When I first walked into 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Chicago last spring, there was a medicine cabinet filled with felted products by Lucy Sparrow, a photo from Carrie Mae Weems’s Kitchen Table series, and Angela Ellsworth’s unsettling bonnets made of pearls and pins, all within the lobby alone. The works were part of OFF-SPRING: New Generation, a traveling exhibition curated by Alice Gray Stites that considers how rituals influence identity. They were also unusual sights for a venue welcoming guests toting unwieldy luggage and grabbing a drink at the bar.

Stites is chief curator for 21c Museum Hotels, a boutique hospitality chain across the Midwest and South that has carved a singular niche as both a space for world-renowned artworks and everyday tourism. I spoke with Stites in February 2024 via Zoom about curating for a multi-venue museum of this kind, why she values being articulate over being accessible, and the incredible trust and respect she has for the public.

This conversation has been edited and condensed. Shown above is an installation view of ‘Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter.’ All images courtesy of 21c Museum Hotels, shared with permission.

---

Grace Ebert: I don’t know that all of our readers are familiar with 21c, so I’m wondering if you can do an introduction. How did this concept of a museum and hotel come to be? How did you get involved?

Alice Gray Stites: 21c was started in 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky, by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, visionary art collectors and preservationists. They had been traveling around the world and seeing how contemporary art museums were driving a lot of revitalization in cities, the biggest and best-known example being Bilbao, where the Guggenheim transformed a small city into an international venue for tourism.

They were looking at the downtown of their hometown, Louisville, Kentucky. It’s a beautiful downtown with many 19th-century historic cast-iron facade buildings, and a lot of them were not in use, which is no longer the case. At the same time, they were getting requests from different groups visiting Louisville and other people who were interested in seeing their private collection at their farm. They thought, we need to find a way to share more of our art with the public. They did not want to build a private museum that would charge admission—being free and open to the public is still very much part of 21c’s DNA—or rely on donations, tax dollars, etc. They wanted the art to drive civic engagement as well as economic revitalization. After doing a lot of research, they were told that Louisville needed more hotel rooms. They’ve also been very passionate about land preservation and food, so it was important to have a special chef-driven restaurant as part of this contemporary art museum and boutique hotel.

There was a lot of skepticism surrounding this new hybrid concept. It’s both public and private, commercial and cultural. Where are the lines? What lines are being crossed? Certainly, in the art world, I think there was some skepticism because people were going to be able to walk around and look at the art and have a drink at the same time.

The first hotel opened in 2006, and at that time Steve and Laura Lee were thinking it would only be in Louisville. Very quickly, investors and developers from other locations started calling. Number two opened in November 2012 in Cincinnati, and then in the summer of 2023, we opened number eight in St. Louis, Missouri.

I came on in January of 2012, as 21c was beginning to expand. The company leadership recognized that they needed a whole museum department, and I was brought on to develop that department and oversee the site-specific commissions—each location has a handful of permanent site-specific art—as well as curate the exhibitions and oversee programming.

We think of 21c as one multi-venue museum because while the hotels and the restaurants are very much defined by their locations and the architecture of the buildings—seven out of eight are historic renovations—the museum component is more holistic, which allows 21c have a broader presence and create more opportunities, especially for all the emerging artists that we’ve been working with. 21c exhibits, commissions, and collects internationally known artists as well as emerging artists. It’s a real mix.

When I started, I was working on the opening of Cincinnati, and then Bentonville, and then Durham. It’s gone on and on. Here we are in eight locations with a multi-venue museum. As I said, we have permanent site-specific commissions in each building that are identified and commissioned as part of the design process. We look for spaces within the building that don’t lend themselves to being a museum gallery space, restaurant space, or a hotel room. These are spaces that move people through the building, in which an art installation serves to heighten their experience and spark their curiosity. They’re interstitial spaces, like hallways, stairwells, and elevator lobbies.

