Presenting the 2026 Museums Next Generation French Laureates

Launched in 2023, Museums Next Generation is a professional immersion and acceleration program designed to foster dialogue and collaboration between French and American curators. Each year, the program offers French participants a two-week immersive experience in the United States, while American curators take part in a two- week exchange in France, meeting with leading museum professionals in each country.  

For the 2026 edition, the selection jury convened on December 18. Representing six cities across France, the cohort brings together a wide range of expertise, spanning antiquity to contemporary art.

The selected participants will travel to the United States from March 29 to April 11, with visits planned in New York, Toledo, Detroit, and Chicago. Over the course of the program, they will take part in field visits to some of the country’s most dynamic and innovative institutions, engage with museum leaders, and gain insight into the challenges and specificities of the American museum landscape. The journey will also include networking opportunities with U.S. professionals, fostering long-term international collaboration.

The selection jury included Olivia Bourrat, Director of Museums and Cultural Heritage at Villa Albertine; François Bridey, Curator at the Louvre Museum, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities;  Émilie Girard, Director of the Strasbourg Museums and President of ICOM France; Olivier Meslay, Director of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA; Charles Personnaz, Director of the National Heritage Institute; and Emilie Vanhesbrook, Executive Director of FRAME France.

Museums Next Generation is organized in partnership with Albertine Foundation.

Look back at the 2025 cohort’s journey here, and learn more about the 2026 Museums Next Generation laureates below.

The 2026 French Cohort

Valérie Carpentier, Curator of French and European 17th-Century Sculpture, Department of Sculptures, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Valérie Carpentier-Vanhaverbeke is an archivist-paleographer and holds a doctorate from the École Pratique des Hautes Études. As Curator of Heritage, she has been responsible for French and European 17th-century sculpture in the Department of Sculptures at the Louvre Museum since 2015. Previously, she served as a curator at the Château de Fontainebleau.

Aby Gaye-Duparc, Curator at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris

Aby Gaye-Duparc is a curator at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, where she is organizing Ibrahim Mahama’s first exhibition in Paris (2026), following her work on the retrospective of textile artist Olga de Amaral (2024–2025). A PhD candidate in Art History at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), her research focuses on women artists in Senegal between the 1960s and 1990s, in the context of the establishment of a national art scene post-independence and the emergence of feminist and Pan-African movements.

Nicolas Hatot, Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Collections, Musée des Antiquités, Rouen

A graduate of Paris-Sorbonne University and INP, Nicolas Hatot is Curator of Heritage in charge of Medieval and Renaissance collections at the Musée des Antiquités de Rouen. A specialist in medieval art objects, he has published extensively on goldsmithing, enamels, glass, and ivory. In 2016, he received the ICMA Student Essay Award (New York) for his research on the Carolingian crystal of the Baptism of Christ, held in Rouen. He also teaches Medieval and Byzantine Art History at the École du Louvre. He has curated exhibitions such as Trésors enluminés de Normandie (in partnership with INHA and IRHT), Savants et Croyants. Les Juifs d’Europe du Nord au Moyen Âge (in partnership with EPHE), and Normands. Migrants. Conquérants. Innovateurs (in partnership with the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim).

Claire Lebossé, Director-Curator, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, and Deputy Director of the Château site

Claire Lebossé has been Director-Curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen and Deputy Director of the Château site since November 2025. Previously, she was curator responsible for the modern art collections at the Musée d’arts de Nantes since 2011. Over fourteen years, she played a key role in redefining the museum during its extension and renovation, developed an ambitious acquisition policy, particularly focusing on women artists associated with Surrealism, and designed and coordinated large-scale exhibitions combining scientific rigor with audience engagement.

Florent Molle, Chief Curator of Heritage and Director of the Musée de la Coutellerie, Thiers

Florent Molle is Chief Curator of Heritage and Director of the Musée de la Coutellerie in Thiers (Puy-de-Dôme). Trained as an anthropologist, he previously worked at the Mucem (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations) and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-Étienne Métropole. In 2023, he defended a thesis on community participation and the universalism of museums. Since 2025, he has been a member of the board of the Federation of Ecomuseums and Social Museums (FEMS).

Andréa Pares, Director-Curator, Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle du Var, Toulon

Andréa Pares is currently Director of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle du Var, in Toulon, where she oversees the renovation and expansion of the visitor route as well as the collections project. With a PhD in Archaeology and Environment from Paris 1 / MNHN, she specialized in the conservation of scientific heritage through INP (Sarah Bernhardt cohort). Committed to advancing conservation of natural science objects, research, and heritage, she coordinates the ICOM NATHIST network and participates in research programs led by MNHN.

Romy Wyche, Director, Musée départemental Arles Antique

Romy Wyche is an art historian and archaeologist specializing in Roman Antiquity. After a career as a researcher in international academic institutions, she now directs the Musée départemental Arles Antique. Her work lies at the intersection of research, museums, and knowledge transmission.