Announcing the Fourth Cohort of the Take Notice Fund
February 24, 2025 • 22 minute read
The National Performance Network is thrilled to announce the fourth cohort of the Take Notice Fund, honoring artists of color in Louisiana. NPN envisions a world in which artists of color living and working in the South have the power, resources, and opportunities to thrive. The Take Notice Fund is part of NPN’s Southern Programs and expands upon this critical vision for the South.
Each year, the Take Notice Fund awards $5,000 grants to 30 artists and culture bearers of color living and working in Louisiana. The unrestricted grant funds are intended to support an artist’s creative practice and well-being. The fund seeks to allow artists to determine what they need to thrive creatively, professionally, and personally. “It’s clear this grant is impactful for Louisiana artists and culture bearers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” noted Southern Programs Assistant Daniel Pruksarnukul. “The Take Notice Fund is supporting these artists at critical moments in their practices and provides them opportunities for their work to thrive.”
“During each grant cycle, the budding of reciprocal relationships happens. For most artist applicants, it is their first time engaging with NPN. For the NPN staff, we are introduced to a new set of cohorts and become new admirers and audience members of their work,” says NPN Director of Southern Programs Stephanie Atkins. “This year’s 30 awardees are dedicated to their practices and recognize the importance of the role of the artist and culture bearer. Centered within each of their practices is the preservation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color’s identities and stories.” Atkins underscored, “Each awardee epitomizes a unique artistic approach and speaks their truths. Black and Brown people’s experiences are not monolithic, and numerous voices resonate with stories that must be told and celebrated.”
Through its Southern Programs, NPN continues to focus on Louisiana and deepens its pool of direct funding opportunities for artists in our state.
The National Performance Network’s Take Notice Fund was created with seed funding from the Ford Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression program.
“There is an immense need to increase philanthropy to reach artists and arts organizations in the American South,” says Lane Sugata, who is on the Creativity and Free Expression team at Ford Foundation. “Ford is proud to support Take Notice Fund as it’s one critical effort to uplift underrepresented voices and increase geographic equity in the distribution of arts funding to ensure vital creative voices are heard.”
Introducing the Fourth Cohort of the Take Notice Fund
Meet this year’s artists and culture bearers of color representing Louisiana’s vast brilliance of creativity.
- Abdi Farah
- Anthony Hingle Jr.
- Antoine Prince
- Baba Marcus Ṣàngódoyin Akinlana
- Breanna Thompson
- Caleb Dowden
- Chris Jones
- Chris Thomas King
- Déja M. Jones
- Desiree S. Evans
- Erica Falls
- Ifátùmínínú Bámigbálà Arẹ̀sà
- indee mitchell
- Jenna Mae
- Keith Calhoun
- Kesha McKey
- Kiana Tenille
- Kr3wcial
- Laurita “Big Queen Rita” Dollis
- Laveau Contraire
- Maaliyah Symoné
- Malik Sanders | Malik Ninety-Five
- Marcus Brown
- Mary Victorian Jackson
- Maya Pen
- Monique Verdin
- Sean G. Clark
- Sheleen Jones
- Soraya Jean-Louis
- Sydney Calderon
Abdi Farah
Abdi Farah’s artwork explores the parallels between the expansive subculture of high school football in New Orleans and its connection to the larger capitalistic co-opting of Black men through sports in America. Farah received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 and a Master of Fine Arts from Tulane University in 2018. He has exhibited across the United States and internationally at institutions including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse (Miami, FL), Institute for American Universities (Aix-en-Provence, France), Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, LA), the Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans, LA), and other art institutions. Farah was a 2005 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a recipient of the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship through the Yale Norfolk School of Music and Art, a 2017 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture participant, a 2021 Black Rock Senegal, and Joan Mitchell Center Artist-in-Residence. More recently, Prospect New Orleans selected Farah as an official exhibition artist for its Prospect 6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, from November 2, 2024 – February 2, 2025.
