Sundays October 27 to January 12. 12pm-3pm

This course is designed for the singer, the actor, and anyone who wishes to strengthen and develop a deeper connection to their vocal instrument. Using Kristin Linklater’s text, Freeing the Natural Voice, this intermediate level course requires the utmost presence of body and mind for the 2 hour duration of the class, and asks that participants attend no fewer than 8 out of the 12 classes taking care to arrive before or on time. By the end of the 12 week course, participants will acquire concrete tools and exercises used to warm-up, strengthen, and liberate the voice, and can expect to hone their vocal instrument and increase its capacity to articulate and express thoughts and feelings in professional and personal contexts. Registration is required.

Grace Kennedy entered the world screaming and hasn’t stopped since. She can be found filling theaters, music venues, the French Quarter and the atmosphere of New Orleans with a truly liberated voice.

Saturdays November 2 - 23. 10am-12pm

Making Strong Choices: An Actor's Workshop will cover the importance of making strong choices in auditions and performances. Students will be expected to select a monologue to perform and explore making strong choices and creating moments through their piece. Each student will have the opportunity to perform their monologue in front of the class, and receive notes and adjustments. For the final class, students can invite friends and family for a showing of their pieces and a discussion of what they learned.

Samantha Beaulieu is an award-winning actress and a filmmaker from New Orleans who works in film, television and theatre. In 2010 Samantha won Gambit’s Big Easy Theater Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of Ruth Younger in the award winning play A Raisin in the Sun. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from Clark Atlanta University, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Saturdays November 2 - December 21. 11am-1pm

There's a quote "Don't get it right, get it written." You want to write . . . and you’re facing a blank page, daring you to cover it. Sometimes we need a nudge out of fears of perfection to get us to start writing at all, and this weekly class will offer many activities that you can use on your own (or with friends!). We’ll use a series of directed exercises designed to get you writing quality material now. We’ll also discuss key points of craft, learn from one another’s work and draw lessons from published examples. Whether you’re starting out and learning the basics, or an experienced writer looking to invigorate your practice, this class is designed to offer you fresh ideas and starting points. You can expect to generate new pieces–work that can form the basis for stories, essays, poems, and novels to come. Our goal: to start writing and keep writing.

Té V. Smith is a Nigerian American writer who focuses on the themes of healthy masculinity, mental health, and education reform. He has written two books, a collection of poetry & prose, 'Here We Are, Reflections of A God Gone Mad' (2017 R.H. Austin Publishing) and a Young Adult novel, 'Exit Ticket' (2019 Field Order Press). His work has been published in or are forthcoming in Tin House, Kingdoms In The Wild, Black Girl In Ohm, Blackbird and more.

Saturdays November 2 - December 14. 2pm-3:30pm

Nature has long been subject of poetic investigation. Many of the somatic arts reflect rhythms and flows of nature. This class will explore conceptual and real objects of nature in both embodied and linguistic practice in order to write from an expanded perspective. We will create poems, read poems, share observations through group techniques, and use somatic, performative, and linguistic tools to embody and represent nature. (Involves physical contact & group work)

Tim is a certified medical-based Qigong and Aikido teacher, performer, poet, and playwright. Their work involves a focus on somatic investigation, philosophical investigation, abstraction, rhythm, and nature.

Mondays November 4 - December 16. 9am-10am

Cultivate healthy movement habits out of formal walking meditations. Qigong walking involves a heavy focus on balance, core strength, energy flow, and proprioception. This class will introduce Qigong to students with an aim towards stronger balance and spatial awareness. (Involves physical contact & group work) Registration Suggested / Drop-ins Welcome.

Tim is a certified medical-based Qigong and Aikido teacher, performer, poet, and playwright. Their work involves a focus on somatic investigation, philosophical investigation, abstraction, rhythm, and nature.

Sundays November 3 - December 22. 11:00am-12:30pm

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals and core concepts of photography, providing a historical overview and theoretical groundwork, with a particular emphasis on moving beyond the traditional Western Male paradigm approach to the medium. Classes will focus on aesthetics, history, composition, the camera, lenses, light, and post processing, with the final class consisting of a guided photo walk during which students can directly apply all that they have learned.

