Ashé Cultural Arts Center

PHOTO: Gason Ayisyin

Located in New Orleans, LA, Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s charge, as issued by co-founder, Mama Carol Bebelle, is to “to fly in leaps and gusts of provocation, instigation, inspiration and aspiration...to call for and exhibit the higher standards of justice, integrity, and kindness for all...to be brilliant conductors of opportunity, creators of vision, navigators of bs, advocates of culture, and defenders of children...to make real the majesty of dreams, to make plain the magic of being, to manifest the difference between perceiving and seeing.”

The Center’s innovative programming is designed to utilize culture in fostering human development and civic engagement. The organization maintains 10,000 square feet of gallery space and 20,000 square feet of performance space to create and preserve opportunities for the curation, exhibition, and commission of fine, folk, and fine-folk art. Producing over 350 music, theater, dance, spoken word, drum circles, and multi-disciplinary events a year, Ashé believes in art as a paradigm-shifting call to action. Ashé makes place and keeps place on behalf of a community facing growing displacement, asserting a collective right to stay and return. As ecosystem builders, Ashé delivers programming and direct services that support, leverage, and celebrate the people, places, and philosophies of the African Diaspora. For more information, visit ashenola.org.