In these times of challenge, the search for hope spans the globe. From right here in Southwark, London to the South Side of Chicago, from Warsaw to Ghana, people everywhere want to feel seen and heard. Organizers and communities around the world have been advocating for more equal societies, more representation of diverse lived experiences, more power to shape their own lives, and more inclusion to feel they belong – and to be part of something bigger than themselves.
Rafał Brzoska, Omenaa Mensah
Rafał Brzoska, Omenaa Mensah
Our mission has always been to use culture and education as tools for empowerment. Supporting the Obama Presidential Center is a natural extension of our work. We are proud to stand alongside the Obama Foundation and White Cube in celebrating art as a catalyst for hope and social change. We believe that art not only inspires but activates — sparking meaningful dialogue and motivating people to shape the world they want to live in.
said Omenaa Mensah, Founder and President of the Omenaa Foundation.
It is an honor to work alongside the Omenaa Foundation and The Obama Foundation to present these visionary artists, whose work will become part of the Obama Presidential Center’s legacy and opportunity. This collaboration embodies the belief that art can drive understanding, inclusion, and progress.”
Jay Jopling, Founder and Chairman of White Cube.
Louise Bernard, Jay Jopling
The Obama Presidential Center will be a gathering place for global, national, and local leaders; a hub for democratic innovation; and a beacon of hope for the world. Spanning 19 acres, the campus will feature a range of amenities, including a fruit and vegetable garden; a ‘Home Court’ facility to host sports, community programs, and other events; an auditorium; a playground, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. An immersive museum experience will highlight the accomplishments and challenges of the Obama Presidency as well as the historical predecessors who made President and Mrs. Obama's stories possible, and it will inspire visitors to create change within their own communities. As an arts destination, the Center will feature over 25 signature art commissions by diverse artists from all over the world in public spaces throughout the campus. Dynamic programming will seek to activate these permanent commissions over time. The inspiration to make the arts central to the Center’s activities comes from the legacy President and Mrs. Obama built at the White House, making it the ‘People’s House’ by opening its doors to diverse voices and perspectives.
Dr. Louise Bernard, Founding Museum Director at the Obama Presidential Center
At Omenaa Foundation and OmenaArt Foundation, we are deeply committed to connecting culture and education with purpose. As a supporting partner of the Obama Foundation, it’s an honor to contribute to this global mission — one that unites art, leadership, and empathy to build stronger, more inclusive communities.
added Mensah.
Media contact:
Justyna Komorek
justyna.komorek@omiimage.com
+48 534 108 802
Obama Foundation: at the Obama Foundation, we are guided by a core belief: that ordinary people working together can change history. Our mission is to inspire those people to take action, empower them to change their world for the better, and connect them so they can achieve more together than they can alone. We were founded by community organizers, so when we seek change, we do it by bringing people together. That approach begins at home, on the South Side of Chicago, where we are building the Obama Presidential Center. The Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home. But that approach extends to all our work, whether it’s holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity. As President Obama has said, “we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together.” So join us.
Dr. Louise Bernard is a Senior Vice President at the Obama Foundation and the founding Director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum. As a Senior Content Developer and Interpretive Planner in the New York office of the museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, she worked on the design team that developed the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, along with other national and international projects. She previously served as Director of Exhibitions at the New York Public Library. Louise received a Ph.D. in African American Studies and American Studies from Yale, and in 2021, she received the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University.
White Cube’s exhibition programme extends across locations in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Seoul and online. Since its inception in 1993, the gallery has exhibited the work of many of the world’s most highly acclaimed contemporary artists.
The Omenaa Foundation is a charitable NGO originated by Omenaa Mensah who remains its good spirit. The Foundation’s key field of activity is supporting education in its broadest sense. We support street children in Africa who do not have access to education, but we also help the most needy children in Poland, e.g. we provide IT equipment for children from orphanages and foster families, because the lack of such equipment not only limits horizons and makes learning difficult, but often also makes it impossible e.g. in the case of distance learning.
OmenaArt Foundation: The foundation is a pioneer in implementing unconventional artistic projects in Poland and around the world. Its mission is to foster intercultural dialogue, support artists, and promote contemporary art from Eastern Europe and Africa, with a particular focus on art in public spaces. The foundation is also actively involved in the revitalization of historic buildings, as well as conservation and educational projects. The foundation coordinates the TOP CHARITY Auction – one of the most important philanthropic events in Europe. Over the span of four years, the auction has raised more than €34 million. These funds have supported the charitable efforts of the Omenaa Foundation, Rafał Brzoska Foundation, and the Philanthropic Consortium, as well as OmenaArt Foundation’s projects that support artists and cultural institutions.