Newcomb Art Museum

First Friday Newcomb Pottery Tour
2020-02-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | LA
Join Newcomb Art Museum on the First Friday of each month at noon for a free guided tour highlighting our permanent collection of Newcomb Pottery and the history of the Newcomb Enterprise! The tour is free but STRICTLY LIMITED to the first 10 people due to space restrictions. Email Sierra Polisar at spolisar@tulane.edu to RSVP for a tour.

Tiffany Window Tour
2020-02-13 12:00 - 13:00 | LA
Join Newcomb Art Museum every Second Thursday at noon for free guided tours of the Tiffany Windows on the Tulane uptown campus. Tours are free but limited to 20 people and require advance registration. Email Tom Friel at tfriel@tulane.edu to RSVP for a tour.

Free Exhibition Tour
2020-02-20 12:00 - 13:00 | LA
Drop by the Newcomb Art Museum on the Second Saturday and Third Thursday of each month at noon for a free guided tour of “N̶O̶T̶ Supposed 2-Be Here.”

Exhibition Tour (Online!)
2020-04-16 12:00 - 12:30 | LA
On the Third Thursday of each month at noon Newcomb Art Museum offers a free guided tour of our current exhibition “N̶O̶T̶ Supposed 2-Be Here.” Join us Thursday, April 16 for an online exhibition tour led by the museum’s Coordinator for Interpretation & Public Engagement, Tom Friel as we drop a brand new video on our website and Facebook at 12 pm CST.

Per(Sister) in Song: Virtual Concert
2020-04-30 15:00 - 16:15 | LA
Celebrate the art of song at a free concert hosted by the Ford Foundation Gallery, featuring music and performances by Lynn Drury, Sarah Quintana, Spirit McIntyre, Margie Perez, and Keith Porteous. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women of Louisiana, Per(Sister) in Song is an invitation to dive deeper into the stories behind the music and celebrate the incredible resilience displayed in the community featured in the exhibition.
From rock to Americana, blues to jazz, and folk to pop, the concert is a sample of the unique sounds of Louisiana and the intimate stories of the women incarcerated by the state. The performance—like the exhibition—not only presents the personal experiences of the women who inspired the songs but shines a light on the myriad issues facing formerly and currently incarcerated women.
Intended to engage, inspire, and challenge the audience, the concert is an immersive experience that celebrates the power of storytelling as well as the women in the stories and their persistence in their drive for the integral survival of their mind, body, and soul.
Click here to register for this free concert!

Third Thursday Tiffany Tour
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 | LA
For the first time since starting our monthly Tiffany Window tours, we’ll be exploring in detail the #TiffanyWindows on the other side of campus! This special virtual tour will look at the “Art” and “Literature” windows located in Tilton Memorial and their place within the illustrious career of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
About this tour:
In 1901, as the Tilton Memorial Library was being built on Tulane University’s campus, Caroline Stannard Tilton commissioned Tiffany Studios for the design and creation of two memorial stained-glass windows to be placed in the building. Today, these windows – “Art” and “Literature” – stand as the best examples of secular windows within the Newcomb Art Museum collection. Remarkably, they have remained in their original location to this day, owing to their good condition.
Learn more about these incredible #TulaneTreasures this Thursday at noon when we drop a brand new video tour led by Tom Friel, the museum’s Coordinator for Interpretation & Public Engagement.