We do both solo and group exhibitions of 21st-century art, largely drawn from the permanent collection, which Steve and Laura Lee continue to support. It’s now over 5,000 artworks in every media from painting, sculpture, and photography to installation, performance, VR, and AR. The group exhibitions are thematic exhibitions that reflect issues on people’s minds. What are people talking about today? What is of concern? Things like immigration, gender, race, sexuality, the environment, technology, and political divisiveness. We believe that contemporary art is a great platform for bringing people together to have these conversations and start new ones. The group exhibitions are also global, reflecting a lot of different perspectives. We want everyone who walks through the door to see themselves and their culture represented and discover new faces and places.

We also have done solo exhibitions often in collaboration with other museums. A few years ago, I co-curated an exhibition for an artist named Albano Afonso, who’s from Brazil, with the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The exhibition was in both locations at once. We did the same thing with the North Carolina Museum of Art in 2019 when an exhibition of the South African artist Wim Botha was on view at both 21c Durham and at the museum in Raleigh. We also collaborated with the Speed Museum to do a solo show for Yinka Shonibare CBE RA that was centered around “The American Library,” which had been in the Cleveland triennial. We actively borrow and loan from the collection, and sometimes augment the thematic exhibitions with loaned works from other collections and artists.

The third type of exhibition program that we have is something called Elevate at 21c, and this is curated by the local museum manager. One museum manager is in each location, and they curate the Elevate program, which is dedicated to showcasing the work of artists in those communities, typically on view for three to six months. In the beginning, the reason we called it Elevate was not only because it was intended to hopefully broaden the audience for these artists’ work but also because we were dedicating space in the elevator lobbies for this purpose, thinking that people who are coming to stay in Lexington or Cincinnati or Durham would not be aware of what kind of art was being made in that community. We thought this would be a great way to share with guests. It’s been so successful that we’ve expanded it, and now the museum managers are identifying other gallery spaces in the building to offer more opportunities and invigorate that connection to the local scene.

For me and many people, our experience of intense isolation during COVID and thereafter really sharpened our focus on the need to engage deeply with the local community. We want artists in all these cities to feel like 21c is a hub for them. At the same time, we’re continuing to nurture those broader national and international connections because it’s very important that 21c be part of those global conversations.

Grace: One thing that I was struck by going into the 21c in Chicago is the weight of the issues you’re addressing. As you say, there are a lot of conversations about race, gender, class, and climate, crucial but politically touchy issues. I can see where a museum so linked to commerce and hospitality would find it easier to curate exhibitions that are potentially easier for people from various political backgrounds to digest. But you don’t do that. And I love that. What drives those decisions? How do you think about doing these shows and offering them to such broad audiences?

Alice: It goes back to the mission, which is to expand access to thought-provoking contemporary art. It’s very much rooted in the vision of the founders. That’s the kind of art they’re interested in. That’s what the collection looks like. So that’s the first answer.

To expand a bit, at 21c, we believe that thought-provoking art sparks curiosity and creates connections. We don’t expect that everyone is going to like everything. We value the subjectivity that art provides. People can have a variety of reactions, and I think if the art and the exhibitions are done well enough, you create different entry points for different people’s points of view. You may not be able to understand, relate to, or engage with this work, but there’s a good chance that there’s something else in the exhibition that will allow a viewer, no matter what their background, to pull a thread. I’m much more focused curatorially on being articulate in terms of putting the exhibition together than I am on making it conceptually accessible.

I’m much more focused curatorially on being articulate in terms of putting the exhibition together than I am on making it conceptually accessible.

Alice Gray Stites

What we find is that people will surprise you. I often get this question in relation to some of our locations that are in the South or locations that may not have a contemporary art center. People may assume that those communities have not had a chance to be exposed to this kind of work. But what I will tell you is that people will surprise you. Outside of major metropolitan centers, there’s a great deal of interest and eagerness to engage and absorb.

Some people are very focused on the art, and sometimes people are business travelers who may not even know they’ve been booked into a 21c. It’s just kind of in the background. But I think you can be affected by art whether you’re directly looking at it and talking about it or by osmosis.

We have an exhibition currently on view at 21c Louisville, which debuted in Chicago, called This We Believe, which is directly about the costs and consequences of unquestioned allegiance to creed, country, or code. You see a lot of work that calls into question ideas around patriotism and nationalism. How did we end up with a global culture of divisiveness? It’s not just American. The response was very positive in Chicago, and it’s just as positive in Louisville.