It is preferred that students each have their own camera, but it is not required. A phone camera is sufficient.

Aaron Sarles is a portrait, fashion, and editorial photographer living in New Orleans.

Mondays November 4 - 25. 8pm-9pm

Through discussion and hands-on experimentation we will seek to find a way to better our understanding of the world using the musical concept of Counterpoint and how it is translatable to various aspects of life. Having musical knowledge is not required but certainly doesn't hurt. The concepts discussed will get pretty complicated but it's my goal to arrive at the concepts together so hopefully it won't be too difficult. Students will gain an increased awareness of the forces of counterpoint that affect our everyday lives. They will gain a better understanding of music in general and will leave with enhanced active listening skills.

Michael Mason is a guitarist, composer, and educator living and working in New Orleans. He cut his baby teeth on a toy & plastic guitar, doing his best to recreate the rock and roll and folk dreams that fell out of his boyhood radio and into his head. He found his way to NOCCA, where he plunged headfirst into the deep end of jazz, which studies he continued at UNO, ultimately receiving his B.A. in jazz composition from the Berklee College of Music.

Mondays November 4 - 25. 6pm-8pm

Students will gain or improve skills in reading and writing Western musical notation. The material is introductory; no prior experience with music theory is required although familiarity with a musical instrument or voice will be an advantage for students. Additionally, they will acquire a foundational vocabulary of musical terminology.

Zachary Pine is a composer and teacher in New Orleans with a studio-practice where he creates popular music using computer-driven tools.

Wednesdays November 6 - December 11. 12pm-2pm

Participants will work on a short, realist scene (approx. 10-15 minutes) with one or two partners. Using essential Stanislavskian concepts such as action, objective, and given circumstance to interpret and embody their text, participants will move through the process of scene study, beginning with text analysis and leading up to defined, repeatable blocking. The class will culminate with a performance that is open to the public.

Bennett Kirschner is the founding Artistic Director of Intramural Theater, a New Orleans based theatre company that has been producing original, site-specific works since 2014. He received his MFA in Playwriting from the University of New Orleans in 2019.

Saturdays November 9 - December 7. 4pm-5:30pm

Using the seven main chakras, we will move through the body's main energy centers, freeing tension, finding legibility, and increasing awareness. This is a great class for performers, as well as anybody looking to deepen their relationship with their body. Will include some movement and some journaling. No experience necessary.

Rachel is a professor at Hollins University and Bard College who has taught and directed around the country. She is especially interested in using theater as a way expand social justice work in our communities and liberation in our bodies.

Mondays December 9 & 16. 6-8pm

Imagining Sound is a series of two meetings with an attention to the variety of images and sensations that accompany the sounds which surround us. It is an experiment in imagination, memory, and stillness. By playfully exploring the multisensorial aspects of sonic and musical experience we might be able to expand and augment our approaches to composition to expand beyond music's ethereal nature and perhaps discover a more metaphorical, unified or inclusive language for describing our experiences of sonic phenomena. This class is open to all current and aspiring listeners.

Justin Peake is a drummer, sound composer, improviser, and experimental media artist based in New Orleans, LA. His music incorporates acoustic and electronic elements often using his own interactive software instruments. A graduate of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), he focuses on software for variably structured improvisation in performance. He has released music on the Moodgadget, Ghostly International, Ears & Eyes, and Articulated Works labels.

Sundays December 29 - January 19. 4pm-7pm Performance January 19th at 7:30 pm

This project is open to participants aged 18+ who are interested in practicing individual and ensemble devising processes and performance skills. Both trained dancers/physical performers and “pedestrians” with no specialized movement practice are welcome. Together we will build an ensemble movement-based performance piece using scored improvisation (a rehearsed, open structure) and set material. At the end of our fourth meeting, we will offer a public performance.

Ann Glaviano is a writer, dance-maker, DJ, and native New Orleanian. Since 2013 Ann has directed a performance project called Known Mass, aesthetically and ethically motivated by devised theatre and DIY punk traditions. She has also improvised with Hannibal Buress, danced with the New Orleans Ballet Theatre, choreographed for Hulu, and performed in a dystopic faux-corporate durational art installation in Dresden. Her dance film 01_fieldrecording premiered in 2019 at Highways (Los Angeles).