Representation, Legacy, and the Movement for Black Lives
2020-06-19 16:00 - 17:00 | LA
In celebration of the 155th Anniversary of Juneteenth, Spirit McIntyre will moderate a panel discussion with Mariah Moore, Milan Nicole Sherry, and Syrita Steib about everything from ‘Is the Movement For Black Lives representing you?’ to ‘What will be your legacy?’ Hosted by the Newcomb Art Museum, the conversation will explore the context of social justice in New Orleans, artistic expression in protest movements, and the intersectionality of the Movement for Black Lives.
The conversation will be streamed for free on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/events/2332924963683109/) and the museum’s Vimeo Page (https://vimeo.com/user95586704) at 4 pm CST, Friday June 19.
–
About the panelists and moderator:
Spirit McIntyre (spirit/they/them/theirs) is a Cellist, Vocalist, Lyricist, Wellness Advocate, Sound Healer, Reiki Practitioner, and Compassionate Facilitator — promoting empowerment and healing by any medium necessary. Spirit believes in the power of breath, creating healing and reciprocitous relationships, honoring lovability, being seen/seeing, and growing compassionately through tight places to find authentic connection. As a Gender-Non-Conforming Transgender person they use their identity and community building practices to intentionally uplift TGNCNBI2-S (Trans, Gender-Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, Intersex, Two-Spirit) Black, Indigenous, and POC communities. Spirit’s reputation for honesty, compassion, and accountability allows for deeply transformative healing to be a through line in all of their performance and community building work. Healing affirmations, meticulous storytelling, and metaphor saturate their lyrics. They use their voice and cello to seamlessly blend: Blues, Soul, Folk, Classical, Reggae and Middle Eastern sounds into an unforgettable musical landscape. Since the transitioning of their father, Paris McIntyre on January 16, 2017, Spirit has been exploring the divinity of grief.
Mariah Moore (she/her/hers) is a National Organizer at Transgender Law Center. Her work includes fighting to ensure equity, equality and safety for the transgender community, especially Black transgender women. Mariah has worked tirelessly in New Orleans to bring awareness to communities that have been adversely affected by laws and policies that are discriminatory. Mariah serves on the LGBTQ Task Force which was created by New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell. She also works with the CANS Cant Stand campaign, which is a campaign that was created to bring awareness to and hopefully abolish the crimes against nature law that has historically targeted LGBTQ people of color, specifically Black transgender women. Mariah was also selected as a Victory Empowerment Fellow, which identifies LGBTQ community members who wish to run for office and provides campaign training.
Milan Nicole Sherry (she/her/hers) is a New Orleans native and founding member of BreakOUT!, where she first became a youth organizer. In direct response to killings of Black transgender women, Sherry created the #BlackTransLivesMatter campaign and organized the first New Orleans Trans March, led by transgender and gender-nonconforming youths of color, and co-founded NOLA Trans March of Resilience. Sherry has also helped the Department of Justice reduce racial and gender profiling by the Crescent City’s police and has contributed to a Human Rights Watch report linking discriminatory policing to HIV transmission. Recipient of the 2013 NOLA Unity Award and the 2015 Rising Star Award, presented by EQLA Quality Louisiana, Sherry has been involved with the American Bar Association’s Opening Doors Project and featured on PBS’ In the Life and in Philadelphia Magazine. She is a national board member of Positively Trans and a co-coordinator/outreach specialist at the Trans Equity Project.
Syrita Steib (she/her/hers) is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Operation Restoration, a non-profit organization based in New Orleans that supports women and girls impacted by incarceration to recognize their full potential, restore their lives, and discover new possibilities. Operation Restoration is committed to providing currently and formerly incarcerated women with the resources necessary to sustainably transition home through higher education, employment training, job placement, case management, and advocacy. In 2017, Syrita wrote and successfully passed Louisiana Act 276 which prohibits public post-secondary institutions in Louisiana from asking questions relating to criminal history for purposes of admissions, making Louisiana the first state to pass this type of legislation. In 2018, she was a co-chair for the healthy families committee for New Orleans Mayor Cantrell’s transition team. Syrita was also a panelist on the Empowerment stage at Essence Festival in 2018 and 2019. Syrita is also a policy consultant for Cut50’s Dignity for Incarcerated Women campaign and worked tirelessly on the passage of the First Step Act. She was appointed by the Governor to the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment oversight council and is the Vice-chair for the Louisiana Task Force on Women’s Incarceration. She also helped create and was featured in the Newcomb Art Museum’s Per(Sister) exhibit which shared the stories of currently and formerly incarcerated women.

Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality Opening Day Family Tour
2021-01-16 13:00 - 14:00 | LA
Take part in an online tour designed for families and educators, with a make-at-home lesson plan inspired by the exhibition! The virtual tour will go live on Newcomb Art Museum’s Facebook, Vimeo, and via our E-Newsletter at 1 pm (CST) January 16.

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality Live Gallery Tour with the Artist and Curator
2021-01-16 15:00 - 16:00 | LA
Enjoy a live Q&A and virtual gallery walk through with artist Laura Anderson Barbata, led by the curator of the show! Register via the Zoom link here.

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

Reimagining Public Safety in American Cities
2021-02-25 18:00 - 20:00 | LA
In this virtual program, presented in partnership with The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane and moderated by Dr. Lesley Ann Noel; Brent Godfrey (Crescent City Corps), Ameca Reali (Law For Black Lives), and Christopher Rabb (Pennsylvania state House of Representatives) will respond to ideas presented in Anderson Barbata’s Intervention: Indigo which addresses, from an intercultural perspective, the symbolism of protection embodied by the color blue. Using design thinking strategies to address the harms of over-policing, this discussion opens an transdisciplinary conversation that includes perspectives on public law enforcement, behavioral health, the Movement for Black Lives, and US history to posit a future of public safety. Watch this past event here: https://vimeo.com/516531566

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

Moderator:
As the Associate Director for Design Thinking for Social Impact and Professor of Practice, Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel teaches design thinking courses for the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Minor and build Taylor’s capacity for design thinking education through facilitations, consultations, and trainings. Her current research interests are on civic and social innovation, critical design pedagogy, equity centered design thinking, and design thinking in public health.
Before joining Taylor, Noel was part of the 2018-2019 Ocean Design Teaching Fellowship, a cohort of fellows that brought deep experience in design, ocean science and international policy. The Ocean Design Teaching Fellow program is co-hosted with the Stanford d.school, where she also served as a lecturer. In her professional practice, she draws on the fields of design, anthropology, business and education to create product development and business strategy with stakeholders. Her research practice is guided by an emancipatory philosophy. Noel focuses on developing design curriculum for non-traditional audiences and promoting the work of designers outside of Europe and North America. She has exhibited work at design exhibitions in Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Brazil, Germany, France and the USA. She has presented peer-reviewed papers at design conferences in the Caribbean, the US, the UK and India.
Noel completed her Ph.D. in Design at North Carolina State University in 2018. Her Ph.D. research focused on design thinking at a rural primary school in Trinidad and Tobago. She also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of the West Indies and a bacharelado (equivalent to bachelor’s degree) in industrial design from Universidade Federal do Paraná. Lesley-Ann is a former Fulbright Scholar and a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Panelists:

Brent Godfrey has dedicated his life to public service and is deeply passionate about helping others find their own call to serve. As a former firefighter for the New Orleans Fire Department and executive director of the Crescent City Corps, he is working to build a movement of first responders who are committed to reimagining public safety. Also a veteran, Brent served as an intelligence officer, developed and taught curriculum to future naval leaders and was a strategist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brent is a graduate of Yale University and a current JD Candidate at the Yale Law School.

