Why
Experiential Arts?
Evidence of human artmaking dates back to our Neanderthal ancestors: 150,000 years to jewelry that identified individuals and whole tribes; 100,000 years to symbolic representation; 65,000 years to figurative cave paintings that told stories; 60,000 years to the first hand-crafted musical instrument — likely used for ceremonial practices including burial rituals.
The common denominator linking each of these social phenomena is the indisputable fact that humans have been creating art as a means to connect, reflect, and relate their experiences for tens of thousands of years. Artmaking has always been experiential.
60,000 year-old bone flute discovered in Slovenia.
65,000 year-old cave art discovered in Spain.
This isn’t the story we’ve been told (and sold) however – not in the West at least. Ushered in by “high art” idealism of the European Renaissance some 500 years ago, artmaking in the West has increasingly become less a participatory process and more a presentational practice — art to be produced by “professionalized” artists and consumed by observant audiences.
Now facing the dawn of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the future of artmaking has never been so uncertain, nor the fears of artists and arts educators so real. NO FEAR believes Experiential Arts can act as an antidote to rapidly advancing technologies such as AI and renew artmaking in society to its’ ancient meanings and purposes.
44,000-year-old hand stencils discovered in Indonesia: humanity’s first known selfie.
Why
New Orleans?
No other city or culture in the U.S. epitomizes Experiential Arts as much as New Orleans.
Second line parades with their inviting music and dance. Mardi Gras with its festive costumes, floats, and craft-making. The artistic freedom one can feel in Jazz. The ancient meanings and rituals in a Jazz Funeral. The stories of human experiences told through the city’s food, architecture, neighborhoods, parades, and so much more.
Artmaking in New Orleans has served to connect diverse cultures, reflect society, and relate human experiences for over 300 years, with local indigenous artmaking dating back over 1,500 years.
Why
NO FEAR?
Inspired by these ancient meanings and purposes for art and artmaking, NO FEAR is honored to carry on and build upon the artistic traditions of New Orleans, while we also encourage young artists to become authors of art’s tomorrow rather than interpreters of its past.
To accomplish this, NO FEAR aims to break down barriers in the arts and arts education that separate artists from audiences and audiences from artmaking. Barriers to entry can include socioeconomic and class, race and gender, ideological including modern constructs such as genre and artistic categorization, and more.
With New Orleans as our muse and an exemplary model for experiential artmaking in society, NO FEAR aspires to expand the reach of Experiential Arts as a means to engage, educate, and empower young artists around the world and the communities their artmaking can serve.