2^nd ANNUAL DOUGLAS REDD CULTURAL SUMMIT

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY – NEW ORLEANS, 6400 PRESS DRIVE

CAFETERIA

9AM -4PM

9AM – 9:30AM – LIBATION   HONORING CREATIVE ANCESTORS: Mama Olayela, Sula, Michaela Harrison, Kora Konnection, Ashe’

9:30AM – WELCOME FROM SUNO: Dr. Mokosso & The Department of African & African American Studies, Dr. Romanus Ejiaga and AIRNOLA, Bill Rouselle

9:45 -10AM – RESULTS OF CULTURAL MAPPING PROJECT: Luther Gray

10AM – 11:15 AM – PANEL CELEBRATING THE COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS OF THE CULTURAL COMMUNITY

• Moderator:  Linda Hill – Center for African & African-American Studies – SUNO
• Panelists: Dr. Lenus Jack – Professor of History SUNO, Barbara Lacen-Keller – Queen & Historian of Social & Pleasure Club, Jeanne Nathan – Founder of Creative Artists of New Orleans (CANO), Frank Alquist – Owner of Music Shed Recording Studio, Lula Elzy – Choreographer, Dancer, Teacher, Artistic Director of the Lula Elzy New Orleans Dance Theater, Nick Slie – Founder of Mondo Bizarro Theater Company, Rashida Ferdinand – Visual Artist and Manager of Sankofa Marketplace and CVANNO (Contemporary Visual Arts Association of New Orleans), Delfaeyo Marsalis – Jazz Trombonist, Producer and Founder of Uptown Music Theatre

11:15 – PERFORMANCE - Rudy Mills, New Orleans Youth Slam (NOYS)

11:30 -12:00 – KEYNOTE SPEAKER – ELLIS MARSALIS, Jazz Pianist, Composer, Recording Artist and Patriarch of the Marsalis Family of Jazz

NOON – 1PM –  Lunch

1:15 – 2:30 – BREAK OUT SESSION

CREATIING PARTNERSHIPS  UTILIZING A NEW ORLEANS ARTS CALENDAR – 2010-2011

2:30 – PERFORMANCE - Silhouette Dance Ensemble   Jose Torres Tama

2:45 – 3:45 – PANEL – LAUNCHING A CULTURAL MOVEMENT IN NEW   ORLEANS- 2010-2020

• Moderator:  James Borders – Capacity Building Consultant working with emerging Cultural Organizations
• Panelists: Dr. Felix James – Professor of History SUNO, Carol Bebelle – Co-Founder, Executive Director of Efforts of                                 Grace, Inc. / Ashe’ Cultural Arts Center, Anh Joseph Cao – United States Congressman, Don Marshall – Executive Director of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Lucas Diaz – Director of Puentes NOLA, Ausettua Amor Amonkun – Founder of Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective and Second Queen Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indians, Mary Len Costa –  Interim Executive Director of the Arts Council of New Orleans, Valerie McMillan – Spoken Word Artist & Graduate Student in Urban Studies @ University of New Orleans

4pm – WRAP UP – Luther Gray – Director of AIRNOLA, Congo Square Foundation and Bamboula 2000

4:15pm -         SECOND LINE with PINETTES BRASS BAND

By Molly Reid, The Times-Picayune

January 20, 2010

Photo by nola.com

Each of the 12 New Orleans mayoral and City Council candidates at the Contemporary Arts Center news conference expressed support for the Cultural Election Coalition for New Orleans’ 21-point platform.

A coalition of more than 60 local arts and culture organizations announced a platform Wednesday for developing the city’s cultural economy, which supporters say could not only spur economic growth but also reduce crime and improve the city’s quality of life.

Though celebrated, New Orleans’ culture has been underserved and underfunded by city government, coalition representatives said, resulting in inadequate housing and health care for artists and musicians, a dearth of in-school and after-school arts programs and a failure to restore and capitalize on many of the city’s cultural landmarks.