Chris Rabb is a father, educator, author, consultant, and member of the Pennsylvania House of Representative representing roughly 65,000 people in upper northwest Philadelphia. A former U.S. Senate legislative aide and writer, researcher and trainer at the White House Conference on Small Business in the Clinton administration, Rabb is a thought leader at the intersection of politics, media entrepreneurship and social identity.

While a visiting researcher at Princeton University, Rabb wrote the ground-breaking book, Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity (2010) which addresses modern U.S. entrepreneurship through the lens of structural inequality. In 2011, Rabb was recruited to teach at Temple University Fox School of Business where he was the Social Impact Fellow at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute and taught social entrepreneurship and organizational innovation. In his fourth year of teaching at Temple, Rep. Rabb helped to successfully unionize 1,500 fellow adjunct professors in a landslide victory for worker rights. He was also a long-time board member of the national racial justice think tank, Race Forward, and the oldest Black, family-owned newspaper in the U.S., the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper Company, founded by his great-great grandfather in 1892.
In 2018, Rep. Rabb successfully created the first of its kind Equity Committee within the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus and is its founding chair which evaluates and makes recommendations regarding social equity issues related to policy, membership, personnel, legal, procurement, communications and appropriations.
Rabb has been a fellow at Demos, the Poynter Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. and presently serves on the boards of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL), the executive committee of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) and a member of the National Conference of State Legislators’ Energy Supply Task Force.
A graduate of Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania, Rep. Rabb is a native of Chicago and an avid family historian and genealogist.

Ameca Reali is presently the Membership Director at Law For Black Lives, a Black femme-led national network of more than 5,000 radical lawyers and legal workers committed to building a responsive legal infrastructure for movement organizations and cultivating a community of legal advocates trained in movement lawyering. Law For Black Lives staff is a team of strong Black and Latinx femmes who are deeply committed to supporting the leadership of directly impacted communities and transforming the legal field to represent the values of movement lawyering, which are centered in building community power and democratizing the law.
Ameca is a dedicated and entrepreneurial advocate for freedom and justice who is deeply inspired by her family and the philosophies of women like Ella Baker and bell hooks. Ameca has been working with people in Louisiana to create sustainable, thriving communities that are safe for everyone for over 10 years. She served as a Programs Officer and then Director of Economic Justice Programs at the Foundation for Louisiana for 3 years. There she oversaw the creation of a funding strategy for statewide grant-making and programs with a focus on criminal justice reform, housing, public health, arts and culture. Her work included supporting the development of numerous coalitions advocating for a vision of safety beyond cops, cages, and punitive systems.
Ameca co-founded the Justice and Accountability Center in 2011 as an Echoing Green Fellow. JAC developed a mobile expungement clinic model to address and eliminate some of the collateral consequences of arrest and conviction for thousands of people across Louisiana. She earned a B.A. in Communication from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006 and a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2011. In her free time Ameca loves to create costumes, craft, cook and go on long walks with her two dogs Prince and Rufus.

Additional Topical Resources Compiled by the Panelists and Moderator:

The End of Policing. Vitale, Alex S. Verso, 2017
Are Prisons Obsolete? Davis, Angela Y. Seven Stories Press, 2003
The New Jim Crow. Alexander, Michelle. The New Press, 2010
Policing a Class Society: The Experience of American Cities 1865 – 1915. Harring, Sidney L. Haymarket Books, 2017

We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility. Hill, Marc Lamont.

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. Davis, Angela.

Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. Edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price.

We Do This ’til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Kaba, Mariame.
Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. University of California Press, 2007
Crescent City Corp Training Seminar with New Orleans residents and the Taylor Center https://vimeo.com/384603531/5cd4d04340
We all have a role in discussing police reform in Michigan: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/06/14/lt-governor-garlin-gilchrist-discusses-police-reform-michigan-msnbc/3189296001/
Reimagining policing – Community leaders, activists, law enforcement, and others offer 14 ways to confront racist policing.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/a/reimagining-policing-community-leaders-activists-law-enforcement-confront-racism-20200606.html
What we talk about when we talk about community policing –https://whyy.org/articles/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-community-policing/
“Officers in shooting death of Trayford Pellerin should face separate charges, family says”, KLFY-TV, Lafayette, LA, January 5, 2021
https://www.klfy.com/local/officers-in-shooting-death-of-trayford-pellerin-should-face-separate-charges-family-says/
Intervention: Indigo (Brooklyn), 2015. Laura Anderson Barbata with performers Chris Walker and Brooklyn Jumbies. Music by Jarana Beat. Video documentation edited by Sandra Martin and Alejandro Mejia, 5 min 13 sec. https://vimeo.com/176888937
Intervention: Indigo (Mexico City), 2020. Laura Anderson Barbata with performers Chris Walker, Elizabeth Ross, Pro-Alterne Theater, Dance UNAM, and Diablos de la Costa Chica de Guerrero “Los Rebeldes del Capricho.” Video documentation edited by Alex Mejia, 5 min 59 sec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyvEN1ezo5w

Family Day: Story Making, World Building
2021-03-20 10:00 - 13:00 | LA
Cave paintings are the first art we know of, but they were created to be stories. Stories serve many purposes – they remind us of who we are, where we have been, and where we are headed – connecting us across time and place. We invite you to join us as we make art that tells stories, communicates ideas, and opens our imaginations through age appropriate artist-led virtual workshops. Gather your family and friends virtually for a unique day of visual storytelling and creation! Click the links below to explore our virtual family day!

