The New Orleans arts community, which was scattered across the nation post-Katrina in 2005, provided a healing balm for the city when artists finally made their way back home. Fast forward to 2008, an idea spawned at WWNO by general manager Paul Maassen provided a platform for those struggling artists to bring the community together.
That platform is what we now know as Culture Collision, a preview of the arts and cultural season, which is celebrating 15 years. WWNO business manager and spokesperson Jameeta Youngblood tells us more about what’s on deck for this year’s Sept. 10 event.
Hurricane Katrina is largely associated with widespread flooding and displacement in New Orleans, but it also devastated coastal Mississippi. It became the worst storm in the state’s history as thousands of homes and businesses from the coast to the I-10 highway were destroyed.
In Gulfport, in the heart of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, a group of historic Black communities found themselves at the center of it all. The Coastal Desk’s Michael McEwen reports on how increased development has surrounded these historic communities, making them more vulnerable to flooding and future storms.
This year, Be Loud Studios launched Born After the Storm, an audio storytelling project that brings youth who were not alive for Hurricane Katrina into the citywide conversation about the legacy of the storm. The stories will also anchor a new classroom curriculum that allows students to discuss the impact of Katrina.
Today, we hear from 12th grader Amari Walton, who discusses her grandmother’s experience during the storm.
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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our assistant producer is Aubry Procell. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.
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