While “study after study” has identified the creative industries as a top priority for economic development, New Orleans, “the mecca of indigenous, original culture in America … really has not picked that up as it should,” said Jeanne Nathan with the Creative Alliance of New Orleans.

Twelve New Orleans mayoral and City Council candidates attended a noon news conference at the Contemporary Arts Center, and each expressed support for the Cultural Election Coalition for New Orleans’ 21-point platform in remarks following the presentation.

Mayoral candidate John Georges, who attended alongside fellow contenders Rob Couhig and Nadine Ramsey, praised the group’s agenda, saying the city’s culture has “been viewed as a hospitality tool for too long” and “needs to be an economic engine tool.”

The coalition proposes the creation of a city office or agency dedicated to “cultural and creative affairs and economy.” The agency would buttress the efforts of the Arts Council of New Orleans, a nonprofit that serves as the city’s arts agency, as well as dozens of other arts and culture nonprofits.

In addition, the arts groups want the city to identify a dedicated financial source for cultural programming, marketing and organizations, which now must compete for dollars from the general fund, said Gene Meneray, director of arts business programs for the Arts Council.

To view the coalition’s platform, visit www.cano-la.org or www.artscouncilofneworleans.org .

Molly Reid can be reached at mreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3448.

For Immediate Release

January 20, 2009

Contact:

Jeanne Nathan: 504 218 4807

Rashida Ferdinand: 504 975 5168

City-wide and Neighborhood-based Cultural Organizations

Aim for Greater Investment in Cultural Development

Candidates speak about priorities outlined in the Joint Platform

NEW ORLEANS JAN 20–In an unprecedented show of unity, over 60 organizations contributed to or endorsed a platform of actions for the new mayor and council. They recommend such measures as a new city agency for the arts, cultural centers in neighborhoods, dedicated and expanded funding, and a focus on education, career development and work force training, all aimed to improve the earning ability of creative producers of all disciplines in the city, and to improve the city’s overall economic prospects.

Click here to download and read the Joint Platform (PDF)

The Contemporary Arts Center today hosted various members of the gathering of cultural economy

Luther Grey, contributor to the platform, speaks to the power of art and performances in public places

organizations, local artists along with key cultural leaders to present the platform which aims to expand and support the economic opportunities available to the visual and performing artists, designers and producers, architects, landscape and interior designers, apparel and jewelry designers, furniture makers, building and preservation arts professionals, and culinary artists who have created the cultural fabric of our city.

“We have made much progress in support of our culture bearers and producers in the last quarter of the 20th century, and in the first decade of the 21st. But we are still not “at the table” of policy makers in the public, non-profit and private sectors in a way that reflects the importance of our creative output to the city’s economy, culture, and quality of life,” said Rasheda Ferdinand of the Contemporary Visual Arts Association of New Orleans.

Cultural leaders and organizations representing all of the creative disciplines throughout the city came together to develop a united platform representing what they see as priorities for new administration in city hall, and the council so we can continue to stimulate cultural change through music, visual and media arts, and design.

“Arts are catalytic, it’s the rising tide that lifts all boats,” said Carol Bebelle Executive Director of the Ashe cultural center. After Ms. Bebelle and several other supporters of New Orleans’ arts scene spoke the candidates for mayor and city council spoke of their experiences in the arts and how they intend to address the concerns of our citizens.

All the candidates in attendance endorsed the platform and also had some ideas of their own such as the creation of an agency to support the arts, dedication of city funding to the local cultural economy and placing a greater focus on the arts as an engine for economic development to benefit New Orleans. In attendance were Virginia Blanque, Rob Couhig, John Georges, Cynthia Willard-Lewis, Stacey Head, Denis Holden, Nadine Ramsey, Jackie Clarkson, Jerrelda Drummer-Sanders, Nolan Marshall and Joe Butler, representing Kristin Palmer.