Over the next 3 classes we will be working on making our own maps - of our current, past, or future. Maps of where we used to live, intimate spaces, personal landmarks, maps of memories. How can we create a document that transcends time and place to connect the personal and collective? We will be working with collage, creative writing, found materials, photographs, personal memorabilia to build a visual map that reflects you. The pieces created in this workshop will become part of an online archive where future participants can contribute work and it will remain as a resource for the public.

Biography
Certified Social & Emotional Arts facilitator, Camila Sobral explores themes of identity, memory, and storytelling within mixed media practices. She has previous experience working in non-profit arts organizations, facilitating art workshops, curatorial work, and teaching. She is a firm believer in facilitating opportunities for people to find joy and self-reflection through creativity.

Questions

• How can we create a map that represents how we engage with our neighborhood? What would it look like?
• What would a map that reflects our everyday experience look like?
• What are your personal landmarks? If you could put a memory on the map, what would it be and what would it look like?
• How do our personal experiences shape the way we engage with our everyday surroundings?

During the period of Reconstruction, from 1862 to 1877, New Orleanians of many backgrounds fought to establish conditions of political and social equality for people of African descent. These efforts were fought and ultimately violently suppressed by ex-Confederate White supremacists, and its true history was obscured by racist mythology. Students in this course will learn about political and social histories of Reconstruction in the city of New Orleans through visits to historically significant sites, engagement with primary and secondary sources, dialogue and the production of artistic responses to these stories and their erasure from the historical record.

Biography
Chris Daemmrich grew up in Austin, Texas on land taken from the Tonkawa people. He studied architecture and political science at Tulane, graduating in 2017. As a writer, consultant and design facilitator through his practice, the Just Architecture Workshop (JAWS*), Chris participates in creating antiracist, queer, feminist space. Chris has experience in political, design and development work. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @sodaemmgood

Questions

• What was it like to be a resident of New Orleans during the Civil War and the First Reconstruction?
• In what buildings, places, spaces and institutions did the First Reconstruction play out in New Orleans?
• How did White supremacist politics and political violence crush the First Reconstruction?
• How is the First Reconstruction remembered, and not remembered? What effects has this had on the Second and Third Reconstructions?
• What would a Reconstructed New Orleans look like? A Reconstructed United States?

As an introvert, the idea of working on a team is daunting. Who are we kidding? Working in a team is difficult for everyone. But, when you apply the "yes, and" principle of improv, our ability to collaborate in a positive and productive way can increase. As creatives working together to build something beautiful, we need others to help, to solve problems, or to grow an idea, and all of that starts with listening, accepting, and adding to what others have to offer. Applying a few easy-to-implement principles of improv can improve collaboration even in the most diverse and headstrong teams. This workshop guides participants through improv exercises that focus on listening, accepting, and endowments. The experience gained can easily be transitioned into any endeavor where successful teamwork is critical to success.

Biography
Having fallen in love with improv in January of 2015, Carrie Moulder currently co-produces the all-female podcast Neon Clubhouse, performs with the New Orleans-based troupe Killjoy Associates, volunteers with Funny Bones Improv, teaches with Wit / Craft Improv Studio, and makes herself available for improv and sketch comedy shows that her friends produce. Originally from Texas but deeply grateful for her 20-plus years in New Orleans, she prefers sunsets over sunrises, loves ice cream, will play a board game at a moment’s notice, and doesn't care what she looks like when she dances (because she's doing it anyway). Ask her about traveling or her miniature Schnauzer Otto to experience the full breadth of her joy.

Questions

• How can I be present in a creative or teamwork session to truly listen to and understand what's being offered?
• How can I value another person's idea or contribution to my team, even when my first inclination is to disagree or dismiss?
• How can I build upon the ideas of others with specificity and positivity?
• How can I listen to and value my own contributions in the spirit of creativity and collaboration?

