The Oak Room

At Chickasaw Springs

Art, ideas, and conversation in pastoral Mississippi.

Something unexpected is taking root at Chickasaw Springs: a meeting place for art, ideas, and enriching encounters.

We're bringing a lifetime of travel, collecting, and curiosity home to the Gulf South.

Exhibitions & Gatherings

The Oak Room presents invited artists in intimate, non-commercial exhibitions designed around discovery and conversation, introducing artists to new audiences and creating space for meaningful exchange.

The Oak Room hosts musicians, writers, chefs and other creative guests for performances, dinners, talks and one-of-a-kind cultural events.

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An outdoor dining setup on a wooden deck overlooking a lake surrounded by green trees. There is a table with a green tablecloth, plates, glasses, a wine bottle, and napkins. A black bench is on the left side of the image.

The Oak Room is an independent arts and cultural space in Poplarville, Mississippi, just over an hour from New Orleans.

Through exhibitions, performances, dinners, conversations and other intimate gatherings, The Oak Room brings artists and audiences together in a setting far from the hustle of the art world—where encounters feel intentional, intimate, and more alive.

Some guests will come from Mississippi and the Gulf South. Others will arrive from much farther away. What matters is the opportunity to encounter work, ideas and people that would not cross paths without The Oak Room.

A Place for Discovery

An impressionistic painting of a city street scene with power lines, a church steeple, trees, and buildings in warm colors.

Upcoming Events

A woman wearing a beige hat with a black band, a light blue button-up shirt, smiling outdoors with green foliage in the background.

Next Up: August 29th, 6-9pm

SHIFTING ATMOSPHERES

A collection of plein air works by SABRINA SCHMIDT

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A Little Room to Think Bigger

Set in the South Mississippi woods, The Oak Room at Chickasaw Springs is just over an hour from New Orleans. Its history, natural beauty, and expansive landscape provide creatives and audiences alike the space to think bigger.

The rolling fields, lush forests, and natural springs are part of the experience: a place to linger, talk, eat, listen, look closely and discover something new.

 
A dirt road winds through a lush green forest with tall trees, under a partly cloudy sky.
A sunset over a body of water with pink and orange clouds in the sky, silhouetted trees in the background, and a wooden dock extending into the water in the foreground.

Meet the Curator

A woman posing in front of a large backlit sign for Chanel's 'Fashion Manifesto' exhibition, wearing a light-colored dress, a gray coat, and black boots.

The Oak Room is founded by Katharine “Kate” Baragona, whose relationship with art has developed alongside a life and career spent internationally.

The name is inspired in part by The Oak Room at New York’s Plaza Hotel—where Kate, during her Wall Street years, often lingered over world-class music and scintillating conversation—and in part by the oak trees that stand proudly throughout Chickasaw Springs, which Kate now admires in her retirement.

Kate studied art at Louisiana State University before pursuing careers in law, finance and international development. Over more than three decades, her work has taken her across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Throughout those travels, she continued to collect art, visit studios and exhibitions, and form relationships with artists and creative communities.

The Oak Room brings those worlds together: her Southern roots, a lifetime of travel, a collector’s curiosity, and a love of bringing fascinating people into one another’s orbit.