Gov-10-15_City Council Meeting (Part Two).
Summary
Overview
- The session focused on promoting Young Artivist Clubs as a continuation of the City Council’s Youth Master Plan work. Trinity City Arts presented a plan to expand citywide in 2027 and sought commitments from Council members to engage with the clubs and partners.
Key speakers and points — Reginae Hodges (Trinity City intern; Southern University at New Orleans student)
- Made the case for Young Artivist Clubs, referencing the Youth Master Plan (adopted February 2021) and the goal of citywide expansion by 2027.
- Requested commitments from each Council member to meet with her group and partners before December 1 and to build partnerships between Council members and at least one Young Artivist Club chapter.
- Highlighted the value of art, activism, and youth voice; included two videos (of eight total statements) from young people.
Matt Schwarzman (co-director, Trinity City Arts)
- Reiterated goals and the meeting/commitment timeline, emphasizing partnerships with Council members and the 2027 citywide expansion.
Video content
- Shown two videos featuring statements from young people (part of an eight-statement collection); themes centered on youth perspectives, empowerment, and activism.
Supportive remarks from community leaders
- Dusky Waters (musician; founder, Black Americana Fest; artivist): Praised the work, urged recognition of the young presenters, and spoke to art as a tool for social change; called for paying and honoring young artists and investing in youth-led storytelling.
- Michelle Seymour (Re-Engagement Center, New Orleans Youth Alliance): Thanked the youth for their courage; connected the Artivism Club to the Youth Master Plan’s goals (self-expression, leadership, creativity, culture); emphasized low-barrier entry, healing-centered engagement, trust-building with youth, and narrative change; urged investment in youth as future changemakers.
- Earl Higgins (Volunteer organizer, Vote Boy City Experience): Expressed hope and support for youth leaders; thanked organizers for inclusion; framed the work as sustaining youth leadership.
Session closure
- Adjournment: “I move to adjourn,” seconded by Councilmember Willard, with no objection. The council adjourned.
Decisions, votes, and actions
- No formal policy decision or vote recorded in this material beyond adjournment.
- Primary action requested of Council members: commit to meet with Trinity City Arts and partners before December 1 and to establish (at minimum) one Council member partnership with a Young Artivist Club chapter.
- Planned next steps: progress toward citywide implementation in 2027, contingent on commitments and ongoing collaboration.
Unresolved issues / next steps
- Whether and how each Council member will commit to meeting before December 1.
- Which Council members will partner with which Young Artivist Club chapters, and how those partnerships will be structured.
- Details on funding, resources, and integration for the 2027 citywide expansion (not addressed in this material).
- Additional content from the eight-statement video that was not shown in this segment.
Notable participants and affiliations
- Reginae Hodges — Trinity City intern; Southern University at New Orleans student
- Matt Schwarzman — Co-director, Trinity City Arts
- Dusky Waters — Musician; founder, Black Americana Fest; artivist
- Michelle Seymour — Re-Engagement Center, New Orleans Youth Alliance
- Earl Higgins — Organizer, Vote Boy City Experience
Overall takeaway
- The meeting served as advocacy and outreach to secure City Council engagement and partnerships to propel a citywide expansion of the Young Artivist Club concept by 2027. No votes or policy approvals were recorded in the material; adjournment concluded the session.
Transcript
Transcripts may contain automated transcription errors. Verify important details against the official recording.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Reginae Hodges (Intro and Vision)
Hello everyone. My name is Reginae Hodges. I am a Trinity City intern, and I'm a current student at Southern University at New Orleans. In February 2021, New Orleans City Council committed to invest and implement the youth master plan. Since then, many great solutions have been advanced to address the health and well being of young people. We are here today to advance another solution that I believe strongly in. We are here today to advance another solution that I strongly believe in, Young Artivist Clubs. We are here to prove that even during the leanest years, seeds must be planted for the future. Trinity City Arts is leveraging the resources of more than a dozen partners in youth development, the arts, business and government, including you all, City Council. And we have plans to go citywide in 2027. However, we need your help. We are here today seeking a commitment from each of you to meet with us and our partners to discuss these plans before December 1. We know that the combination of art, activism and youth voice has the power to transform our city. But we need your advice, your connections and your involvement in these clubs once they get underway. We want to build genuine partnerships between each City Council member and at least one chapter of the Young Artivist Club. To make our case, we wanted you to hear straight from the young people themselves with the respect that they deserve as citizens and as future voters. We have compiled a video of eight statements from young people created by them, for them and their peers. We were not able to show all eight, but we will show those two videos and then we will make a few more comments. Thank you for your time.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Marley Duplassis (More Than My Hair)
Hi everyone, I'm Marla Duplassis and I was a part of Morris Jeff's Trinity City group. If you haven't heard about my piece, the title of my work was More Than My Hair. The harmful narrative that I wanted to flip was that hair textures are seen as unprofessional and they shouldn't be allowed or they're distractions. The alternative narrative I wanted to promote was that from 3C to 4B, all hair textures should be accepted. They're all beautiful and they don't make less of us. I want to talk about how it felt to be invited to express myself. It felt really great. It gives people, I guess, that don't have a much bigger platform the chance to speak on issues about this. The most impactful thing about being in the Young Artivist Club was getting to hear my classmates' opinions and views on narratives they think that were harmful towards them or ourselves. I think it's important for young people to speak through their art because it gives you different options to protest. All protests aren't just riots and rallies and things like that. You can express your thoughts and feelings through things like art. I'm very glad that I got the opportunity to participate in the Young Artivist Club and I look forward to doing more.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Matt Schwarzman (Intro and Videos)