My last answer to your question is I don’t think any of us at 21c would have as much fun if we were putting together shows that didn’t take risks. As a museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting 21st-century art, we have a responsibility to share those voices and visions that need to be seen and heard.

Grace: The points you made about being in the Midwest and the South are so important politically but also in terms of the art world. Even Chicago, which is a major city and has great museums and galleries, isn’t a focal point for the art world. We’re in “flyover country.”

Alice: That’s why I love working with different organizations. We can all join hands and say flyover country is where you need to be if you’re interested in seeing who’s pushing the envelope, taking risks, saying important things, and envisioning important ideas.

Grace: And it’s more respectful to the local artists. You’re saying their work is worth seeing. This is worth looking at. This is worth talking about. That feels important.

Alice: It does. It’s not about checking the box when you read the label to say, “Oh, yes, I know who that artist is, or I’ve seen their work before.” It’s really about showcasing their visions. We do prioritize the artist’s vision in terms of the way we put the shows together, talk about the work, write about the work. And it’s exciting. There’s one particular instance of a young Louisville artist who was very excited when he found out his work was going to be in a show with Kehinde Wiley. We think that there are talented, amazing artists everywhere. And why not?

It’s also really inspiring to be part of an organization that strives for best museum practices but doesn’t have to play by all the rules. This goes back to your earlier question about how you curate in a commercial space. I would say there are fewer constraints. On a practical level, I have to think about things like circulation. For example, we don’t put large sculptures in the middle of the main event space because we don’t want to have to move them every time there’s a wedding. We think about guests checking in and moving through the space in a way that you don’t have to when you’re curating for a museum, but in a bigger, more conceptual way, I think we can take more risks.

Grace: What is your exhibition cycle?

Alice: Originally, when there were only three, we would change the main exhibition every six months. Now, it’s close to once a year. We have a very lean, fantastic team. As I said, there are eight exhibition museum managers, one in each location. The other eight of us are based here in Louisville. The collections team is here, the art handlers are here, the curatorial team is here. There are eight changeouts a year for the main exhibition, which varies between a minimum of 60 to over 100 works of art in each show.

The Elevate exhibitions will change more frequently as determined by the museum managers. They also are the people in charge of developing a lot of local programming, so performances, lectures, and music, each very tailored to what that community is interested in. Some places like to do a lot of film screenings, others do a ton of performance. All of our programs and exhibitions are always free and open to the public. That’s very important. That’s a great way for people, artists, and lots of others to understand that 21c is a community cultural hub where something is always going on.

There are free public tours once a week in every location. We do tours for school groups from the elementary through the graduate level. It’s fantastic to feel how integral and integrated the art is with every department. From housekeeping to the restaurant, to the front desk, they’re very much part of the museum team, too.

Grace: You said you also borrow works from other institutions for your shows. What are the logistics of that in terms of making these works so accessible to the public?

Alice: Well, that’s a great segue from my last comments because, as I said, we consider everyone to be part of the museum team, especially those in positions that are public-facing. There’s a lot of staff training that goes on. Now, this is not simply because I want them to know about the exhibitions. I do. I want everyone to feel confident and competent, that they can share something about the work, but we also train the staff to be stewards of the artwork that is part of their current exhibitions. I think the right formula for keeping your artwork safe is to have people on staff who care about it. They’re watching over it, and we have a whole system: like the TSA, if you see something, say something. That’s been the key to being able to confidently borrow work.

We develop relationships with artists and other institutions by loaning from the 21c collection when it’s a great opportunity for an artist. We have lent to small colleges and universities that maybe don’t have access to their own permanent collection as well as to well-known museums and institutions. Two years ago, 21c lent an artwork to the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

We care, and we instill that spirit of caring in our colleagues. We all work together to make 21c a wonderful space for art and people.

Grace: Do you think that’s why the concept works? Honestly, if you told me that there’s a museum hotel, I would be skeptical and assume there might be some sort of gimmick. But 21c isn’t that.