Through guided improvisation, play, somatic exercises, and composition prompts, we will grow our embodiment practice while building a collective dance score. We will learn about the connection between our bodies and minds with two goals: to demystify the practice of getting in our bodies and to build courage for being seen. Come ready to move, laugh, and connect to yourself and others. This series will culminate in a public informal performance to share what we have built together.

Biography
Rhia Jade (they/them) is a Korean-American choreographer, dancer, and performer based between New Orleans and Los Angeles who cultivates a practice at the crossroads of queerness, intersectional feminism, choreography, video, and performance. Rhia’s dance-works have been presented in New Orleans at the Contemporary Arts Center, Marigny Opera House, Catapult, and Port, and in Los Angeles at REDCAT, Human Resources, Pieter, and Highways. They are a member of the Asian heritage collective ThisOrientation facilitated by Ryuta Iwashita, have performed Trisha Brown's Floor of the Forest, and can be seen dancing on the Hulu series CLAWS. Rhia holds a BA in World Arts and Cultures/Dance from UCLA.

Questions

• what does it mean to “be in your body” and how can you do it?
• how does mindfulness combine with play to bring forth positive psychological growth?
• how can we normalize being truly seen, whether seeing our own self or seeing each one another?
• how come dancing is so fun and makes me feel so good?!

This course is catered to working performance artists and those who are interested in working in the performing arts/arts administration field. It is one of my missions in life to make sure that every artist understands the business of performing arts. So many artists are taken advantage of by professionals in this industry and I am very passionate about artists knowing how the business works so that they can protect themselves and their art.

Through this course, students learn the following:

• Copyright Law and Intellectual Property: The basics of copyright law and how to protect your intellectual property (aka your art).
• Performing Arts Contracts: The different types of contracts that exist in the performing arts, how to read them, and how to negotiate terms (aka how to get what you want). Contract templates are provided.
• Production Budgets: How to read and create production budgets, income sheets, and recoupment charts (aka figure out how much your production will cost and how much you should charge for tickets in order to make a profit). Budget templates are provided.
• How Nonprofit Arts Organizations Work: The ins and outs of nonprofit arts organizations. This course is for those who are interested in starting their own nonprofit arts company or working in arts administration.
• Personal Budgeting and Finance for the Artist: AKA how to live while being a working artist. Budget templates are provided.

Are you a theatre artist that is interested in learning more about how to run your own nonprofit theatre company or produce your own production(s)? Are you interested in learning how to read or write employment contracts? Have you created intellectual property and have no knowledge of copyright law or how to protect this work? Are you interested in learning more about how to create a production budget? Are you interested in learning more about how to manage your personal finances while working as an artists and want some advice in how to advance in their industry?

Biography
Tiffany Vega-Gibson currently works as an Enterprise Account Manager with AudienceView. She also works as an independent consultant through her performing arts management company, La Vega Management, which has worked with dozens of performing arts organizations in New York, Washington, DC, and New Orleans. She currently serves on the Steering Committee for the New Orleans based theatre company, No Dream Deferred, and is a trained Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion facilitator through artEquity. Previously, she was the General Manager at Hi-ARTS (Formerly Hip-Hop Theater Festival). Tiffany is experienced in organizational management, fundraising, fiscal development, and community relations. She has worked both on the presenting and producing side of performing arts as well as tour management and holds an MFA in Theatre Management & Producing from Columbia University and a BA in Theatre Performance from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Ever get lost in the sounds of your surroundings? You may have been practicing deep listening! Improve your creative ear in this class that explores the worlds of deep listening and field recording. This class is designed to provide a space for deep sonic exploration, discussion, and meditation. Participants will document the surrounding soundscape using basic field recording techniques and have the opportunity to create their own experimental music piece. This introductory class is designed for people from all backgrounds who feel they could benefit from practicing a more critical form of listening. Discovering experimental music created with field recordings and non-traditional sound structure changed the game for me as a young jazz musician, maybe this is the extra inspiration you need to explode your creative practice.