Anthony Hingle Jr. | Original Spy Boy of the Black Feather Tribe
Anthony Hingle Jr. is a Louisiana native and a second-generation masking Mardi Gras Indian. Four generations of his family practiced the masking tradition. Like his father, Anthony “Flagboy Meathead” Hingle Sr., he started masking and sewing as soon as he could pick up a needle and thread. The culture bearer masked until he was 16 years old; at the age of 18, he was arrested and sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola Prison) with a life sentence. In April 2021, Anthony was released after spending 32 years in Angola; significant violations were discovered in his case, and the courts amended his sentence. In 2024, Anthony returned to his practice and masked, wearing a white suit, the color usually worn by culture bearers masking for their first time, to signify the time he lost while incarcerated. His dad, Anthony Sr, a living legend who is now retired, can now see his son put on a suit again.
Antoine Prince
Antoine Prince, Jr., is a native of New Orleans and a graduate of Southern University at New Orleans, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education. He participated in an intensive visual art program at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. During his undergraduate studies, under the tutelage of his art department professors, Antoine fully realized his artistic style.
Baba Marcus Ṣàngódoyin Akinlana
Baba Marcus Ṣàngódoyin Akinlana materialized to this world in the 1960s during the sublimely divine year of the ferocious Black Panther. Upon arrival, he surveyed this beautiful planet and said, “Aah, let me feel the funk, bebé!!!” From then on, he began to sink his claws into the funk to lavish the world with his AFREECENTRIC art, music, self-defense modalities, Òrìşà Vudu Ifá traditions, and juju power Òrìşà Vudu inspired living while being lavished in return. He draws his superpowers in creativity from his beloved community and sacred egun (ancestors) from the bayous of Bulbancha (New Orleans) and beyond. With these superpowers, he can help bring unmitigated and funktified creative spice of life to the beautiful masses and help uplift Alla We, ya digg? Akinlana’s career as a cultural activist started with his art training in the 1970s. Since 1987, he has founded and co-founded the following businesses: Positive Creations Fine Arts, WON Mural Society, Ile Ẹkọ Àṣà Yorùbá in New Orleans Bulbancha, Avalanche JA MMA, and Juju Power: Òrìṣà Vudu Inspired Living Success School with his wife and business partner Yèyé Fatu Akinlana. He is the artistic director, instructor, and resident Olòrìṣà in these vital cultural businesses.
Breanna Thompson
Brenna Thompson was born in 1991 in New Orleans and has built her career in fine arts, installation art, television, and film. The artist’s practice focuses on process and draws inspiration from unearthing energy that lies deep within. In 2022, JAMNOLA (an interactive, collaborative experience) selected the artist’s NOLA Nostalgia for its permanent installation. She was commissioned to create the piece Not Broken for the group show Unthinkable Imagination: A Creative Response to the Juvenile Justice Crisis at the Newcomb Museum. Brenna’s artwork has also been exhibited at the McKenna Museum, Supernova on the Greenway, Exhibit Be, Studio Be, Good Children Gallery, and Xavier University of Louisiana.
Caleb Dowden
Caleb Dowden is a choreographer, educator, and researcher from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2021, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She received a 2021 Fulbright Independent Research Award from the U.S. Department of State awarded by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and a 2023 Fulbright Hay’s Fellowship with SUNY Purchase College. Caleb’s choreographic work and research have been presented and supported locally and internationally by the French Alliance of New Orleans, Le Centre (Benin Republic), Borna Soglo Gallery (Benin Republic), University of New Orleans, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, International Dance Festival of New Orleans, The New Ohio Theatre, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. As the director of Dow-Dance Company, she produces choreographic work at the intersection of African history and culture with a unique vision of (re)connecting the African Diaspora with the African continent.