]]> http://cano-la.org/2010/01/press-release-tremendous-show-of-support-at-cecno-platform-release/feed/ 0 http://cano-la.org/2010/01/eternal-vigilance-by-clancy-dubose-in-gambit-weekly-11810/ http://cano-la.org/2010/01/eternal-vigilance-by-clancy-dubose-in-gambit-weekly-11810/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:55:32 +0000 katherine http://cano-la.org/?p=479 Eternal Vigilance

By Clancy Dubos, January 18, 2010

If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, the people of New Orleans need to pay up. Many of us, myself included, have paid a great deal of attention to the “insider” aspects of the citywide elections, less so to the issues and policy points that will define the direction our city takes in the next four years.

With less than three weeks to go before the Feb. 6 primary, it’s time to take a close look at where candidates stand on the issues and ascertain what their policies might be.

Thanks to the Internet, vigilance is a lot easier to achieve (and sustain) today than it was when Thomas Jefferson reportedly uttered his famous admonition more than 200 years ago.

In this election, several citizen-led initiatives have framed issues and suggested policies important to their constituencies and asked candidates to say “yes” or “no” to them. The results are available online.

Two that come to mind will be in the news this week: Forward New Orleans (FNO) and the Creative Alliance of New Orleans (CANO). Forward New Orleans is a bi-racial coalition of more than 30 business, civic and professional groups that came together to put forth a platform of seven “principles of reform.” Its Web site is www.forwardneworleans.com.

Forward New Orleans’ reform principles concentrate on issues that affect everyone: crime, blight, city finances, economic development, city services and infrastructure, city contracting and education. The coalition’s platform was given to all candidates for mayor and City Council, and council candidates already have responded. There’s a “scorecard” for council candidates online at www.forwardneworleans.com/files/candidate_scorecard.pdf.

Now here’s the hard part: Don’t go right to the scorecard. First, go to the FNO home page and read the details of the coalition’s platform — some of which you might not agree with — and then go see how the candidates responded. A spokesperson for FNO says the mayoral candidates’ responses should be ready for posting on line by the end of this week (Jan. 22).

On a similar track but on a different front, the Creative Alliance brought together cultural organizations and individuals who are anchors of the local “cultural economy” to focus candidates’ attention on that aspect of economic development — which, by the way, was noticeably absent from FNO’s economic development platform. I say that not to knock FNO’s effort, but rather to underscore the value of many voices being part of this citizen-led choir for reform and accountability.

CANO will formally announce its joint platform at noon Wednesday (Jan. 20) at the Contemporary Arts Center. Mayoral and council candidates are invited to attend — and all should read and respond to CANO’s platform and questionnaire. The results will be posted on two Web sites, www.artscouncilofneworleans.org and www.cano-la.org.

I’ve seen an advance copy of the CANO joint platform, and it’s impressive that a coalition of creative people could agree on so many “political” points. Everyone who appreciates our city’s unique culture should read and embrace it.

Equally important, CANO recognizes that City Hall is strapped for cash. This is not another plea for more money in the name of “culture.” It’s a real-world appeal for a smarter approach to capitalizing economically on our culture.

“We are asking all council candidates and mayoral candidates to tell us which 10 elements of the platform they will prioritize for implementation when they take office,” the platform states. “Realistically we know that in these difficult times, not all elements can be implemented immediately. That is why we leave it up to the candidates not to sign on to all elements, but to choose those they realistically feel they can achieve in the near term.

“We further encourage all supporters of the city’s culture and cultural economy to become involved in the election, in the transition after the election, and in the first hundred days, year and ultimately terms of office of the new administration and council. Promises are important. Accountability going forward is equally important.”

That’s where CANO and FNO share common ground: the need for accountability after the election. That’s why vigilance must be eternal — not just at election time.

