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National Museum of Women in the Arts

Committees

An assortment of many ceramic objects of different shapes, sizes, and colors arranged on the floor in a circle.
NMWA’s national and international committees advocate for women artists on a worldwide scale.

Located in regions across the U.S. and around the globe, NMWA’s advocacy groups help to champion women artists far beyond the museum’s walls in Washington, DC. Committees plan local programs that highlight our mission, collection, exhibitions, and activities. They also work with museum staff to increase membership; donate works of art; and fund exhibitions, education programs, and object conservation. 

Read on to learn about just a few committee projects that have helped empower women artists around the world.

Recent Committee Activities

Three women pose with their left arms raised in a fist next to a marble statue of a nude woman with her left breast removed. The statue also has her left arm raised in a fist.
Artists Saskia Jordá, Marina Vargas, and Daniela Rivera stand in solidarity with Vargas’ self-portrait sculpture at the VIP Opening Reception for New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, April 10, 2024; Photo by Les Talusan for NMWA.

Women to Watch Exhibition

NMWA’s Women to Watch is a unique exhibition series that features emerging and underrepresented women artists working in regions where the museum has outreach committees. See the Women to Watch section below to learn more.

Crowd gathers outside the Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe for the New Mexico State Committee of NMWA inaugural artist registry exhibition.
Photo courtesy of NMC NMWA.

New Mexico State Committee of NMWA

In March 2025 the New Mexico Committee held their inaugural artist registry exhibition with 33 member artists in partnership with Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe. Over 500 people attended the opening weekend.

A large group attends an event in a gallery filled with colorful works on the walls and a large sculptural work in the middle of the floor. One figure stands in the middle of the room speaking to the group.
Lauren Schell Dickens, senior curator at the San José Museum of Art and Women to Watch 2024 consulting curator for Northern California, speaks at the San Franciso Advocacy’s regional Women to Watch. Photo credit: Drew Altizer Photography.

San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA

The San Francisco Advocacy opened an exhibition of work by their nominees for Women to Watch 2024 at the California College for the Arts. After opening remarks by curator Lauren Schell Dickens, artist Genevieve Quick led participants in a performance activation of her installation on display.

A figure with short grey hair addresses a group seated in a courtyard front of them with two large sculptures made of folded and twisted metal forms on either side of them.
Capítulo Chileno del NMWA President Drina Rendic addresses audiences at the opening reception of the committee’s regional Women to Watch 2024 exhibition in Lo Barnechea, Santiago. Photo courtesy of the Capítulo Chileno del NMWA.

Capítulo Chileno del NMWA

The Chile Committee organized an exhibition and artists talk with their Women to Watch 2024 nominees and other local artists at Centro Cultural El Tranque in Santiago. The exhibition was curated by Felipe Forteza, director of CV Galería and Women to Watch 2024 consulting curator for Chile.

A woman in a face mask addresses a group of mixed age adults sitting in a university classroom with a screen to her right that shows two circular graphics surrounding Japanese characters and the numbers 71.2% and 75.9%. English text below the graphic reads “Judges of art competitions” and “Award winners of art competitions.”
Natsumi Araki, professor and former curator at the Mori Museum, presents during the Japan Committee’s panel on gender inequity in the arts at Tokyo University of the Arts. Photo credit: Yosuke Takeda.

Japan Committee of NMWA

The Japan Committee held a panel featuring NMWA Alice West Director Susan Fisher Sterling, professor and curator Natsumi Araki, author and researcher Hiroki Yamamoto, and moderated by acclaimed journalist Hiroko Kuniya. The program was covered by Tokyo newspapers and drew audiences across industries.

Film still of a woman with white hair sitting at a desk in the middle of an art studio filled with inspirational images on the walls and organic forms hanging from the ceiling.
Still image of Women to Watch 2024 nominee Leah Hardy in her Laramie studio, captured from a film commissioned by the Wyoming Committee. Film credit: Sheets Studio.

Wyoming Committee of NMWA

The Wyoming Committee commissioned a film spotlighting their five nominees for Women to Watch 2024. The film was screened during a panel discussion featuring the artists and Tammi Hanawalt, curator of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and Women to Watch 2024 consulting curator for Wyoming.

Committee Locations

National Committees

International Committees

Contact Us

National & International Programs

866-875-4627
committees@nmwa.org

Women to Watch

The Women to Watch exhibition series is a unique collaboration between NMWA and its national and international committees. Each exhibition, held every few years, focuses on a specific medium or theme chosen by NMWA’s curators and features underrepresented women artists from each committee’s respective region.

Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution

Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution is a dynamic exploration of contemporary artists’ books, works of art in book form. The exhibition encourages audiences to rethink the nature of book arts, featuring works that incorporate a wide variety of materials and formats. This is the latest edition of the museum’s hallmark exhibition series highlighting national and international artists at key stages in their careers. The series is developed through a unique collaboration between the museum and its global network of outreach committees.

Learn More about A Book Arts Revolution
A close-up of a small, light blue crystal formation displayed on a rock, surrounded by colorful, paper-like flower shapes and decorations on a purple textured surface.
Acadia Kandora, Thicket (detail), 2025; Installation of risograph prints, 3D-prints, Plexiglas, vinyl, rocks, and wasp nest, dimensions variable; Courtesy of the artist

Past Women to Watch Exhibitions

New Worlds

A woman in a blue dress and white face paint stands in a vast green landscape. She looks off to the side while carrying a foliage-covered lantern on her back. Two blue birds rest on her feather and wicker headdress.
Visionary artists reimagined the past, presented alternate realities, and inspired audiences to create different futures in the seventh installment (2024) of Women to Watch.
View New Worlds Exhibition

Paper Routes

A long horizontal rectangle with small numerous figures and images collaged on the surface. Black and white figures in soldier’s uniforms stand and lay down, along with yellow and red banners, flags, and garlands.
The sixth installment (2020) of Women to Watch brought together 22 artists working in paper.
View Paper Routes Exhibition

Heavy Metal

Abstract wall sculpture featuring horizontal, vertical, and diagonal intersecting lines overlaid with pieces of rounded, plated steel
The fifth installment (2018) of Women to Watch showcased 20 contemporary artists working with metal in a variety of scales and techniques.
View Heavy Metal Exhibition

Organic Matters

Detail photograph of ceramic sculpture made to look like a patch of lawn. Individual squares consisting of multiple upright blades of porcelain grass, glazed green, fit together to form a lush rectangular field of grass.
The fourth installment (2015) of Women to Watch examined the relationships between women, nature, and art.
View Organic Matters Exhibition

High Fiber

The third installment (2012) of Women to Watch featured artists that turn fibers or fiber-like materials into textiles, sculptures, and installations.
View High Fiber Exhibition

Body of Work

The second installment (2010) of Women to Watch highlighted contemporary figure painters.
View Body of Work Exhibition

Photography

The first installment (2008) of Women to Watch featured works by 11 contemporary women photographers.
View Photography Exhibition