Chris Jones
Chris Jones is an award-winning filmmaker from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a Bachelor of Arts in Moving Image Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His department recognized him as the 2016 Outstanding Graduate during his academic career. Chris seeks to amplify diverse stories through his films, bringing historically rich narratives to life that often go untold. His directorial debut, Pearl Motel, a period piece spanning from the 1930s to 1950s, earned him recognition as a New Orleans Film Society “Emerging Voice” and has garnered numerous awards on the film festival circuit. Chris’s recent work, The Candy Lady, swept the 2023 LA Film Prize, earning the Grand Prize, Founder’s Circle Award, and Best Performance Award. His artistic practice focuses on using film to reflect the lived experiences of marginalized communities, with a particular focus on historical accuracy and emotional depth. Chris also brings his talents to the commercial space, producing nationally televised content, and currently works as a multimedia specialist at Louisiana State University, using cinematic storytelling to engage diverse audiences. Through his work, Chris aims to foster understanding, connection, and representation for underrepresented voices in Louisiana.
Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King is an influential American blues musician, actor, record producer, and author known for his innovative fusion of traditional blues with contemporary genres. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1962, King grew up immersed in the region’s rich musical heritage. His father, Tabby Thomas, a renowned blues musician and club owner, introduced him to the blues early on. He gained widespread recognition for his role as Tommy Johnson in the Coen Brothers’ 2000 film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, where his performance helped revitalize interest in acoustic Delta blues. The music industry celebrates King for blending the Delta blues with modern elements such as hip-hop and electronic music. His groundbreaking albums 21st Century Blues and Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues showcase his versatility and boundary-pushing artistry. In addition to his music and acting career, King is the author of The Blues: The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture, where he explores the deep history of blues and its cultural significance. Over his career, he has earned Grammy Awards and widespread acclaim, contributing significantly to the evolution of blues music and culture.
Déja M. Jones
New Orleans native Déja Jones descends from a lineage of Black Indigenous Creole teachers, artisans, carpenters, and spiritual healers. Known for their work at the intersection of advocacy and art, Jones tells their ancestral stories and advocates for preserving their cultural legacies. In 2017, Jones introduced Grandmama’s House, a multimedia installation and archival media project dedicated to the advocacy of southern Black communities during the Civil Rights Era. Since then, Jones has showcased artwork in Scotland, the United Kingdom, New York, Louisiana, and Missouri. Jones’s community-driven focus led them to explore community development through art. In 2019, they participated in Imagine Water Works’ (IWW) Art of Science/Science of Art symposium in NYC, collaborating with other artists, scientists, and engineers to promote land stewardship. Jones later served as the IWW programs coordinator and is now a board member. Jones is a youth development specialist with the Children and Youth Planning Board (CYPB). In 2023, Jones launched “Youth Connections,” a podcast in partnership with the CYPB and Be Loud Studios, providing a platform for local youth to share their experiences related to health and well-being, safety and justice, learning, and economic stability. They are a member of The Front Gallery.
Desiree S. Evans
Desiree S. Evans is a fiction writer from South Louisiana. She is co-editor of the young-adult short fiction anthology The Black Girl Survives in This One and a contributor to the young-adult short fiction anthologies COOL AWKWARD BLACK and Foreshadow. Her writing has appeared in literary journals such as Gulf Coast, The Offing, Nimrod Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, and others. She is an alum of writing workshops such as the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA), Kimbilio Fiction, and the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. Her creative work has received support from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, the Hurston/Wright Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Austin Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In 2020, she received a Walter Dean Myers grant from the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books to support her children’s literature projects. She received nominations for her work for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net Award. Her fiction has placed first in competitions from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, the Arts & Letters journal, and the Fania Kruger Award for Socially-Conscious Writing. Her work has been named a finalist in short story competitions from The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, Nimrod Journal, and the Center for Women Writers.
Erica Falls
Erica Falls is a gifted singer representing her city’s rich culture and heritage. A R&B singer and songwriter, Erica credits her unique vintage sound to her childhood growing up in New Orleans’ 9th Ward neighborhood, where her parents introduced her to Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughn, and Whitney Houston. Whether on stage or in the studio, she channels a sassy, soulful tone that recalls an earlier era, yet she cautions her fans, “Vintage soul is not about bringing the listener back to a time of authentic music; it’s about reminding them that it never went anywhere.”
