New Orleans Musicians’ Village (OUTDOORS)
New Orleans’ Musicians’ Village is a close-knit artist community and an affordable housing initiative undertaken in response to the massive urban devastation and residential displacement caused by levee failures during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Located in the Upper Ninth Ward, one of the areas worst hit by the storm, the Musicians’ Village stretches over three blocks with a series of over seventy colorful shotgun houses.
Acclaimed musicians from New Orleans spearheaded this housing development to bring musicians back to the city. They partnered with the non-profit organization New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH), an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, whose mission is to bring together people to build—and rebuild—homes and communities.
Since its establishment in 1983, NOAHH has built over 600 affordable homes in New Orleans using a sustainable model of zero-interest loans and sweat equity in place of traditional down payments. As hurricane-damaged areas have historically paved the way to gentrification, NOAHH has helped contrast this trend.
Upcoming Shows
The Slow Drop: Musicians’ Village is an immersive auditory experience, a neighborhood score. 3-5pm | Free & open to the public
In this one-time live event, New Orleans’ Musicians’ Village will be transformed into a shifting soundscape of intersecting performances by resident musicians simultaneously playing their instruments from the porches and front yards of their individual homes. These sounds will travel and mix with the sounds of the natural and lived environment in a collective improvisation, a neighborhood score, which the public will contribute to through the simple act of walking, each forming their own listening routes as they walk through the neighborhood.
A new sound art work by Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere in collaboration with musicians living in New Orleans’ Musicians’ Village. Participating musicians include Danny Abel, Sam Albright, Denise Bonis, Tom Chute, Sula Janet Evans, Helen Gillet, Edward Lee Jr., Thomas McDonald, Margie Perez, Troy Sawyer, Gabriel Velasco, and Chip Wilson. Curated by Anna Mecugni.
With a participatory ancestral tribute to Musicians’ Village founding resident Council Chief Joseph Jenkins in the Black Indian tradition, featuring Big Chiefs Kevin Goodman and Kevin Turner who co-curated the production with Maroon Queen Reesie (Cherice Harrison-Nelson).