My name is Matt Schwarzman, and I am co-director of Trinity City Arts. The floor is ours; we are here to present on the Young Artivist Club. We have given you handouts to review as we go along. We are here today to advance another solution that I strongly believe in, Young Artivist Clubs. We are here to prove that even during the leanest years, seeds must be planted for the future. Trinity City Arts is leveraging resources of partners in youth development, the arts, business and government, including you all, City Council. We have plans to go citywide in 2027. We need your help to meet with us and our partners to discuss these plans before December 1. We know that the combination of art, activism and youth voice has the power to transform our city. We want to build genuine partnerships between each City Council member and at least one chapter of the Young Artivist Club. To make our case, we wanted you to hear straight from the young people themselves with the respect that they deserve as citizens and as future voters. We have compiled a video of eight statements from young people created by them, for them and their peers. We were not able to show all eight, but we will show those two videos and then we will make a few more comments. Thank you for your time.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Dusky Waters (Art for Social Change)
Good morning. My name is Dusky Waters. I am a musician here in New Orleans. I am the founder of Black Americana Fest, a festival that honors black artists in country folk and roots music. I am also an artivist, someone who believes in and loves our value of using art as a tool for social change. But today, I'm here for Trinity City Arts. I've had the privilege of working alongside their team on the Artivist Awards and I want you to know what that work really is. It's making sure a young person gets paid for their art. It's giving young artivists their flowers while they can still smell them. New Orleans thrives off of its art, but too often, we underinvest in the artists that make our culture world renowned. I would like to take a moment with you. If we could all just recognize these amazing young people. They worked for weeks to be able to come here and present to you all. If we could give them a hand for their presentation this morning. This is amazing to see young people learning to advocate for themselves, and this is what we need more of in our city. You might ask why art for social change matters. For me, it comes down to one idea, changing the narrative. Changing the narrative means telling the whole truth about who we are, like these young people are doing. And so when we teach a young person to pick up a pen, a camera, a guitar, and tell their own truth, we aren't just making art, but we're handing them the power to write themselves into the future instead of waiting for permission. Trinity City Arts does that work every day. Black Americana Fest is so proud to stand with them and thank you all for your time.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Michelle Seymour (Support and Narrative Change)
Good afternoon. I'm Michelle Seymour with the Re-Engagement Center at the New Orleans Youth Alliance. I do want to take a moment to just say thank you to our young people, our young artivists for having the courage and the voice to come up here. It is not easy to speak in front of city council, and they did so, so well. I also do want to thank our council members as well for making the time to acknowledge our young people and their accomplishments and their commitment to building a better New Orleans. I'm here just to briefly speak about why we invested in artivism at the Re-Engagement Center. And I'm always going to call back to our Youth Master Plan because it is our North Star for solutions. Our Youth Master Plan calls for full self-expression, leadership, creativity, and culture. And what the Artivism Club does is that it makes that a practice. The reason why we chose to partner with Trinity City Arts is because we wanted to create a low-barrier entry point. We often hear from young people about not wanting to stay in the city because they feel like it's not a place where they belong. They don't trust some adults and harmful experiences that they've had through institutions. And by being able to create and being able to express themselves through this art, they are finding a way back to trust, belonging, and positive relationships. This is also about healing-centered engagement. We've been talking so frequently about the city budget and about how important it is that we lift up the crime reduction here in the city. And that is also because of the work of programs like Trinity City Arts and our libraries and our community-serving organizations, because young people now have an outlet to move their frustration, to move through their joy, to move through their harm, their feelings. And that's important. And then lastly, this is about narrative change. Because too often, the stories that we hear about our young people reflect harmful stereotypes about who they are, but often don't actually reflect the stories directly from the young people who are living through these experiences. And so the Artivism Club gives them another vehicle to be able to tell their story for themselves. So once again, I thank you all. Thank you again to our young Artivists. And I hope that you really lean in on their invitation to celebrate with them, but also invest in them, not just as young people, but as future changemakers and culture bearers in this city. Thank you.
Young Artivist Club Presentation – Earl Higgins (Hope and Support for Youth)
Good afternoon. My name is Earl Higgins. I'm an organizer with Vote Boy City Experience. And with that comes spells of hopelessness. I'm seeing a lot of things that I can't readily express. But Matt and Catalina asked me to be a part of this Trinity Art thing. And I can tend to be, I can tend to feel hopeless doing this work in the community. But I want to thank the young people, these young people for having the courage and the voice to come up here. They are becoming leaders and they know what's going on in the moment with themselves. That gives me hope that one day, yall see the gray hairs, that Pawpaw Earl could actually sit back and relax and say, yeah, they got it. They got it, it's just a matter of us supporting them through it. So thank you for letting me share. And Matt, I'm happy that you asked me to be a part of this journey with yall. So thank you. Hearing no one else, we'll come down and take a picture with all of you. Great job presenting today. Thank you. Very, very good. Thank you.
City Council Adjournment (Closing)
I move to adjourn, seconded by Councilmember Willard. No objection, we're adjourned. Thank you.