Connoisseur Lounge Designer

Molly Swyers
SVP Design + Communications
21c Museum Hotels

With a degree in Textile Management from Clemson University and a career in marketing, design and merchandising for companies including Calvin Klein, Gap and Hartmann, Swyers lends a keen eye to the 21c design team. She works closely with 21c founder Steve Wilson and the team at Deborah Berke and Partners Architects on all aspects of design of new 21c properties from concept design through construction, interior design through fixtures and finish selections, and even branding and graphic design. To create this year’s Atlanta Food & Wine Festival Connoisseur Lounge, Swyers drew on Wilson’s ethos of living with art to create a space that feels contemporary, comfortable and fun.

Alice Gray Stites
Chief Curator and Director Art Programming
21c Museum Hotels

A passionate visionary, Alice Gray Stites draws from over fifteen years of curatorial experience in her role as Chief Curator and Director of Art Programming for 21c Museum Hotels. In this newly created position, Stites collaborates with founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson to curate exhibitions and oversee art programming for all 21c locations. After earning a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, Stites worked in various editorial roles for several prominent art publications in Manhattan. Upon returning to Louisville, Stites became adjunct curator of contemporary art for the Speed Art Museum consultant before accepting a position as director of artwithoutwalls in 2009. A non-profit, non-collecting organization, artwithoutwalls was founded by Brown and Wilson to bring new art to new audiences. As director of the organization, Stites collaborated with artists from around the world to present installations and exhibitions in a wide range of media and locations.

About 21c Museum Hotels

21c Museum Hotels is bringing its unique mix of contemporary art, Southern hospitality and thoughtful design to the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival Connoisseur Lounge to create a pop up exhibition gallery. 21c Museum Hotel was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 2006 by philanthropists and contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. Brown and Wilson had a vision of bringing art into people’s daily lives and helping to ease suburban sprawl by supporting the revitalization of downtown Louisville. Thus, 21c was born. Housed in a series of renovated 19th century tobacco and Bourbon warehouses, 21c combines a contemporary art museum, 90 room boutique hotel and award-winning restaurant Proof on Main. The main focal point of the property is the 9,000 square foot contemporary art museum. As North America’s first museum devoted solely to art of the 21st century, 21c Museum seeks to share new art with new audiences, featuring a rotating program of thought-provoking solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today, as well as site-specific, commissioned installations. But art is not confined to the museum alone, works of the 21st century are featured throughout the hotel and restaurant. 21c has garnered praise from several notable publications including Travel + Leisure, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveler, and W. The most humbling honor has been bestowed by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler who voted 21c among the top 10 hotels in the world in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the annual Readers’ Choice Awards. With the success of the Louisville property and with strong local partners who share the belief that art can be an economic driver for a community, 21c is expanding outside of Louisville. 21c Museum Hotels, a growing company that oversees the development and management of 21c nationally, was formed in 2007. Hotels are under construction in Cincinnati, OH (opening the fourth quarter of 2012) and Bentonville, AR (opening the first quarter of 2013), and other markets are being considered.