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

Virtual Family Day, Story Making, World Building Materials List and Activity Links

Make Your Own Cave Art (click here) with:

One or more brown paper grocery bags
Crayons or chalk, or both
Scissors

Goat in the Road Play/Write lessons One (click here) and Two (click here) Materials:

Paper
Pencil
Your imagination!

Make Your Own Paper (click here) and learn more about paper-making in Transcommunality (click here):

Lots of scrap paper
A large broiler pan (disposable/recyclable aluminum works well)
A blender
Water
A mesh screen – one from the cooking & baking department in a grocery store is ideal
In the video, we’ll show how to make one with a window screen and old coat hanger or picture frame and duct tape. It’s a little more work, but turns out great!

Helpful but not required:
Some paint stir sticks
Fun things to add into the paper, like string, leaves, glitter, paint; anything small and lightweight you can think of!

Make a Moko Jumbie Stilt Dancer (click here) with:

A piece of white paper
2 straws
Yarn (less than 12 inches needed)
Scissors
Clear tape
Construction or printed paper
Air dry clay OR aluminum foil
Markers or crayons or colored pencils

And learn more about the Red Flame Hunters All Youth Mardi Gras Indian Tribe (click here)

Uncommon Exchanges
2021-04-21 18:00 - 19:00 | LA
Newcomb Art Museum in partnership with A Studio in the Woods, The ByWater Institute at Tulane University, and New Orleans Center for the Gulf South presents Uncommon Exchanges: Indigo, a unique dialogue between unlikely pairings of Tulane and Gulf South experts. LaChaun Moore and Dr. Sabia McCoy-Torres will use the museum’s current exhibition, Transcommunality by Laura Anderson Barbata, as a catalyst for conversation to remedy missing narratives and provide paths forward –through creative means – to a more equitable and just future. Moderated by Jeffery Darensbourg, Uncommon Exchanges will premiere at 6 pm on April 21 followed by a live Q&A with panelists and exhibiting artist, Laura Anderson Barbata. Register for the Zoom event on April 21 at 6 pm via the link here.

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

About the panelists:
Sabia McCoy-Torres is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Anthropology and Program in Africana Studies. She has a Ph.D. in social and cultural anthropology from Cornell University. Her research focuses on the English and Spanish speaking African Diaspora, race, gender/sexuality, transnationalism, and Black popular music and performance. Dr. McCoy-Torres’ current book project uses reggae culture as an ethnographic lens to interpret these dynamics within the West Indian Diaspora in Costa Rica and Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been published in Popular Music & Society; Black Music Research Journal; and Transforming Anthropology, for which she is a Contributing Editor. She has a forthcoming article in The Global South. Dr. McCoy-Torres’ course offerings include: The Anthropology of Race; Urban Music: Race, Class, and Sexuality; Blackness in Latin America; Black Transnational Culture; and Race and Migration.
LaChaun Moore is an interdisciplinary artist who engages the public with her ethnographic fiber making and research practice. Her practice focuses on plant species that are linked specifically to Black and Indigenous farmers who have been systematically exploited for their agricultural ingenuity. She earned her BFA in Integrated Design at Parsons, The New School for Design with a focus on Alternative Fashion Strategies and Social Practice. There she began her grant-funded research “Perceptions of Cotton and Agriculture within the African American Community.” She has since built a small-scale farm growing naturally-colored green and brown cotton as well as ancestral indigo sourced from a Low Country plantation. As part of her research LaChaun co-hosts the WEAVE podcast. Her work envisions investigating, documenting, and implementing ancestral knowledge as the start to chipping away at the inequalities within the fiber system.
About the moderator:

Jeffery Darensbourg is interested in the knowledge of flora, fauna, and people his Atakapa-Ishak ancestors carried with them and wishes to connect this sort of Louisiana-specific knowledge to the knowledge urban Natives such as himself have in negotiating Indigeneity, within the contemporary milieu of city life in our current social and economic climate. Jeffery U. Darensbourg is an enrolled member and tribal councilperson of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation of mixed Native and Louisiana Creole ancestry. His work explores the intersections of cultural studies, mixed ethnicity, and Indigeneity.

About the artist:
I am a bicultural, transdisciplinary artist. Since 1992 I have developed sustainable art-centered projects that integrate collaborative and participatory work that addresses issues of social justice and the environment. As a Mexican born, New York based artist, it is my belief that a shared artistic social practice can serve as a platform on which we connect, learn, exchange, create, and transcend borders in order to activate our sense of belonging to a global community. My work seeks to further the expectations of socially-engaged art by involving collaborators such as archives, scientists, activists, musicians, street dancers, and artisans to create works that operate both inside and outside of the art world. Since 2001 I began to work with stilt dancers in Trinidad and Tobago, and since 2007 have consistently collaborated with the Brooklyn Jumbies, and in 2012 with the Zancudos de Zaachila from Oaxaca, Mexico. The work combines character and narrative development with numerous collaborators in addition to textile arts, sculpture, dance, masking, music, procession, improvisation, ritual and protest.
– Laura Anderson Barbata

Engage with the work of the artists and scholars more:

Virtual Screening and Director's Talk: The Veil
2021-05-20 18:00 - 19:30 | LA
Newcomb Art Museum is excited to screen “The Veil”, a brave documentary film shot in New Orleans by Raven Ancar (’22), a current student at Tulane majoring in Sociology and Digital Media Practices. Ancar is also President of Tulane Black Student Union, a founding member of Les Griots Violets, and a College Track Scholar. In January of 2019, during her first year at Tulane, Ancar filmed several sit-down interviews with fellow Black students about their experiences on campus to interrogate W. E. B. Du Bois’ notions of “the veil” and “double-consciousness”, as presented in his 1903 book “The Souls of Black Folks.” Created from an activist point of view, this first feature-length film by Ancar candidly probes topics of diversity, inclusion, racism and white supremacy culture in our region. Thursday, May 20th, 6pm CST screening followed by live talkback between director and audience at 7:15pm CST
Read more about Ancar’s inspiration for creating the film and RSVP for the virtual screening!

