Born in New Orleans, Horton Humble (b. 1970) is a self-taught American painter. Humble’s debut show in 2007 entitled Debris; a series of paintings using wood from the Hurricane Katrina wreckage centered on themes of a lost city and water as a powerful force.

In 2008, Humble embarked on a one-year journey through Africa for his next series, Transit Urban, twelve paintings using local traditional fabrics depicting the energy of the people, land and culture. Each piece was drafted on site and later accompanied him on his other travels from Europe to US, in cities like Chicago and Lisbon. Enchanted by the old and mestizo city, he returned to Lisbon in 2012 where he lived for almost three years and created The Lisbon Series, clearly influenced by the discovery of a new medium; ceramics and its modeling techniques.

After the productive period in Portugal, Humble again returned home and established his studio with a group of fellow artists in New Orleans and co-founded the Level Artist Collective in 2015. At this time, his paintings on wood panels captured his impressions of a post- Katrina city represented inside of human head figures transitioning his previous subject matter into a new territory (US) and its social problematic.

In 2017 Humble was a resident artist at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans and named “one of the most talented young painters producing in the South today” by Bradley Sumrall, curator of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (Curator's Choice, Country Roads Magazine). Through the summer he created his first public sculpture in steel- The Guardian, commissioned by the Helis Foundation for the Poydras Corridor project, Sculpture for New Orleans.

Humble is currently creating his most ambitious work, large scale canvases in which he is releasing the formality of his detail obsession into a more dynamic and expressive work.

Horton Humble is a founding member of LEVEL Collective and a 2015/ 2017 nominee for the United States Artists Fellowship. His works are included in public and private collections, showcased at the Poydras Corridor in New Orleans, Prizm Art Fair at Art Basel Miami, Atlanta Contemporary Biennial, Ohr-O`Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi, Luciano ́s Benetton Imago Mundi Collection in Italy, NOMA at Prospect 2 Satellite, Carroll Gallery at Tulane University, Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, among others.

Ze11a is a music producer and rapper born and raised in New Orleans, LA.  Growing up in a Pan-African household in the 11th ward, Ze11a was exposed to the broad range of musical styles that co-exist in New Orleans. He has studied percussion and played with West African drum ensembles for years, including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz Fest with Percussion Incorporated. In 2007, Ze11a produced the Hurricane Katrina protest song "Freedomland," featuring New Orleans heavy-hitters Raw Dizzy, Dee-1, Kidd Kidd, and Raj Smoove. He went on to co-found Flight School Productions, a production team that has collaborated with Mannie Fresh on several hit tracks. 

Ze11a's forthcoming album "4What4U" showcases an evolved sound that incorporates the cultural history of the city. The music is rooted in the sounds of record labels No Limit and Cash Money, major forces in bringing New Orleans hip hop into the mainstream. 4What4U is synthesis of diverse musical influences, characterized by polyrhythmic beats, guitar riffs and live samples, and a trap vibe. Features on the album include musical visionaries Anderson .Paak, Mannie Fresh, Dee-1, Pell, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Dani Kartel, and more. 

Photo Credit: Mariana Sheppard

INDIGO is an American actress, DJ and entrepreneur. She is best known for her roles as Rona, one of the vampire slayer potentials, in the final season of the TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Veneeta on the Showtime series Weeds, in which she was nominated for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Jneiro Jarel is an American recording artist, music producer, composer and DJ. Recognized for his versatile, abstract, and often experimental style, he is also known for his beat-making alias Dr. Who Dat? and his groups JJ DOOM, Willie Isz and Shape of Broad Minds. He has collaborated with artists such as Damon Albarn, Count Bass D, Massive Attack, TV on the Radio and Kimbra among others.

Chriselda Pacheco is a photographer, writer, public speaker, storyteller, community organizer, multimedia producer and performer. She uses her camera lens, the written word and social media journalism to explore the raw spots of our culture and the human condition, asking the tough questions and looking for the truth, beauty and dignity hidden within some of our society’s most painful realities – from orphanages in Haiti to the locker rooms of the sex industry. Chriselda holds a bachelor’s degree in English & Journalism from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She was raised by her grandparents in Texas and currently resides in Austin, Texas.