Ifátùmínínú Bámigbálà Arẹ̀sà
Ifátùmínínú Bámigbálà Arẹ̀sà is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in art and education. As an ordained West Afrikan Ifá priest, her artwork is a reflection and extension of her spiritual work. She expresses herself and her identity through her ancestors, who guided her back to their spirituality that was intentionally vilified and hidden from her. After living in Tanzania, those same powerful ancestors called her back to New Orleans to work on their behalf, including preserving their culture. She has masked as a babydoll with The New Orleans Baby Doll Ladies and was influenced by other New Orleans masking traditions, including the Black Masking Indians and the Skull and Bone Gang. She focuses on assemblage and textiles in her art practice.
indee mitchell
indee mitchell is a New Orleans-based artist, theatermaker, and cultural organizer interested in creating experimental and community-centered work rooted in collective liberation and healing. Heavily influenced by Black DIY/alternative cultures and a radical Queer Black feminist politic, indee has traveled and performed original work around the U.S., slowly planting seeds with many BIPOC Trans and Queer communities, rural and urban alike. Originally from a small town in Virginia, indee has been living in New Orleans since 2013, where he is currently a co-director of an oral history and arts collective, Last Call (www.lastcallnola.org), and an active member of a growing Black Trans and gender non conforming puppetry collective, QTPie Puppet Clique. They also currently serve on the board of LOUD Queer Youth Theater and the Southern Organizing Academy (SOA). As a community-taught archivist and TGNC youth advocate, indee believes in the power and importance of looking back at history to inform the ways in which we create a just future. In 2023, indee received the US Artist Fellowship, which supported their latest creative exploration into puppetry.
Jenna Mae
Jenna Mae is a queer/two-spirited, mixed southeastern person of Mvskoke, Cherokee, and Eastern Siouan descent. As a poet, parent, gardener, ethnographer, and community herbalist, Jenna Mae dreams of ancestral futures with their beloved community in Bvlbancha. They/she is a member of the Okla Hina Ikhish Holo, Bvlbancha Collective, Bvlbancha Liberation Radio, and the Mutual Aid Roundup Network. Originally from Chicago, Jenna Mae has lived in Bvlbancha since 2005.
Keith Calhoun
Keith Calhoun is a documentary photographer born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, he moved to Los Angeles, finished high school, and enrolled in Los Angeles Community College. He got his first job as a production assistant at KCET, a Los Angeles public television station. At that time, he began to produce and direct several short films. When he returned home, he opened a studio where the content of his work focused on the South, where he is rooted. His first exhibition was in 1982, at the University of New Orleans Earl K. Long Library; his photographs were of the New Orleans dock workers, and the show was entitled River Front Faces, curated by Bob Heriard. Later, the Contemporary Art Center New Orleans invited him to exhibit his work entitled Labor Studies Exhibition. His work has been included in many shows and exhibited in the United States and abroad. In 2015, his work, Slavey: The Prison Industrial Complex, was chosen for the 56th International Art Exhibition entitled All the World’s Futures, curated by Okwui Enwezor and held in Venice, Italy.
Kesha McKey
Kesha McKey is a New Orleans native, African American female choreographer, and multidisciplinary performing artist and educator. She has sustained the torch of art and culture in her community for over 25 years. Her artistic practice exists on a parallel plane with her values as an organizer and gatekeeper of heritage and legacy. Integrating abstract gestures rooted in historical connections and traditional New Orleans influences, her choreographic work aims to permeate barriers of age, gender, and cultural background to facilitate connections to the history, traditions, and untold stories of African American communities. Her work delves into the interdisciplinary realm and synthesizes elements of dance, theatre, music, and film, staged and designed to move and inspire an audience.
Kiana Tenille
Originally from Houston, TX, Kiana Tenille’s music career started at a young age, where she spent countless hours perfecting her craft. She found her sound after moving to New Orleans and made impressive strides as a songwriter. Kiana is developing into an artist unlike anyone has heard before. The 22-year-old is blazing a unique trail within the New Orleans music industry with her angelic voice and striking lyrics. She carries on the legacy of the legendary artists that have come before her, not only in Houston and New Orleans but the rest of the world.