Reciprocal Exchanges
2021-06-01 | LA
DATES TBA
Local artists and culture bearers will exchange techniques and practices in the spirit of Laura Anderson Barbata’s Transcommunality and an economy of sharing. Each exchange –centered on wearable art – will be released as a short film presented to the public, showcasing the artists’ practices and opening new creative possibilities through engagement.Zoom registration link coming shortly, in the meantime sign up for our e-newsletter to stay up to date with all things Newcomb!

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

Louisiana Reimagines: High Culture Below Sea Level - Part 1
2021-06-12 | LA
Behind the Scenes with Laura Anderson Barbata and Shaka Zulu
“Louisiana Reimagines: High Culture Below Sea Level” is an exchange between Laura Anderson Barbata and local tradition bearers from the Black Masking Indian tradition that responds to the garments and stilt dancing projects presented in the Newcomb Art Museum’s 2021 exhibition “Transcommunality”. Offering a look into the cultural world of Big Chief Shaka Zulu of the Golden Feather Hunters, this program is centered on Shaka Zulu’s distinct yet ever-evolving New Orleans practice which combines procession, drumming, elaborate 3d suits, and West African stilt dancing.
In March and April 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the two artists conducted a series of conversations via Zoom. Together they explored many topics related to creativity and stilt-dancing, such as the ancestral origins of Shaka’s practices and the healing power of the arts. They also discussed Shaka’s role as a youth mentor, the production of his suits and some of the spiritual philosophies guiding his work. Highlights of this cross-cultural dialog are presented as a series of video clips and offer an informal behind-the-scenes impression of the artists’ online exchange.
A work for camera by Shaka Zulu shot in Tremé and directed by Abdul Aziz will premiere at the museum June 26 and features local performers on stilts and percussion who represent four generations of Zulu’s family. Later in July, a virtual roundtable conversation led by Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson will also consider the processional art form’s power to foster diverse, intergenerational community relationships and Super Sunday’s historical connections to protests for social justice.
Using the “Transcommunality” exhibit and Shaka Zulu’s work for camera as touchstones, the roundtable in July gathers voices from the stilt dancing community – Najja Codrington of the Brooklyn Jumbies and Sarauniya Zulu of Zulu Connection – as well as three legendary figures of masking culture in New Orleans: Big Queen Rita Dollis of the Wild Magnolias; Big Chief Derrick Hulin of the Golden Blades; and Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters.
Explore these behind the scenes exchanges below!

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

About Shaka Zulu:
Based in downtown New Orleans, Big Chief Shaka Zulu is the multi-talented leader of the Golden Feather Hunters, a tribe of Black masking Indians whose spiritual traditions of song and pageantry are known globally. Chief Shaka is a culture bearer involved with many aspects of Louisiana’s street culture and performance scene – including African and Haitian music, to which he was introduced as a child by his father, Zohar Israel. A versatile and frequent collaborator, Chief Shaka has worked with the Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective since the early 1980s; played drums with Big Chief Smiley Ricks and his band Indians of the Nation; and toured internationally with Donald Harrison Jr. as a percussionist and vocalist for his band Congo Nation. Chief Shaka is a master of the African djun-jun drum and also plays many other percussive instruments.
Chief Shaka began stilt dancing at a young age performing with the company Free Spirit of New Orleans. Since 1986 he has performed around the world as a featured solo stilt dancer as well as with his own performing arts company, Zulu Connection. He is known for spellbinding audiences with his colorful and elaborate costumes, tremendous heights, extraordinary acrobatics, and dance moves. His work as a stilt dancer has been presented at festivals and events in New Orleans as well as in China; Germany, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Tanzania, and Morocco, among other places.
Chief Shaka is initiated into the secret and sacred art form of stilt dancing and also educates youth in his community on the culture, discipline, and need for preservation of this guarded ancient custom. He is committed to the growth and educational prosperity of local youth; and also manages and teaches for the New Orleans chapter of Better Family Life, a youth summer cultural enrichment camp.
As a Black masking Indian, Chief Shaka has exhibited his suits nationally and internationally at museums and festivals – including the 2015 exhibit “New Orleans – The Sound of a City” in Berlin which was supported by the US Embassy; the 2017 exhibit “Carnival Around the World” at the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal, The Netherlands; on Martha’s Vineyard in 2019; and for nearly two decades in Asheville, North Carolina, each year with the LEAF International festival, where he is also a youth educator and involved with LEAF’s programming in Tanzania and Haiti. Locally, Chief Shaka’s suits have been exhibited at The Presbytère, part of the Louisiana State Museum; at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts; and in his own Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian Gallery which was previously located on Rampart Street.
Recently Chief Shaka and Naimah Zulu, his artistic partner to whom he is married, also produced the vibrant and historical stage production “New Orleans Voices of Congo Square” at the OrpheumTheater which featured an array of magical music, colorful dance, and mysterious masking Indian culture.

