Mardi Gras Indian Arts Intensive

Launched in 2007, the Mardi Gras Indian Arts Intensive is an eight-week full immersion experience for youth ages 11-14 in the Greater New Orleans area focused on Mardi Gras Indian art and culture. During hands-on sessions with the city's leading bearers of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, students learn about Indian suit design and how to sew in both the "Uptown" and "Downtown" styles. Lectures, film and video screenings, and conversations with guest speakers round out the curriculum and help students understand the rich costume and parade traditions of Mardi Gras Indians, including Native American, African, and Carribean influences.

The intensive is a natural outgrowth of CAP’s ten-year partnership with artist and educator Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indians.  Recognizing that neighborhood-based art forms like the Mardi Gras Indians are the soul of our city, we are committed over the long-term to helping perpetuate the tradition from one generation to the next.

For the latest program information, please visit our blog.  For an application for the 2009 program, click here.

The Mardi Gras Indian Arts Intensive is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Art4Moore Foundation, and the Sewing Machine Project.