NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Students, staff and volunteers from YAYA Arts Center, Backstreet Cultural Museum and New Dance Collection are joining designer and YAYA alumni Carlos Neville to create a 4’x12’ mural during Creativation, the creative materials industry conference, on March 24-26 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The finished mural will be donated to the Backstreet Cultural Museum.
Over the course of three days, community volunteers will work alongside Neville to transfer the mural image to large panels and paint the mural together on the showroom floor. All materials for the mural have been donated by Golden Paintworks Mural & Theme Paint, MAS Varnish, Ampersand Art Panels, Art Alternatives, FM Brush Company, DaVinci, Marvy Uchida, Daylight, and Pyle Creative Studio. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to stop by and help paint the mural and donate to support YAYA’s mission.
YAYA empowers creative, New Orleans-area young people through visual arts education combined with entrepreneurial and life skills training, equipping them with the skills they need to thrive as leaders. YAYA programs train youth to think creatively, solve problems, manage complex projects, and give back to their community. Since 1988, YAYA has served as an incubator for young talent, giving youth the freedom, opportunities, and resources to discover their passions and artistic voices.
Backstreet Cultural Museum, located in the historic Faubourg Tremé neighborhood and founded by Sylvester Francis, holds the world’s most comprehensive collection related to New Orleans’ African American community-based masking and processional traditions, including Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs, Baby Dolls, and Skull and Bone gangs. The museum’s filmed records of over 500 events constitute the most cohesive archive documenting these cultural traditions.
The finished mural will serve as an example of the power of community and creative partnerships to young artists and entrepreneurs at YAYA and throughout New Orleans.
