at Kolaj Fest can mean many different things: Presenting Your Topic or Art Practice on a Panel, Leading a Discussion on a Topic Important to Collage, Hosting a session in the Collage Making Space, Leading a Workshop, Exhibiting, Conducting a Special Project during the event. Most presenters present slide shows about their practice followed by a Q&A with the audience. We also seek artists with projects that take the spirit of Kolaj Fest out into the city of New Orleans.
Responding to this Call lets us know that you would like to be a presenter at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025. (Organizers will issue separate calls for those interested in the Collage Art & Book Market, the Collage in Motion screening, exhibitions, or other projects.)
Past Events