Alice: That has come up more in the last few years as other hotels have been showing art and calling themselves art hotels, which I think is great. Any support for the arts and opportunity for artists is fantastic. But the difference is that this is a museum hotel because we have a team of art professionals, people who are professionally trained to curate, install, care for, and maintain artwork. We do very robust cultural programming. Any day of the week, there’s probably an event happening in multiple locations that brings in the public. Just like a traditional museum, part of our job is to serve the community. That’s not necessarily the case for a hotel that is maybe showcasing art in a more decorative sense. As you touched on, our exhibitions are not decorative. Many of the artworks are aesthetically appealing but are also conceptually compelling. It’s not about decorating. It’s about engaging.

I have too much respect for the public to predict how they’re going to respond.

Alice Gray Stites

Grace: That feels like 21c’s focus is really on the art rather than a heads-in-beds kind of situation. Or at least it’s more balanced, rather than having commerce dominate your goals.

Alice: I think that’s a really good point and very relevant. You can’t predict how people are going to respond, and 21c appeals to so many different kinds of travelers. You have business travelers, families, leisure travelers, artists, and art collectors. It’s very hard to identify a demographic, which of course most commercial endeavors seek to do because they want to appeal to whoever is going to buy their product or stay at their hotel. We’re so lucky to have so many different kinds of guests. I have too much respect for the public to predict how they’re going to respond. So we need to honor and prioritize the artists’ vision, the art, and the artists and allow people to respond in whatever way feels natural and interesting to them.

There are a lot of assumptions about how much people in flyover country understand, and I can tell you from 12 years of doing this that people are plenty smart. I have learned so much more about the artwork and the exhibitions from people’s responses. I don’t think it’s curating to cater to your audience or trying to imagine what the response is going to be. If this is an idea, an issue, an image that needs to be seen and heard, that’s the litmus test.

Grace: What’s next for 21c? What’s next for you?

Alice: We’re giving a prize at EXPO CHICAGO this year, the 21c acquisition prize for art that drives civic engagement, which is the theme of the fair this year. And then later in April, we’ll be opening The Future Is Female in Kansas City, where Zoë Buckman will come and be our featured speaker on April 25th. 21c started collecting her work in 2016, and it’s been so exciting to watch her star rise.

There’s also a new soccer stadium opening and a women’s professional soccer team. They’re very excited about our upcoming exhibitions, and we’re starting to see all these different ways in which sports entities get excited and see the exhibitions. I mentioned some collaborations with museums, but I’m also a big believer in collaborating with other kinds of organizations. You’d be very surprised how those connections get made.

And then in the summer, we’ll be changing out the exhibitions in Durham and St. Louis. Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter opens June 13th in Durham, and artist Arleene Correa Valencia will be the featured speaker. Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art, which was in Chicago last year, will open in St Louis in early July. Then in the fall, we’ll be opening Revival: Digging into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow in Cincinnati around the same time as the big FotoFocus Biennial.

21c has a partnership with Artadia, the New York-based grants organization. The 21c/Artadia grant moves from city to city. We started it in 2021 in Louisville. In 2022, we gave it to an artist in Kansas City, and just this past fall, we gave it to an artist in Durham, North Carolina, Andre Leon Gray. This fall, it’ll be awarded in Cincinnati, which I’m very excited about because Cincinnati has a lot of really strong artists working there.

On the hotel side, we’ve just announced a new artist’s suite in Kansas City. Patty Carroll has created the Panther Suite based on one of her photographs of anonymous women overwhelmed by their domestic interiors.

Patty’s photo, “Panther,” is of a woman is lying on a green couch and surrounded by her black ceramic panther collection. The image has now come to life as a room that you can stay in at 21c Kansas City. We are also working on a plan for an immersive artist’s suite that will include a projection. People love interactive art, and it’s taken me a couple of years to figure out how that could work in a room that also still has to function as a hotel room. We haven’t announced that one yet, but I’m pretty excited about what that’s going to look like. Because we’re a 21st-century museum, I feel we have a responsibility to support artists who are exploring new technologies and new platforms, working in video productions, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

---

21c Museum Hotels has locations in Louisville, Cincinnati, Bentonville, Durham, Lexington, Kansas City, Chicago, and St. Louis. You can find more about the exhibitions and programming on the museum website.

Stites also contributed to Hit Me With Your Best Shot, a group exhibition engaging with what’s at stake for women working in the art world today, which is on view through April 20 at Pen and Brush in New York.