Eliot Kamenitz / The Times Picayune

Colton Middle School thrives as arts center

by Darran Simon, The Times-Picayune

Monday March 09, 2009

At one point, Dennis Oatis argued with a leader of his school’s hip-hop dance team about what songs to perform. Hours later, Oatis, a Joseph S. Clark High senior, twirled his partner around and swing-danced away his afternoon.

“It’s like your day goes from average to extraordinary, ” said Oatis, 17, as he scurried onto a bus headed back to Clark from the site of the dance classes, the former Colton Middle School on St. Claude Avenue. “It clears your mind a little bit.”

Several times a week, more than 150 students, mostly high schoolers from the Recovery School District, spend time at the Studio at Colton — a fledgling arts center where an idle campus has been transformed into work space for dozens of artists.

Students visiting the Faubourg Marigny building explore print-making, fashion design and jazz music. They also broadcast shows on a low-frequency radio station.

Overseen by the Creative Alliance of New Orleans, a group still seeking its nonprofit tax-exempt status, the arts center is a work in progress, where artists and students embrace various disciplines.

Within days, a furniture artist will begin teaching a “Pimp My Ride” upholstery workshop that takes its name from the MTV show — and meshes upholstering with pop culture and cars.

“Kids are not interested in grandma’s wingback, ” said Annie Ezelyn, one of more than 70 artists and groups that are part of the educational venture.

The artists have agreed to teach their craft to children and adults in return for rent-free space at Colton, which hasn’t reopened as a school since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. There is a small shop on the school’s first floor where artists can sell their works.

The center is founded on the idea of using community resources — a vacant building and a pool of local artists — to establish a new creative hub and replenish the city’s cultural economy. Jeanne Nathan, a public relations professional and former television journalist, is spearheading the project with the help of her husband, Bob Tannen, an artist and urban planning consultant.

While it has drawn positive notice, the program must raise more support if it is to survive, advocates say. The studio operates on a meager budget and has just one paid staff member, who juggles grant-writing with other duties.

And it’s uncertain how long artists can continue their work at Colton, which the Creative Alliance leases from the school district at no cost.

Colton is scheduled to be renovated and reopened as a school in the future under the first phase of a master plan for school facilities. District officials said design work on the project will begin this summer. Construction could start in the 2009-10 school year. The arts center could face a temporary or permanent move when the renovations begin.

District Superintendent Paul Vallas said he supports the studio project and wants to ensure it has a home, whether it is in the refurbished Colton or at another site.

Awaiting tax approval

Foundations have been reluctant to give money to the Studio at Colton project because it hasn’t secured a permanent home, said New Orleans native Sarah Hess, program manager of the Creative Alliance and the only paid staffer.

Hess, 30, recently worked in Sydney, Australia, in a program supporting indigenous artists.

Desperately needing money for supplies, the arts center has attracted roughly $60,000 in donations, including a $35,000 check left by an individual after a tour of Colton. The donor’s identity wasn’t disclosed.

That donation covers Hess’ annual salary and helped complete modest building renovations in time for the center’s opening in November.

“This is a bootstrap organization, ” Hess said.

Hundreds of volunteers helped open the arts studio and now keep it afloat. An electrician, whose daughter attends art classes at Colton, provides free work. A security company donates the services of a guard. A plumbing company recently fixed a major water leak.

There weren’t enough volunteers to keep the first-floor gift store open, so Hess moved her office into the space — ensuring it is open at least part of the time.

“We’re all a little bit taxed at this point, ” Hess said. “Everybody is putting in as much as they can.”

There may be hope of financial sustenance for artists at the center once the Creative Alliance secures federal nonprofit tax status because the designation will make it easier to apply for grants.

Classes for general public

Despite such challenges, Hess and artists are encouraged by the studio program’s progress, with the offering of free arts classes to public school students now supplemented by evening and weekend classes for the general public, in which students pay modest fees.

Supporters say public school students need the sort of interaction with artists that the Colton program offers.