Kr3wcial
Anthony “Kr3wcial” Gullage, Jr. is a rapper and producer from Algiers, Louisiana. His journey began during childhood, drawing inspiration from his family’s blues and gospel musical background. Over the years, his practice has evolved to include visual arts, music, and performance. His work explores identity, community, and romance through storytelling. He believes in the transformative power of art to inspire and challenge. His artistic journey is a continuous exploration of the world around him, seeking to capture the essence of the human experience through a diverse and inclusive lens. Through his practice, he strives to create pieces that resonate on a personal level and foster dialogue and understanding while engaging broader audiences.
Laurita “Big Queen Rita” Dollis
Big Queen Rita was born and raised in New Orleans. She has been the Big Queen of the Wild Magnolias for 35 years – one of the oldest Black Indian tribes in New Orleans. She began sewing Black Indian suits and masking with her husband, Bo Dollis Sr., Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias, who held the position for over 50 years. Her husband was a legendary musician with the Wild Magnolias, especially after recording “Handa Wanda” in the 1970s. Her first time masking was in 1989, when she created her first suit, and she has not missed a year since. In addition to sewing suits for herself and the tribe, she teaches the beading technique to children so they can continue the tradition and perform traditional Black Indian music at festivals and events. In addition to sewing suits and masking, her goal is to help others achieve their goals and vision by teaching them how to bead and design, as her husband taught her.
Laveau Contraire
Laveau Contraire is a drag queen extraordinaire from New Orleans, Louisiana. She has been putting audiences under her spell since 2015 and strives to bring magic and wonder to her artistic endeavors. Shortly after starting her drag journey, Laveau was crowned the winner of Tumblr’s Drag Race Cycle 7 and hosted and produced Cycle 8. Since then, Laveau has expanded her artistry to include hosting, producing, live singing, composing music, celebrity impersonations, improv, drag mothering, and drag wrestling. She is always looking to expand her horizons. Laveau is passionate about making drag accessible to audiences of all ages and often participates in Drag Queen Storytime events throughout the city. Laveau was also recently awarded the title of “Best Drag Queen” by the community at the 2020 FLAME Magazine Awards and Gambit’s 40 under 40 Class of 2021. Laveau was featured on Season 1 of Peacock’s Queer as Folk and is a producer and star of the documentary To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything on STARZ. Laveau was recently crowned the first Miss New Orleans Comedy Queen in 2024. Known for her non-stop shenanigans, this witch always brings down the house.
Maaliyah Symoné
Maaliyah Symoné is an Afro-Indigenous and Creole director, actress, and multidisciplinary artist from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Growing up as a mixed-race woman in the South has shaped her journey; through her art, she seeks to bridge cultural divides and spark unity through the power of preservation. Her filmmaking gives voice to forgotten stories and people and uplifts ancestral knowledge creatively. By blending traditional wisdom and Indigenous principles, she honors the strength and resilience of her ancestors while inspiring others to take action. As an advocate for her tribe, the Atakapa-Ishak Nation, and Afro-Indigenous communities, she’s driven to protect their traditional land stewards, whose knowledge is vital in the fight against climate change. Her debut short documentary, Ishak, is a heartfelt exploration of cultural erasure, belonging, and the powerful identity of being a Black Indian in the South, designed to ignite a deeper understanding of who we are and the legacy we carry forward.
Malik Sanders | Malik Ninety-Five
Malik Sanders, known by many as songwriter and producer Malik Ninety Five, has solidified himself as one of the most prolific talents of the next generation of Louisiana’s music scene. Malik attended St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, where he was a famous Marching 100 band member. In his junior year, the young artist began pre-professional training at the New Orleans Center for Creative. Malik excelled in the media arts program and honed his audio production and film skills. He later enrolled at the University of the Arts (UArts) in Philadelphia. While in college, Malik independently booked his first music festival with the Voodoo Music & Arts Experience in New Orleans. After graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Business and Entrepreneurship, Malik faced his first life hurdle when he was diagnosed with cholesteatoma of his right ear and had three surgeries to correct it, all while chasing his dream. 2019 was a pivotal year for Malik as he began teaching youth in Orleans Parish Charter Schools music production, music history, and songwriting. Also, he has earned gold plaque certification and produced music for A-list talents worldwide.