About Laura Anderson Barbata:
I am a bicultural, transdisciplinary artist. Since 1992 I have developed sustainable art-centered projects that integrate collaborative and participatory work that addresses issues of social justice and the environment. As a Mexican born, New York based artist, it is my belief that a shared artistic social practice can serve as a platform on which we connect, learn, exchange, create, and transcend borders in order to activate our sense of belonging to a global community. My work seeks to further the expectations of socially-engaged art by involving collaborators such as archives, scientists, activists, musicians, street dancers, and artisans to create works that operate both inside and outside of the art world. Since 2001 I began to work with stilt dancers in Trinidad and Tobago, and since 2007 have consistently collaborated with the Brooklyn Jumbies, and in 2012 with the Zancudos de Zaachila from Oaxaca, Mexico. The work combines character and narrative development with numerous collaborators in addition to textile arts, sculpture, dance, masking, music, procession, improvisation, ritual and protest.
– Laura Anderson Barbata

Additional Resources:
Transcribed Copies of the Videos
2019 interview with Shaka Zulu at Xavier University of Louisiana; Produced and directed by Kim Vaz- Deville, Filmed and edited by Lexcie Thomas. https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/masked/7/
2016 interview with Shaka Zulu at the Golden Feather Restaurant & Gallery https://vimeo.com/180939157
2008 educational project with Shaka Zulu at Higher Ground in Oakland, California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkJVHOhfDFE&feature=youtu.be
2013 video documentation of Zulu Connection performance in Knoxville, Tennessee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSI_6-vo-5M&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zz5TP_5wo
2018 “Voices of Congo Square” stage production trailer https://vimeo.com/292132231
2015 Shaka Zulu exhibition in Berlin
https://www.offbeat.com/news/sound-city-exhibit-makes-waves-berlin/
Dec 2020 memorial for 1900 mass lynching site in New Orleans https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_ca7abefc-4171-11eb-a3aa- c35babfbe7de.html
Click to learn more about Laura Anderson Barbata’s exhibition at Newcomb!

Louisiana Reimagines: Live Performance by Chief Shaka Zulu and Free Spirit
2021-06-26 12:30 - 15:30 | LA
This event is free, but tickets are required, click here to reserve your spot: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/louisiana-reimagines-live…
Join the Newcomb Art Museum on Saturday, June 26 for Part Two of Louisiana Reimagines: High Culture Below Sea Level.

As part of the Louisiana Reimagines series at the Newcomb Art Museum, on Saturday, June 26 at 12:30 pm a new work for camera by Big Chief Shaka Zulu of the Golden Feathers, shot in Tremé, and directed by Abdul Aziz featuring local performers on stilts and percussion who represent four generations of Zulu’s family will premiere in Freeman Auditorium located in Woldenberg Art Center (next to the museum). The film will be followed by a live performance in the galleries by Chief Shaka Zulu and Free Spirit representing drumming traditions from Africa and the African diaspora. A second screening of the short film will take place at 2 pm in Freeman Auditorium.

“Louisiana Reimagines: High Culture Below Sea Level” is an exchange between Laura Anderson Barbata and local tradition bearers from the Black Masking Indian tradition that responds to the garments and stilt dancing projects presented in the Newcomb Art Museum’s 2021 exhibition “Transcommunality”. Offering a look into the cultural world of Big Chief Shaka Zulu of the Golden Feather Hunters, this program is centered on Shaka Zulu’s distinct yet ever-evolving New Orleans practice which combines procession, drumming, elaborate 3d suits, and West African stilt dancing.

Part One, a series of short digital behind-the-scenes conversations between Shaka Zulu and Laura Anderson Barbata was released on June 11 and can be accessed via the link here: https://vimeo.com/user95586704. Part Three of the series, a virtual roundtable conversation led by Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson considering the processional art form’s power to foster diverse, intergenerational community relationships and historical connections to protests for social justice, will take place in July. Using the “Transcommunality” exhibit and Shaka Zulu’s work for camera as touchstones, the July roundtable will gather voices from the stilt dancing community – Najja Codrington of the Brooklyn Jumbies and Sarauniya Zulu of Zulu Connection – as well as three legendary figures of masking culture in New Orleans: Big Queen Rita Dollis of the Wild Magnolias; Big Chief Derrick Hulin of the Golden Blades; and Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters.

Louisiana Reimagines: High Culture Below Sea Level – Part 3
2021-07-08 | LA
Join Newcomb online for part three of this multi-part series. Save the date for July 8 when the museum will release a new virtual roundtable conversation led by Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson that uses Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality and Shaka Zulu’s work for camera (as seen here) as touchstones to consider the power of procession to foster diverse, intergenerational community relationships. Panelists will include stilt dancers Najja Codrington of the Brooklyn Jumbies and Sarauniya Zulu of Zulu Connection as well as three legendary figures of masking culture in New Orleans: Big Queen Laurita Dollis of the Wild Magnolias; Big Chief Derrick Hulin of the Golden Blades; and Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters. The video will be released on July 8 on this web page, the museum’s Vimeo account, Facebook page, and via the museum’s e-newsletter.

These programs are funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.