Biography
Mary Scott is a musician and educator based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They have toured and played numerous shows as Dolce, an experimental electronic project that weaves layers of feedback and field recordings into lush soundscapes. Sets range from blistering and unlistenable to delicate and tender. Aside from shows, Mary is also a teacher. While studying, they fixated over anything related to sound studies, how we experience sound in our day-to-day lives and immersion in deep sonic experiences. In 2019, they completed a Fulbright grant teaching English language and sound in Brazil. Along with teaching language, they taught classes on deep listening and sound in culture. They are seeking opportunities in the future to continue teaching sound as a tool for critical thinking and reflection, in and around ourselves.

Questions

• How often are you passively listening versus consciously listening?
• What kind of soundscape do you seek when you’re working on your creative practice? What about for your living space?
• What soundscape do you prefer when you want to relax or take a break?
• What is the difference between Deep Listening and meditation?

Have you ever wanted to make music with your computer but couldn't figure out how to get started? Have you spent countless hours searching youtube for the right tutorial to give you very basic information? Computer Audio Fundamentals is designed for all levels and experiences to learn & deepen fundamental knowledge about computer audio and then apply it directly to creative projects by using only free(ish) & open source resources. Through a combination of lectures and lab periods, students will learn how to use their computer for live music/DJ-ing, music production, film scoring, theatrical sound design, and much more. A computer is required. Priority registration for queer people, POC, & women.

Biography
Peter J Bowling (He/Him) is a self-taught computer musician & multi-instrumentalist improviser, producer, composer, designer & collaborator based in New Orleans. He holds advanced degrees and 3+ years of college-level teaching experience in an entirely unrelated field.

Questions

• Have you ever wanted to make music with your computer but don’t know how?
• Have you spent countless hours on youtube trying to teach yourself audio production?

Toxic masculinity is a term for some of the dangerous associations of “maleness” in our culture. It doesn’t mean that masculinity is bad or that it is bad to be a man. It does mean, however, that many of the traits associated with masculinity in our culture are dangerous or toxic for both men and women’s mental, physical, emotional, and relationship health and let’s be honest; the difference between healthy & toxic masculinity can be and has been a matter of life or death in some cases. Turning Pages is a Healthy Masculinity workshop dedicated to addressing and implementing healthy practices and monitoring progress of boys and men.

Té V. Smith is a Nigerian American writer who focuses on the themes of healthy masculinity, mental health, and education reform.  He has written two books, a collection of poetry & prose, 'Here We Are, Reflections of A God Gone Mad' (2017 R.H. Austin Publishing) and a Young Adult novel, 'Exit Ticket' (2019 Field Order Press). His work has been published in or are forthcoming in Tin House, Kingdoms In The Wild, Black Girl In Ohm, Blackbird and more.

Stardust en el Sur is a healing movement workshop made to honor indigenous ways of relating through dance in order to promote a mind-body-soul consciousness that is expansive and accessible to anyone; no prior knowledge or skill set required. It’s name came to be because all music danced to and learned about in this class are by Afrolatinx creators. Join us in this pop up session focused on the Rap in Español as we muse on it’s political evolution to answer the question: What does it mean to be daring and how can we use this framework to unlock new potential within movement? Come prepared to brainstorm, learn some history, and then apply your conclusions through some brand new, self-made dance moves.

Moréna Espiritual (they/them)  is a queer Afro-Taíno teaching artist, performer, and organizer. Their family is from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, while they were raised mostly in Harlem, New York. They have performed at venues like the Brooklyn Academy of Music (2014) and New York Live Arts (2016), and their work has been part of an exhibition at the VisArts museum in Rockville, Maryland. They are a recent Teaching Artist Project fellow - a self-reflective program developed by Community Word Project to deepen their social justice-based pedagogy. Currently they teach "Stardust en el Sur" -  a healing dance class that mixes political education, movement, and reflection in order to unlock kinetic medicine for its participants while uplifting the legacy of the Afro-diasporic genres of Latin America. Stardust has been taught at the Langston Hughes House, Sarah Lawrence College, with the collective Radical Love Consciousness, and as community classes at the Church of St. Timothy and St. Mathew’s.

COVID-19 updates as seen through the filter of Social, Economic and Racial Justice.

