New Orleans' Black Parading Traditions & Arts Enrichment Program
In 2011, the Pertunia Foundation partnered with Lagniappe Academies and the Lagniappe Project to develop a pilot 10-week enrichment course focusing on New Orleans' Black parading traditions - the creative work, mutual aid, and music that are involved. Thanks in part to funding from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, 27 Lagniappe Academies students completed the enrichment course by the end of the 2011-2012 school year.
Students learned from parading artists to do beadwork, make a Mardi Gras Indian headpiece, design and decorate a second line umbrella, create a second line fan, make a papier maché mask, make a drum, and play African rhythms. Guest artists mentored students through these projects while their regular teacher taught them the historical context in which the parading traditions developed and endured. Students discussed locally-made documentaries, articles, and field trips to institutions such as the Backstreet Cultural Museum, the House of Dance & Feathers, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
The course culminated in a final second line parade led by guest artists including the FiYiYi Mardi Gras Indian tribe and the Tremé Brass Band. Students proudly wore the art pieces they had made as they second-lined for their families, friends, other students, and teachers.
The Pertunia Foundation plans to expand this unique pilot school program into more New Orleans schools.
View the Program .PDF
This program was made possible by funding from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and by contributions from private donors.