About the moderator:
Joyce Marie Jackson, Ph.D. is chair of the Department of Geography & Anthropology and former Director of African & African American Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Dr. Jackson also holds the James J. Parsons Endowed Professorship at LSU. She earned her Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington in folklore and ethnomusicology and her core research centers on African and African diaspora performance-centered studies, sacred and secular rituals, carnivalesque identities and cultural and community sustainability. As a cultural ethnographer, her research and publications have spanned the genres of gospel, blues and traditional jazz. Dr. Jackson has been instrumental in the production of several documentary recordings and authored their interpretive liner note booklets published by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Capitol Records, Inc. and Louisiana Folklife Recording Series. She has also authored many scholarly works including, Life in the Village: A Cultural Memory of the Fazendeville Community, and curated numerous art and historical exhibitions along with J. Nash Porter, the documentary photographer. One of their most notable exhibitions was for the Smithsonian Institution titled, New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians: Exploring a Community Tradition from an Insider’s View. Most recently, Dr. Jackson produced a documentary film titled, Easter Rock which was premiered at the Ethnografilm Festival in Paris, France.
About the panelists:
Based in New York, Najja Codrington is a co-founder of the Brooklyn Jumbies along with Ali Sylvester and is also Musical Director of the KowTeff School of African Dance. Najja was born into a family that is deeply rooted in both African and African-Caribbean culture. At the age of 10, under the guidance of Obara Wali Rahman, he received his first formal training of the Sabar orchestra as a member of Sabar Ak-Ru-Afrique. Najja’s studies encompass music and dance from both the Caribbean and West Africa. Najja has traveled abroad to Senegal, West Africa where he studied under the tutelage of the Drame/Diabate griot family. As a result, he was exposed to an extensive amount of lore. As Najja has studied African dance and drumming intensively for many years, several people have contributed to his learning, such as Sewaa Codrington, Aissatou Diop, Wilhemina Taylor, Gregory Ince, Karim Braithway, Kissima Diabate, and Souleyman Diop, to name just a few. Currently, Najja is involved in many cultural activities such as Cultural Youth International’s Brooklyn Jumbies, Adlib Steel Pan Orchestra KowTeff African Dance Company, Bakh Yaye and A Touch of Folklore & More.
Laurita Dollis has served as Big Queen of the Wild Magnolias for over 25 years and grew up in New Orleans. Widow of Big Chief Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis, she began working on suits in the mid 1970s with her husband. In the 1980s Rita began masking with the family’s tribe, with whom she is also a musician. More recently, Laurita became founder and president of the Queens of the Nation Indian Council which advocates to create space for women within the Black masking Indian tradition and to share their knowledge with younger generations. She has received numerous honors, including the “Crystal Feather” award from the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame.
Derrick Hulin has led the Golden Blades as Big Chief since 1998, when he revived the Uptown tribe with many community blessings, bringing it back to the New Orleans streets for the first time since 1970. As a tradition bearer for one of the oldest Mardi Gras Indian tribes, Hulin is a keeper of the Golden Blades’ history and its founding in 1936 in a saloon on the corner of Third & North Rocheblave, near the Calliope Projects, as a spin off from the Creole Wild West tribe. The Golden Blades’ first Big Chief was Ben Clark (1936-1943) followed by Leon “Happy Peanut” Robinson (1944-1946), Robert “Robbie” Lee (1948-1949), Leon “Happy Peanut” Robinson (1949-1950) and Paul “Red” Longpre (1950-1970). Hulin officially started masking as a Spy Boy with the Wild Magnolias at age 16 in Hollygrove, and created his first suit unofficially at age 4 with his father Irving Hullin. He is also a musician.
Darryl Montana is the Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Black Masking Indian Tribe. According to the Chief, the New Orleans indigenous Black Indian movement of “masking Indian” on Carnival Day began in the late 1800’s in the Montana family. Hailing from a prominent family of Black Masking Indians and son of the Chief of Chiefs Allison “Big Chief Tootie” Montana, he uses sequins, beads, pearls, marabou, feathers and stones to create multi-dimensional Mardi Gras costumes for each year’s carnival in New Orleans. The techniques and use of materials have been passed down to him from his father. He began learning how to string beads at age six and made his first suit when he was eleven using a used vinyl raincoat as his canvas. His suits can take up to 5,000 hours to complete and they are created in response to themes like metamorphosis and evolution. He says that on Carnival day, “he is in full regalia representing a culture that unites the community around the tradition of masking and simply being the prettiest.” In addition to creating these massive pieces, Montana passes his techniques on to children and teaches them how to construct sculptural costumes. Montana’s work is in the public collections of the International Folk Art Museum and the Joan Mitchell Foundation and private collections of the late John Scott, Diego Cortez, Ron Bechet, and Mapo Kinnord-Payton, to name a few.
Sarauniya Zulu is a versatile stilt dancer, musician and educator based in New Orleans who has performed traditional African arts internationally with her family since she was a child. Niya’s many performing credits include the historical stage production “New Orleans Voices of Congo Square” at the Orpheum Theater, produced by Zulu Connection and created by her parents Big Chief Shaka Zulu and Naimah Zulu. She is fluent in French and studied Anthropology at the University of New Orleans.

Artist Talk with Laura Anderson Barbata
2021-09-30 18:30 - 19:30 | LA
Join the Newcomb Art Museum for a virtual lecture by artist Laura Anderson Barbata, whose wearable sculptures are featured in the museum’s current exhibition Transcommunality. Anderson Barbata will discuss her development as a socially engaged artist and her work with multiple stilt dancing communities across the Americas.
Register for the virtual talk now.
The exhibition Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality runs through Saturday, October 2 and is free and open for all to attend. Click here to learn more about the artist and the show.

