NOLA RISING: Day Four - NoLA Rising Festival in NYC

06 December 2008

Day Four - NoLA Rising Festival in NYC

Sorry for the delay in getting the updates of the NoLA Rising Festival posted. I've been nursing a cold that I neglected to take care of and it's finally gotten the better of me.

SATURDAY, Nov 22nd, 2008

The day fortunately began late with IRT transformed into a Jazz Cafe. While light Jazz was being performed live in the background, refreshments were served up and painting began...

The afternoon we held two screenings of "Wade in the Water, Children", a documentary by Elizabeth Wood, Gabriel Nussbaum and the Film Class from the first school to re-open after hurricane Katrina in Central City. "Wade in the Water, Children offers a poetic and devastating look at life in New Orleans through the eyes of the kids who call it home." To find out more about the film, visit www.wadeinthewaterdoc.com

Around eight that night, we kicked off all night festivities with WET!, an all night dance party hosted by SLIGHTLYaskew. Featuring the DJs: cassettenova, Eddie Mars & The Vietcong Disco and DJ Theo Action Lorraine.

DJ with Scarlet O'Gasm

Team NoLA Rising

No night would be complete without a little burlesque. We were proud to have New Orleans native Scarlet O'Gasm, of the Peach Tartes, performing the "Devil Went Down to Georgia."

But no night would be complete without light-up hoola-hoops! And this is how it went until the morning...

Hoola-Hoopers! at the NoLA Rising Festival in NYC

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What People Say...

CHRIS ROSE (nola): "It's all got a very Don Quixote feel to it, a lone wolf braying into the wilderness... It's art for art's sake. And for sanity's sake as well." & "NoLA Rising, a ragtag band of insurgent art missionaries who post artwork in public places as far and wide across the region as possible."

ANGELA PATE (nola): "New Orleans still needs so much help, but the people of NOLA are bringing back the bohemian, artistic atmosphere that makes me love it so much. Rex has become almost a cult leader, bringing NOLA back beyond just the infrastructure, but, more importantly, maybe, to it’s heart and soul."

Idiot the Wise a.k.a. INSPIRE (Tel Aviv): "If NOLA rises again, then its from the organized efforts of this guy...a true public art hero..."

A.J. (nola): "One day while traversing the muck of damage, alone in my car, I looked over and suddenly glimpsed a ray of color. A perfectly small square of color that simply stated Joy and then a short block away, another that read simply Hope. My car grinded to a slow halt in the street and I wept those post Katrina tears we've all shed following this time by a smile. Not a tiny grin but, a large and powerful giant size smile. "

Killian Doherty (Ireland): "Much to the disbelief of the destitute citizens of New Orleans, it became wholly apparent that the loss of the public realm was not due to the flooding, but to the governments' re-appropriation of it, when backs were turned.

Within this specter of a military dictatorship imposed to 'control' people' , ReX a local artist read the chasm between people’s physical disenfranchisement from their city and the unbridled appropriation of it by state as intolerable. ReX attempted to stitch this chasm closed with a humanist and practical intervention back into public space. 3,000 street signs were arduously hand- drawn, painted and affixed, to intersections throughout the city. ReX tried to weaved a sense of order back into the neglected fabric of New Orleans; his humanistic treatment gave people hope, allowing them to re orientate themselves again, empowering them to reclaim New Orleans, their home, amidst the neglect and oppression. It became a cultural movement for social justice."

KELLEY (detroit-ish): "This is great work!!!"

SINA (tucson): "Sunshine and art and happiness, the city, the soul will win...look how much more contagious NoLA Rising's efforts have become..."

MAGS (nola native): "Projects like NOLA Rising are only trying to spread a little love and joy via art to a depressed, beat-down population..."

VIRTUAL SHOCK (nola): "...it’s always heartwarming to see one of these signs."

DR. D. LEE (mobile): "...a rare and unique commodity."