The Harris County Cultural Arts Council (HCCAC) announced today that it has launched Project BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS to provide crisis shelter, studio, exhibit, and rehearsal space to artists from New Orleans of all genres who were impacted by Hurricane Ida.
HCCAC is a 501(c))3 organization that owns and operates a 20,000 sq/ft multi-purpose arts and culture venue that it is making available as free workspace for evacuee artists from New Orleans. Through an affiliated relationship, HCCAC is also offering shelter for up to 16 total creatives from New Orleans including their family members on a first come first serve basis. Applicants will have to meet and agree to certain specified terms to stay at the shelter.
The catastrophic flooding Ida caused resulted in the loss of housing, materials, supplies, created works, and creative space for thousands of artists across New Orleans who are already struggling to come back from the Covid-19 pandemic, and our help is needed NOW.
When disaster strikes, the creative community is there helping us pick up the emotional pieces to help move us toward recovery. During the pandemic, the entire world recognized the importance of the arts to strengthening the human spirit and promoting resiliency like never before. Their commitment to our recovery kept us going. Now, we have a chance to be there for them!
Project BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS, sponsored by Harris County Cultural Arts Council, was launched to make sure that the New Orleans creative community gets the help it needs to recover. HCCAC has set up a Go Fund Me Page to accept donations to help fund this initiative. See: https://gofund.me/b2bf3cb7
Michelle Bonton, the Founder and Executive Director of HCCAC, stated that “After the Covid-19 pandemic It took more than a year, the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the creative industry and the shuttering of venues across the world before we realized how much we need the arts to provide light, laughter, music, and beauty. Let’s not make the same mistake with the New Orleans creative industry impacted by Hurricane Ida.”
Ted Ellis, a renowned artist and New Orleans native who works closely with HCCAC, said “the pandemic couldn’t stop the creative community, and neither will 150 MPH winds from Hurricane Ida!”
Please make your generous, tax-deductible gift to Project Bridge Over Troubled Waters today!