MarkAlain Dery, DO, MPH, FACOI is an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist who is the founder of community radio station 102.3FM WHIV-LP, a station dedicated to human rights and social justice. You don't have to wait to hear what he's up to, though: with Dr Eric Griggs ("Doc Griggs"), he has a daily, ten minute podcast NoiseFilter on COVID-19. Find it on Spotify.

This workshop will be an exploration into the presence of our bodies. The body remembers. The body is an amalgamation of histories and stories and memories which go beyond our lifetime. The body is relational, interpersonal, cultural. Through sensory activation, awareness practice, meditative movement, discussion, and mindful communication, we will explore the somatic, in all its creative and psychosocial entanglements. Presencing is focused on awakening and/or continuing a process. Life is process, presence is process. This will differentiate 'presence' from the 'present' as something dynamic with time. We will explore how we relate with and through space, and how our bodies inform mindful choices in interpersonal communication. Your body and your presence is all that is required.

Majak Qigong aka T.T. Kooken (they/them) is a Genderqueer facilitator and teacher of many embodiment modalities. From martial arts, meditation, breathwork, and fitness, to improvisation, performance, creativity, and ritual, they are focused on bringing healing through Somatic awareness and practice. In keeping with the spirit of Qigong as “Energy Cultivation”, they coalesce areas of experience to cultivate energy and develop deeper humanity. They're committed to working with nature, against the patriarchy, and towards a greater awareness of body knowledge, energy, and experience. They are a full-time parent, explorer, and student of living practice.

How is Virtual Instruction going for teachers? What are the benefits and challenges of Remote Learning? Andrea has kept her eyes on the changing learning landscape and wants to provide tips and insights that can make the experience better for teachers, students, and parents.

Andrea is a native New Orleanian who has taught here for the past 10 years. Beginning in elementary, then moving forward to high school, and now teaching collegiately at Southern University at New Orleans and also Delgado Community College. Once leaving teaching in the charter school movement in 2017, she began a blog called Ask Miss Heard . It began with writings to help support parents and also novice teachers navigate our current education system. From there, she continued with weekly LIVE shows via social media sites. All of those pieces have led up to her recent work and docuseries project. Here she fuses her background in film with her experiences in education. She has 10 shows total that will air later this year.

This workshop/class explores notable manifestos and the concept of manifesting. Students will workshop their own manifesto by the end of the session(s).

DB is an interdisciplinary PhD student in cultural anthropology and a Mellon Graduate Fellow in Community-Engaged Scholarship at Tulane University.

What does a dancer do? At its core, dance is moving through space and time with energy. The class will explore a couple of the five elements of dance (body, action, space, time, and energy), creating short movement phrases through structured improvisation. This class is designed for dancers as well as ‘non-dancers’.

Jalisa Roberts is a writer, educator, Black Studies scholar, singer, and choreographer; and explores how all of these different artistic interests live in one body and influence each other. Her choreography sparks conversations on identity and memory. Much of Jalisa's work explores how individuals relate to and influence groups, and how our narratives on similar events can differ greatly based on our individual experiences.

Join the Anti-Racist Book Club for an introductory conversation about equity, diversity, and inclusion. Prior to class, we'll read excerpts from texts seminal to anti-racist work by authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robin DiAngelo, and Reni Eddo-Lodge. In our workshop discussion, we will explore strategies to incorporate anti-racist practice into our daily life. Texts will be provided free of charge.

Amelia Parenteau is a freelance writer, translator, and theater maker based in New Orleans with a focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. An alumna of Sarah Lawrence College, she has worked with TCG, Ping Chong + Company, The Lark, The Civilians, the French Institute Alliance Française, Voyage Theater Company, and The Park Avenue Armory in New York; People's Light in Pennsylvania; the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut; and Théâtre du Soleil in France. She has translated dramatic works by Leslie Kaplan, Alain Foix, Sedef Ecer, the Théâtre du Soleil, David Lescot, and Charlotte Boimare & Magali Solignat. She is a member of the FENCE International Translation Network, ATLAS, and TCG, and she has been published in several magazines and journals including American Theatre Magazine, Asymptote Literary Magazine, Contemporary Theatre Review, Culturebot, HowlRound, and The Mercurian.