Nik Richard is an artist, poet, and urban planner from New Orleans, Louisiana, with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans.

Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged his city in 2005, Nik has made it his mission to make a lasting impact in New Orleans through his work. His creativity in film has earned him an NAACP Award, AFI Silverdocs Award, and a PBS P.O.V. Award in the 2008 Myspace Film Your Issue contest for his interpretation of disaster tourism in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. He is the author of two books of poetry, Love and Water, and A Dream For Sale, both which narrate his experiences living and growing in a post-storm New Orleans. Nik is currently a planner at the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission and sits as a member of the New Orleans Board of Zoning Adjustments.

Understanding the importance of public spaces and public art, Nik is currently finding an intersection between his ongoing urban planning work and his lifelong desire to create by using his art to contribute to the ever changing narrative of the city that he works to rebuild. Nik is currently working on a project with the Arts Council of New Orleans to retell the story of the Tulane – Gravier neighborhood via steel panel illustrations that will be installed along the Gravier Street corridor.

Fari Nzinga was born and raised in Boston, MA and graduated with a BA from Oberlin College in 2005. Fari earned both her M.A. and Ph.D in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University. She has been living in New Orleans since 2009, where she conducted her dissertation research on Black-led arts organizations and community rebuilding in the post-Katrina historical moment. While conducting fieldwork in post-Katrina New Orleans she worked for Junebug Productions, a theater production company with organizational roots stretching back to the civil rights movement. Halfway through the second year of fieldwork, she moved into an artist loft and began keeping a diary of vignettes — these were confessions of an imposter, aspiring to one day fit the bill. After finally writing and defending her dissertation, she made a promise to herself that she would once again pick up the pen for her own artistic pursuits. In addition to nursing her literary aspirations, Fari is an Adjunct Professor at Bard Early College in New Orleans where she teaches a popular course in Black Feminist Thought; an Adjunct Professor of Museum Studies at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) — one of only 2 HBCUs to house an M.A.- level Museum Studies program in the U.S.; and a Project Manager for a holistic, community-driven neighborhood revitalization project at NewCorp Inc, a Black-led community and economic development organization. She also sits on the editorial team of Createquity, a think tank and online publication platform that investigates the most important issues in the arts and what we, collectively and individually, can do about them.

Sexy Dex and The Fresh is: Dexter Gilmore on Vocals, and guitar, Gabrielle Washington on vocals, and keys, Andrew Landry on Bass, Benjamin Buchbinder on Keys, and Evan Cvitanovic on Drums.

Sexy Dex and the Fresh formed in 2014. Stemming from Dexter Gilmore’s solo project “Coldilocks” the music is a combination of RnB, Synth pop, and funk. The band recently released their first full length record “The Plus One Edition,” available on iTunes and Spotify.

Carl Joe Williams creates paintings and painted sculpture from found objects, references to pop culture and rhythmic patterns inspired by the geometric forms found in nature. He describes his works as “symphonies of colors” that present a powerful visual experience. Williams’ installation, Journeys, was featured at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (Atlanta, GA) in 2002. His Sculptural Trees public art installation in Metairie, Louisiana was described as reminiscent of “lollipops in a Candyland forest.” His visual interpretations are enhanced by his vision of art and music as extensions of one another. An accomplished musician as well as a visual artist, Williams incorporates his musical compositions into videos and installations. Found objects play an important role in Williams’s works by becoming elements a narrative continuum that addresses societal and historical concerns.

Williams is one of the founders of Blights Out, a Creative Capital supported project in New Orleans along with artists Lisa Sigal and Imani Jacqueline Brown. Blights Out is a community- and artist-led initiative to activate agency in neighborhood development. This initiative was initiated as part of Prospect New Orleans, the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the U.S. Williams attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Art (NOCCA) where he received formal training as a teen. Williams continued his studies at Atlanta College of Art earning his BFA. Williams is a founding member of Level Artist Collective, which includes artists Ana Hernandez, Horton Humble, Rontherin Ratliff, and John Isiah Walton. Williams has had a variety of exhibitions including at the George Ohr-O’Keefe Museum Of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi, at Crystal Bridges, at Convergence: JMC@P3 Exhibition in conjunction with Prospect 3+ New Orleans, Curated by Deborah Willis and Sponsored by the Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans Museum of Art, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum Of Art (solo), at McKenna Museum of African American Art, Hammonds House Galleries, Atlanta, GA and permanent public art installations in Atlanta at Sweet Auburn Curb Market (as part of 1996 Summer Olympics) and at the Washington Park Tennis Center. In 2013 he was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Center NOLA Studio Artist Residence Program. His work is included in the Crystal Bridges Collection.