Marcus Brown
A native of New Orleans, Marcus Brown is a sculptor, painter, inventor, musician, and educator. Brown holds a Master of Education from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas City Institute of Art (KCAI) in Missouri. His work is expansive and includes national and international exhibits and performances in New York City, Berlin (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Venice (Italy), and Seoul (South Korea). Brown developed a form of painting called electrosonic painting, in which the artist painted with sound/data-producing instruments. He has performed with his invention internationally. In addition to his performance art, Brown has exhibited with artists such as Andy Warhol, Chris Burden, Hannah Wilke, and others across the globe. Brown combines a new form of creative storytelling using augmented reality (AR) sculptures with interactive multimedia elements. His latest national project, Slavery Trails, is a musically interactive, site-specific AR installation series on historical sites throughout the United States. The series is Brown’s effort to create a decentralized memorial to slavery in the United States.
Mary Victorian Jackson
Mary Alice Victorian Jackson, a prolific poet, storyteller, and fluent speaker of the Louisiana Creole language (langaj Kréyol Lalwizyàn), is a published author and wrote a book of poems in 2006 entitled At Mama’s House (Koté Lamézon Moman). She was born and reared in Pointe Coupée Parish, in a little place called Ventress, Louisiana, also known as the “Island”(en Lil). She is a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge and a retired educator of nearly 47 years. Her writing material is drawn from her beautiful and memorable childhood experience growing up on the Island side of False River with her Creole-speaking parents, Ernest and Anna Jeanpierre Victorian, both sharecroppers, and her eight siblings, who all speak the language. She taught Creole classes in her hometown of New Roads, LA. She has written and directed Creole plays and continues to promote the language through workshops and presentations for children and adults. She took part in a Creole-speaking interview with the Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) Baton Rouge station, which will air later this year. She shares various aspects of her upbringing, including her duties growing up in a large family, making herself cornhusk and rope dolls (katin) and especially the mud pies (tart labou). Jackson is in the process of writing her second publication in both English (Anglé) and Louisiana Creole.
Maya Pen
Maya Pen is a community-taught, interdisciplinary artist and organizer. Her work utilizes magical realism as a portal to transcend our concrete realities, uplift our collective memories, and reframe the colonial narratives that shape us. This intention shows up in all disciplines and genres she practices, including SPFX, costume, scenic arts, photography, film, writing, and sound. Additionally, her organizing work focused on cooperative economics and mutual aid; she is committed to building solidarity economies within her local community of artists and Black and Indigenous workers. Her work as an organizer and artist intersects in the realm of fantasy, using creature, costume, and scenic construction to reimagine our stories and geographies, visualizing the imagination needed to create new worlds through film, demystifying solidarity economies through community art making, and using story creation processes to heal trauma.
Monique Verdin
Monique Verdin is an interdisciplinary artist and storyteller who documents the complex relationship between environment, culture, and climate in southeast Louisiana. She is a citizen of the Houma Nation and a collaborator with Bvlbancha Liberation Radio. Monique supports the Okla Hina Ikhish Holo (People of the Sacred Medicine Trail), a network of Indigenous gardeners, as the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network’s Gulf South food sovereignty coordinator and is the primary steward of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange, a project facilitating community-built record-making, experiential education, research, and site activations celebrating the unique coastal cultures and native ecologies present in the climate-challenged wetlands, swamps, and prairies of south Louisiana. Monique is co-producer of the documentary My Louisiana Love (2012), and she has collaborated with a variety of environmentally inspired projects, including the multiplatform performance Cry You One (2013), Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas (2013), and the collaborative book Return to Yakni Chitto: Houma Migrations (2019). She co-stewards the Nanih Bvlbancha (2024) earthen mound on the Lafitte Greenway in Bvlbancha | New Orleans; she is a co-facilitator of the Gulf South Open School (2023) and is experimenting with autonomous alternative communication systems in community with mutual aid networks through SwampNet.
