the Porch

The Porch youth arts workshop is the brain child of Willie Birch and the governing council of the Porch, a grassroots cultural center instigated, post-Katrina, in New Orleans’ 7th ward. The Porch builds on cultural assets of the neighborhood while seeking much needed material assets as well. Concerns that gave rise to the workshop include problems that existed pre-Katrina, such as the low level of reading among youth and the paucity of positive activities for them.

NYU theatre professor Jan Cohen-Cruz along with students Jack Judson and Jenny Soo instigated the workshop in January 2007 as part of HOME, New Orleans? (HNO), a community/ arts network involving local residents including artists and students of various artistic disciplines, and several universities, neighborhood and cultural institutions. Our focus is home in its many manifestations: individual dwellings, neighborhoods, and the city itself, all of which have been radically challenged post-Katrina. Our process emphasizes sustainable ways to contribute to ongoing neighborhood life. In addition to the Porch/ 7th ward, HNO projects include a team led by Xavier Art Department chair Ron Bechet in the 9th Ward; Dillard Art Department chair John Barnes in Central City; visual artist Jan Gilbert of the VESTIGES Project in Lakeview; and a bridging team headed by Tulane Professor Amy Koritz and videographer Kevin McCaffrey.

In the first phase of the Porch workshop, January through May 2007, 12-15 local young people, ages 6-14, examined neighborhood as home, celebrated local heroes, and advocated for better schools. Our workshop combined theater, including the interactive techniques of Augusto Boal, to explore solutions to problems the participants identify around “home as neighborhood;” dance, given its popularity with the young people; improvisation; and reflective writing. We gave each child a journal and made the reading and writing of their work a core workshop component.

Local dancer Stephanie McKee and spoken word artist Chris Williams, both of whom worked in the Porch’s 2006 summer camp, co-facilitated. Both are experienced youth art facilitators who had additional links to the 7th ward as AmeriCorps workers at the local branch of Neighborhood Housing Services. Porch Council member Ed Buckner recruited youth, transported them to and from our workshop space at Saint Anna’s Church, and participated energetically himself. Ed knows the kids, having spent many years as a local football coach and as a very involved member of this neighborhood.

A second goal of the project is to teach university students good practices of community cultural development. Xavier student participants included Rachel Steele, who brought a visual arts component, and Ja’nae Clausell. Tulane students Kala Brant and later Tammy Rosebur also assisted. Here is the response of the two NYU student co-facilitators:

“Being involved in the process of setting up a community project like the Porch’s Arts Workshop has been invaluable. Not only have I been equipped with the skills and confidence to continue work in this field, but the skills and confidence to live life as well. We have had the fortune to meet and to work with some unforgettable people. I know I will continue to grow and learn from this experience long after its conclusion.” – Jennifer Soo

“My work at the Porch has been deeply gratifying. I have found a meaningful way to implement my conservatory training in service of a community in need. I will never forget the pride I felt after completing our first performance. The show was a symbol of a long process. To see kids who were too shy to say their names on the first day start improvising during the performance is a moment I will treasure.” – Jack Judson

Porch members have said that the worst crime would be to start this workshop and then to end it after only one semester. Happily, Stephanie McKee will take on leadership of the workshop when the spring 2007 semester ends.

Public Workshop/ Performances

We set up Public events in Phase I as community gatherings. We began with participatory demonstrations in which the kids and the audience engaged in some of the games and exercises that we had been doing in the workshop. Then we presented a short performance, and then everyone enjoyed a free barbecue. We performed in the field behind the Porch’s home on Urquhart and Pauger Street on the traveling stage built for the Porch by the University of Kansas School of Architecture.

Local Heroes February 24, 2007

Our first public presentation was an extension of artists Willie Birch and Ron Bechet’s Local Heroes printmaking project. According to Birch and Bechet, “It brings attention to ten New Orleanians of African descent, several of them connected to the 7th ward, whose contributions and accomplishments help displace the neighborhood’s less positive images.” The idea to produce their images as silkscreen prints on paper came from John T. Scott, in response to Black History month. In the first phase, simple black and white, 9×12 images of the ten people and their names were produced using water soluble ink. Birch, Bechet, and Xavier University students made multiple copies of each. In the second phase, the images were put up early on the morning of February 9th, in the Porch’s neighborhood within the 7th ward, bordered by N. Claiborne St, St. Bernard, Elysian Fields Avenue, and St. Claude. The prints were stapled to street posts, where they could be seen, turning the streets into a gallery. The group intended and hoped that people would take the prints down and hang them in their homes. In the third phase, two weeks later, the children enacted the ten heroes — John T. Scott, Harold “Duke” Dejan, Tootie Montana, Mahalia Jackson, AP Tureaud, Jerome Smith, Dorothy Mae Taylor, Oretha Castle Haley, Ernest “Dutch” Morial, and Leah Chase – in three scenes.

Partners

* The Porch, via council members Willie Birch, Ed Buckner, Helen Regis, Mr. Hubert, Miss Carrie

* Neighborhood Housing Services, especially Troi Bechet, helping us acquire a workshop space

* Father William Terry, Saint Anna’s Church, donated workshop space

* Dan Etheridge, neighborhood environmentalist

* University of Kansas Architecture School

* Funding from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Transforma Project