Angela Tucker is an Emmy nominated producer, writer and director. Her directorial work includes (A)SEXUAL, a feature length documentary available on Netflix and iTunes, BLACK FOLK DON’T, a documentary web series in its fourth season featured in Time Magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life”, THE OLDER FISH, a short documentary for TIME Inc and JUST THE THREE OF US, a short fiction film starring Leslie Uggams. She is the Series Producer for the PBS documentary series, AFROPOP and a Co-Producer on THE NEW BLACK. She is currently directing PAPER CHASE, a feature length teen comedy written by herself and collaborator Lauren Domino. She received her MFA in Film from Columbia University.

Photo Credit: Mariana Sheppard

Lorna Williams was born in 1986 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010. She studied at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia. In 2009, she attended the Norfolk Program at Yale University. Her work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum Harlem, Harlem, NY; Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA; and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Williams’ work has been reviewed in The Wall Street Journal, Art in America, The New York Times, FLATT, Boston Magazine, Concierge Magazine, and The Boston Globe, among others. She was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including Presidential Scholars Program Semifinalist, ARTS Recognition Finalist, National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts Finalist, Art and Change Grantee of the Leeway Foundation, Ellen Battell Stockel Fellowship Recipient. Her work is included in the collection of 21C Museum, The Pizzuti Collection and Wellington Management. Williams lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Photo Credit: Amina Desselle

Dominic Minix was born in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana at a young age. Minix studied jazz instrumental at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and is a recent Loyola University graduate. As a composer/songwriter and guitarist Dominic Minix had his formative musical experiences playing in New Orleans with a diverse range of musicians including jazz masters such as Jesse Mcbride, Donald Harrison, Shannon Powell, and Delfeayo Marsalis. Having performed as a sideman multiple times at the Jazz and Heritage Festival, The House of Blues, Tipitina’s, and Snug Harbor among other venues, Minix currently leads a quartet of versatile musicians that have developed a unique jazz/punk rock/hip hop sound. Other recent projects include participating in the Red Bull Bass Camp, a feature in the Guardian documentary, “Ten Years after Katrina: ‘I thought that was it for New Orleans’,” and an international tour with Grammy nominated trumpeter, Christian Scott.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Jackson

An up-and-coming voice in the electronic music and instrumental hip-hop scene, the South’s own AF THE NAYSAYER is a Louisiana-based, Los Angeles-bred producer. AF cites g-funk producer DJ Battlecat and legendary video game composer Yuji Takenouchi as his biggest influences. AF’s debut EP, the Autodidact Instrumentals Vol. 1, is a masterful postmodern blend of 80’s R&B and 90’s West Coast hip-hop that has served as the backdrop for many BMX web edits for FITBIKECO, DAN’S COMP, and ESPN. His collaborations in New Orleans have led him to co-curate producer Jneiro Jarel’s “Viberian Experience” music series, as well as the creation and hosting of the Dolo Jazz Suite showcase. AF is also currently the New Orleans ambassador for Red Bull Music Academy.

Photo Credit: Chad Whited

“Blaze Like Fyre” Edwards is a photographer, videographer, and digital media designer from New Orleans, LA. Blaze’s style of photography has been described as documentary; as Blaze puts it, “I shoot what I see.” Photography has been a catalyst for Blaze’s exploration of different creative avenues, including digital media, graphic design, and videography. Blaze studied Mass Communications at Texas Southern University in the Tavis Smiley School of Communications. According to Blaze, “I am not making a living doing what I studied in school. However, what I learned away from the classroom has become my business.”

Photo Credit: Kim Coleman