Sean G. Clark
Sean Clark is a painter of figurative and abstract works that incorporate the aesthetic, cultural, and narrative elements of quilting popularized by Black women. At the center of his creative practice are abstract and figurative works that capture internal narratives, specifically of Black lives, bodies, and family histories. His most recent works explore rest as repair, blending painting, and quilting to fill the literal and historical cracks of the past and create softness in technique, process, and product. Inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi – a technique of using gold to repair broken ceramics. Sean incorporates fabrics into works as a form of repair, conjuring elements of Black quilting traditions as historical healing. A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sean has lived in New Orleans for over 12 years. Sean graduated from Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and two minors in Public Health and African-American Studies. After working in Public Health for seven years, Sean transitioned into a full-time artistic practice with his residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in 2019. In 2024, Sean received his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Tulane University and is a full-time painter and part-time fine art instructor at Dillard University.
Sheleen Jones
As a native of New Orleans, Sheleen Jones’s artistic journey began at Xavier University of Louisiana, where she was encouraged to approach art with an open mind and a thirst for knowledge. Her exploration deepened at Florida State University, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts, allowing her to refine her craft and develop a unique voice in sculpture. In her work, she strives to capture the essence of her subjects in moments of profound inspiration. Creating memorial sculptures that honor our communities’ rich history and resilience is a privilege. Her recent public commissions are The Battle of New Orleans, The Healing Tree at New Orleans East Hospital, and Opening the Gates in memory of A. P. Tureaud Sr. These pieces reflect her commitment to celebrating our humanity, struggles, beauty, and fortitude. Each piece she creates is not just a sculpture but a tribute—a way to preserve and honor the legacies of those who have shaped our world. She hopes to continue crafting images that resonate with the spirit of our people and inspire future generations.
Soraya Jean-Louis
Soraya Jean-Louis is a Haitian-born, Harlem, and Brooklyn-raised creative living in New Orleans. The artist identifies as a mixed media, queer womanist, conjurer, and healer. Her deep love of Black women and families, motherhood, and nature is central to her work. Subject matter and topics often discussed are memory, embodiment, nuanced identities, beauty, African-centered spiritualities, wildcrafting, Black Feminist Futurisms, Black archives and cosmologies, and the African Diaspora. Soraya’s work as an organizer, mentor, counselor, doula, teaching artist, and medical anthropologist focusing on women’s health and African folklore strengthens the artist’s commitment to resist oppression and facilitate healing through imaginative, creative/art activism. Soraya has participated in several group exhibits in various New Orleans institutions. Her works have previously appeared in zines, books, and promotional materials. Soraya co-founded Wildseeds: New Orleans Octavia Butler Emergent Strategy Collective. The Wildseed’s collective engages Black feminist traditions of survival and healing, Octavia Butler’s writing, and other speculative, Sci-fi, and fantastical authors as resources for social change. She works with various community organizations, shares her skills as a dedicated and seasoned teaching artist, and facilitates her series of creative playshops while enjoying her beautiful family. In 2023, she was awarded and completed the Joan Mitchell Center Artist In Residency grant.
Sydney Calderon
Sydney Calderon is a lesbian Chicana and self-taught surrealist and folk artist based in New Orleans. As a painter working primarily in oil on canvas, her art delves into the nuances of the human experience, viewed through the lens of nature. A central theme in her work is ancestral connection. As she reflects on humanity as a mirror of the natural world, she is grounded in the belief that the earth is both a source of answers and a channel to ancestral wisdom. Through her paintings, she strives to unearth the stories held within each of us, using her art as a bridge that links past and present. Her practice is rooted in themes of identity, spirituality, and a profound connection to nature while simultaneously seeking to disentangle herself from the threads of colonialism. Her passion lies in storytelling, adorning and admiring the world around her, and uplifting her community.