Janie Verret Luster: Coiled Half-Hitch Revival
2022-03-26 13:00 - 15:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
A master palmetto basket weaver and cultural preservationist of the United Houma Nation, Janie Verret Luster is widely recognized for her coiled half-hitch baskets, made using an intricate weaving technique lost to the Houma for a generation. Luster will discuss palmetto basket weaving using examples currently on view in “Core Memory: Louisiana Native American Basketry” exhibition at the Newcomb Art Musem, followed by a hands-on workshop where participants will learn techniques of this unique process. This event is free to the public and all materials are included, but the workshop requires advanced registration, as space is limited to 12 workshop participants. Weather permitting, the workshop will be outdoors — please bring a hat and/or sunglasses. Water will be provided.
The workshop will immediately follow an artist talk by Ms. Luster about her cultural and artistic practice. There is no registration required for the artist talk, only for the workshop.
Register now for the workshop!

Objects in Focus: Jesús Rafael Soto
2022-09-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Join us on the first Friday of each month at 12 Noon for short presentations on select artists from our permanent exhibition Metamorphoses.
September 2, 12pm
Jesús Rafael Soto by Museum Director Maurita Poole.
Image caption:

Fall 2022 Opening Reception
2022-09-17 12:00 - 17:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Celebrate the opening of two exhibitions, Metamorphoses: Highlights from the Permanent Collection and To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre, on Saturday September 17 from 12 p.m to 5 p.m.
Program schedule:
12pm: Drop in family art activities & scavenger hunt
2p.m. – Metamorphoses Exhibition Tour

Walk through the exhibition with the curators and several artists featured in Metamorphoses including Jan Gilbert, Cynthia Scott, Melissa Turner Drumm, and Michel Varisco.
3p.m. – Jess T. Dugan Artist Talk
Learn about Jess T. Dugan’s portraits featured in To Survive on This Shore, created in collaboration with Vanessa Fabbre. Dugan will discuss how the years-long project took shape, the impetus behind it, and how it continues to have impact today.
4 p.m. – Reception continues with food and refreshments.

Image credits:
Pictured left: Jess T. Dugan. Duchess Milan, 69, Los Angeles, CA, (detail) 2017. Pigment Print. Courtesy of Barrett Barrera Projects and the artist
Pictured right: Michel Varisco. Trôleuse, (detail) 2019, from the series King Tides. Dye-sublimated photographic print on aluminum. Gift of an anonymous donor.

Jess T. Dugan Artist Talk
2022-09-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
An artist talk by Jess T. Dugan on the exhibition To Survive on This Shore.

Objects in Focus: Carrie Mae Weems
2022-10-20 12:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Join us each month for short presentations on select artists from our permanent exhibition Metamorphoses.
October 20, 12pm
Carrie Mae Weems by Curator Laura Blereau.
Image caption: Carrie Mae Weems, Approaching Time, 2003, gelatin silver print, gift of the artist.

Homecoming Open House
2022-10-21 11:00 - 15:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Enjoy Tulane’s Homecoming with free tours of the exhibition, a sneak peek at our permanent collection of Newcomb Pottery, art activities for kids, refreshments, and a book sale.
Please note: Permanent Collection access is limited from 12-2pm. On-campus parking is not available this day.

Monotype Workshop
2022-11-05 12:00 - 14:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Monotypes are unique one-of-a-kind prints that encourage improvisation and play. In this artist-led workshop for adults and kids, participants will make their own prints inspired by the work of John T. Scott in Metamorphoses.
Advance registration is required, as space is limited. To register, visit newcombartmuseum.tulane.edu.
Image caption: John T. Scott, Window Moth, Sunshine, 1997, monotype print, Collection of Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University.

Objects in Focus: Betsy Packard
2022-11-18 12:00 - 13:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Join us on the first Friday of each month at 12 Noon for short presentations on select artists from our permanent exhibition Metamorphoses.
November 18, 12pm
Betsy Packard by Curatorial Assistant Alex Landry.
Image caption: Betsy Packard, Clothes, 1978, natural and synthetic fibers, acrylic gel medium, gift of the artist.

Objects in Focus: Newcomb Pottery
2022-12-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Join us on the first Friday of each month at 12 Noon for short presentations on select artists from our permanent exhibition Metamorphoses.
December 2, 12pm
The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise by Collections Manager Sierra Polisar.
Image caption: Harriet “Hattie” Coulter Joor, Artist, Joseph Fortune Meyer, Potter, Tyg with Pine Grove Design, 1902, glazed ceramics, gift of Mrs. Marshall B. Stewart.

Artists in Focus
2023-02-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Activist, muralist, and artist Langston Allston will discuss the collaborative mural Together, Towards Freedom. The artwork was created with twelve young artists from the Youth Artist Movement (YAM). The mural depicts the harm of incarceration and the reimagining of a brighter future. Seen throughout the mural are messages of youth experiences in their day to day lives, and the history from which these issues are rooted.

Baby ArtsPlay
2023-02-04 10:30 - 11:00, 2023-02-11 10:30 - 11:00 | Newcomb Art Museum, Woldenberg Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Engage your early learner with this series of 30-minute classes in the museum. Each stand-alone class involves music, movement and socialization for infants, toddlers and caregivers. Register at ya4la.org/programs.
