Tulane music program promotes cultural understanding

The New Quorum invests in the future of music and culture through awareness.
The New Quorum invests in the future of music and culture through awareness. | Contributed photo
The New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University recently hosted a panel discussion and performance entitled "Looking Back, Moving Forward: Music & Advancing Cultural Equity," which was meant to advance the continuing Civil Rights Movement.

The panel featured Gianna Chachere, founder of The New Quorum; Wall Street Journal jazz critic Larry Blumfield; jazz pioneer Wadada Leo Smith; and Roxy Wright, a long-time activist and pioneer for civil rights.

The program's goal was to point out the work that has been accomplished or that is still being tackled by The New Quorum. This nonprofit organization for the arts charges itself with bringing to New Orleans the knowledge and experience attained from professional writers and musicians from around the world. This is provided to community artists – both local and regional – in an effort to bring forward a meaningful, culturally explosion exchange with mutual benefit for all.

Held at the Woldenberg Art Center’s Freeman Auditorium, the Green Room event featured New Orleans Center for the Gulf South Director Rebecca Snedeker and Smith, followed up with a performance of celebrated jazz music.

Blumfield and Smith are both artists-in-residence at The New Quorum, which reflects their efforts as noted professional artists giving back to their New Orleans community.