Carnival and Creativity, Paying Tribute with the Arts

10 years Post-Hurricane New Orleans & 5 years Post-Earthquake Haiti 

Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, and then in 2010 a massive earthquake shook the Caribbean island nation of Haiti. These two African Diaspora regions share similar French and African roots, a colonial legacy and a long, past struggle with slavery. However, the two also share common cultural ties to remember and annually celebrate the first Pre-Lenten festivals - Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Haiti. Year after year, these festivals exhibit the capacity that music, dance, and art have to heal and empower.

To commemorate these cataclysmic events that devastated New Orleans and Haiti, the Grinnell College Music Department, in collaboration with the Center for Humanities, the Center for International Studies, and the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights, will sponsor a series of events on February 11 and 12, 2016.

These events are free and open to the public:

• Thursday, Feb. 11, 4:30-6:30pm, Bucksbaum 102 - New Orleans Brass Band Workshop with Bennie Pete, tuba and co-founder, Hot 8 Brass Band

• Thursday, Feb. 11, 7:30-9pm, Bucksbaum 152 - "If You Don't Like What the Big Queen Says, Just...": An Evening With Queen Reesie (Cherice Harrison-Nelson, curator of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame and Big Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians)

• Friday, Feb. 12, 4:15-6pm, Bucksbaum 152 - Carnival and Creativity Roundtable Discussion
• Discussants: Gage Averill, University of British Columbia; Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame; Tess Kulstad, Grinnell College; Bennie Pete, Hot 8 Brass Band; moderated by Mark Laver, Grinnell College

• Friday, Feb. 12, 8-9:30pm, Sebring Lewis Hall - Grinnell Jazz Ensemble Plays the Music of New Orleans, featuring Bennie Pete and Cherice Harrison-Nelson. Directed by Mark Laver.