“They started something that’s not going to just stop, ” said Ezelyn, who also plans to teach an adult upholstery class.

The Studio at Colton so far has brought together students from Clark, Carver and Rabouin high schools, with more than 35 artists now teaching classes in ceramics, ballet, tap dance and many other specialties. Last week, Oatis and his Clark classmates, all new to square dancing, laughed and high-fived after they picked up the steps.

On another day, in a second-floor studio, Angelamia Bachemin, a former professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, taught her students how to play hand percussion instruments.

Bachemin and her young charges sang George Gershwin’s jazz standard, “Summertime, ” over an Afro-Cuban beat in Bachemin’s Jazz Hip-Hop Orchestra class.

In an old band room converted into a makeshift radio studio, students broadcast programs like “Ya Heard Me” on the 89.5 FM channel. That class is led by David Weinberg, an independent radio producer and reporter.

With a drum machine, microphone and a four-track recorder, Weinberg is teaching basic recording techniques. He also plans to teach students how to report, write and edit a radio story.

by Darran Simon, The Times-Picayune

Wednesday June 10, 2009

A fledgling arts colony planted at an idle New Orleans public school campus will disband this summer as the Recovery School District begins renovations at the Faubourg Marigny site.

The Studio at Colton for several months has offered free space at the former Colton Middle School for dozens artists and groups, including one that developed a rooftop garden, in return for a commitment to teach their craft to children and adults. But the venture is ending because of the school district’s long-range plan to use the St. Claude Avenue campus for elementary classes.

The district had agreed to let the Studio at Colton operate out of Colton at no charge through June 30. Officials agreed to verbally extend the lease — but only through July. The loss of free space will scatter a program that functioned on a shoestring budget — with help from volunteers — to more than one other locations, possibly including schools.

Some artists are searching for independent studio spaces, while others hope to establish a co-op organization.

“It’s been, very emotional for everybody in the building,” said Jeanne Nathan, president of the Creative Alliance of New Orleans, the nonprofit that started the colony.

In one hopeful twist, one nonprofit operating out of Colton has the backing of an actor to find a new home.

Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools will announce today that it plans to use a $10,000 pledge from actor Matt Damon to start a “Can You Match Matt” fund-raiser. The money will be used to help find a permanent home for its rooftop garden.

The Rethinkers, a nucleus of middle-school kids trying to get more local fresh foods into schools, planted squash, eggplant, corn and other produce in the Colton rooftop garden, which now has a temporary location on St. Claude Avenue a few blocks away.

RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas said Douglass and Rabouin schools — where high school programs are being phased out — could become options for providing space for elements of the Studio.

“It’s a partnership that benefits our kids,” Vallas said.

The state-run district first agreed to let the Creative Alliance use Colton from last summer through January. The 100,000-square-foot school attracted a cadre of volunteers, some from across the country, who painted and plastered walls and repaired plumbing.

In a flurry of activity, the Studio opened in November in time for the Prospect. 1 New Orleans art exhibition to provide a new local art venue.

Since then, the Studio has drawn hundreds of school children and adults for ceramics, sewing, dance, puppet theater and other art programs.

“We really did get somewhere with the kids,” said Angelamia Bachemin, a former professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston and current chair of the Studio’s music and culture department, teaching the Jazz Hip-Hop Orchestra class for high school students.

Among other artists leaving Colton, fashion designer Alton Osborne said will head to Los Angeles this week take a class on pattern making, “on good faith,” hoping to teach the craft in a reincarnated Studio program at another location.

The Studio drew artists of all stripes together.

“I hope the experiment has shown people that not only is art important in the lives of the community, it’s something that can be sustainable,” said Isabel Theriot, a filmmaker who hopes to start a new co-op and offer mentoring and classes to children.

