How does it feel to be creative? Such a question, when approached from a phenomenological perspective, reveals new understandings about the embodied experience of creativity, and how it feels as it is being lived. This investigation begins with a provocative contrast of two environments where creativity is thought to manifest itself: school art classrooms, where creativity is often legislated from an authority figure, and New Orleans Second Line parades, where creativity is organically and kinetically expressed. A thorough review of the literature on creativity focuses on education, arts education, creative economies, psychology, and critical theorists, collectively revealing a cognitive bias and striking lack of consideration for community, freedom, and the lived experience of being creative. Further discussions in the literature also neglect sites of creativity, and the impact that place (such as a school classroom) can have upon creativity. The phenomenological perspectives of Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Bachelard, and Trigg support a methodological lens to grasp embodied knowledge, perceptions of placedness on creativity, and the interdependent frictions between freedom, authenticity, movement and belonging. The research method includes investigations in New Orleans in archives, examination of visual and material culture, participation in cultural practice, and formal and informal interviews. Further, the phenomena of …

Using portraiture methodology and social practice theory, this study examined the identity work of young people engaged in a teen arts internship program at a contemporary arts center in post-Katrina New Orleans. This research asked four interrelated questions. Through the lens of a teen arts internship at a contemporary arts center in post-Katrina New Orleans, 1) How do contextual figured worlds influence artist identity work? 2) How does artist identity work manifest through personal narratives? 3) How does artist identity work manifest in activities? 4) What are the consequences of artist identity work? The findings of the study highlight how sociocultural factors influence dis/identification with the visual arts in young people and provoke considerations of in/equity in the arts.

The objective of this investigation is to compile a chronological history of the St. Charles Theatre of New Orleans from 1880 to 1888, the last successful years of the theatre when it was under the management of David Bidwell. In order to clarify the role of the St. Charles Theatre as it reflected theatre art in New Orleans during the latter quarter of the nineteenth century, special attention will be given to the physical improvements of the theatre, the kind of entertainment provided, the personalities who appeared, and the critical comments of the local newspapers.

Many books have been written on the battles of the Civil War. Most of these deal only with engagements between the armies; little has been written concerning the Confederate Navy. Yet the struggles of the Confederate Navy cannot be overlooked in determining why, after so many victorious battles in the field, the Confederacy still failed to defeat the Union.

This paper discusses the development of jazz that occurred in the Storyville district of New Orleans. Bernard Norman Rose explores the history of the area and the influences that resulted in a synthesis of music.