]]> http://cano-la.org/2010/01/artist-colony-at-colton-school-to-disband-times-picayune/feed/ 0 http://cano-la.org/2010/01/the-studio-at-colton-a-look-back-and-ahead/ http://cano-la.org/2010/01/the-studio-at-colton-a-look-back-and-ahead/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:09:39 +0000 katherine http://cano-la.org/?p=399 Art:21 Blog

The Studio at Colton: A Look Back and Ahead

July 14th, 2009 by John d’Addario

If you had to point to one institution that best illustrated the progress of the arts community in post-Katrina New Orleans—not to mention the progress of the city in general—you wouldn’t have to look any further than the Colton Middle School on St. Claude Avenue.

Named for an evidently well-regarded member of the New Orleans Board of Education in the early years of the 20th century, the Charles J. Colton School opened in 1929 and operated for more than seventy-five years as a middle school serving a community which included the Bywater, Faubourg Marigny, Tremé, and Lower Ninth Ward neighborhoods. Although the school was one of a handful to reopen shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a dispersed population and resulting drop in attendance led to its closing after the 2007-08 school year.

Shortly after its closing as a middle school, the city’s Recovery School District leased the building to the Creative Alliance of New Orleans (CANO), a non-profit arts-focused economic development organization spearheaded by “cultural entrepreneurs” Jeanne Nathan and Robert Tannen. The couple organized the Studio at Colton partly as a response to concerns voiced by artist Paul Chan, who noted while visiting New Orleans for his landmark production of Waiting for Godot during Fall 2007 that there was not enough affordable studio space in the city.

In short order, and with a shoestring budget supplemented by donated janitorial services and volunteer work, CANO transformed the vacant 100,000 square foot building into exhibition, rehearsal, and studio space for more than 100 artists and arts organizations including painters, photographers, theater and dance companies, costume designers, sculptors, landscape architects and video production outfits. In return for use of the facilities, many resident artists and groups at Colton conducted free or low-cost classes and workshops for New Orleans student groups and adults. (More than 60 such classes and workshops were offered during the spring of this year.)

Rechristened the Studio at Colton, the building received a high profile boost when it was selected as one of the venues in last year’s Prospect.1 biennial exhibition. Art:21 Season 3 artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s Black Fireworks piece (above) was installed to magnificent effect in the Colton’s main auditorium, and Prospect.1 artists José Damasceno (below, left) and Tatsuo Miyajima (below, right) created room-scale installations in former classrooms elsewhere in the building.

In addition to the Prospect.1 installations, the Studio at Colton also served as a showcase for several distinctly New Orleanian arts and crafts, including Carnival floats and Mardi Gras Indian costumes. Local artists Austin and Alice Alward transformed a classroom full of old desks and A/V equipment into an installation called Deskhenge; others covered the walls with murals. And the building was full of all kinds of unplanned found art pieces from its former role as a middle school.

Over the past year, the Studio at Colton was well on its way to becoming the linchpin of New Orleans’ burgeoning Saint Claude Arts District, which consists of over two dozen galleries and performance spaces and has been steadily transforming an economically depressed commercial corridor into a vibrant arts destination. However, last month it was announced that the Recovery School Districof New Orleans would be taking over the building again for the 2009 school year—which means that the Studio at Colton will be closing at the end of July.

It’s hard to argue with the RSD’s decision to use the school for its original purpose, and the fact that it has the need to do so is a measure of how far the adjacent community has rebounded to its pre-Katrina population and student enrollment levels. And there has been some talk that the curriculum at the newly reopened school will somehow be more arts-focused than it had been before CANO came along. Conspicuously absent in the RSD’s rationale to reopen the school, however, is a recognition of the extent to which the Studio at Colton was already serving as an educational institution, one no less important to the community than the more traditional kind of school which will replace it in the fall.

According to its website, CANO is currently looking for a new location for its arts and education residencies. Meanwhile, the students who will start attending classes at the Colton School will no doubt benefit from the newly revitalized facilities. Whether they will also continue to benefit from the educational programs provided by the Studio at Colton remains to be seen.