STAFF PROFILE: Jessica Johnson

NOTE: These interviews have been edited for clarity and length. Interview conducted and edited by FreeQuency, photos provided by the staff member, Antenna archive or a google search.

FreeQuency: We’ll just start with the basics. Please introduce yourself – who are you, what are your creative practices, and what is your role at Antenna? 

I go by JESSC.X in certain situations, but for Antenna purposes, I am Jessica Johnson.

I studied music first, and music’s always been a thing for me. I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, which is my hometown (617!). I was a vocalist as my primary instrument and I studied contemporary writing and production, which basically meant I wrote a ton of charts and did a lot of composing and arranging music, which I still do.

I’m still very much a singer out here in the show streets, but I always have also been a visual artist. Primarily these days, it looks like collage work and I am also a textile artist. That is probably the most recent addition to the list of things that I regularly explore now. Specifically, I make rugs and I use a tufting gun to do so. They’re not always rugs, often they are, but sometimes, I use my tufting gun to make other things.

I am Antenna’s Exhibitions and Granting Initiatives Director. I have been with Antenna for a year and a half now, which both feels like nothing and like I’ve been around for a while. I work with The Antenna Collective to make sure exhibitions are happening at Antenna:3718. I am often the person behind the emails going out to the artists we’re bringing in. Additionally, I do a lot of the admin work for our granting initiatives, most notably, Platforms Fund where again, I am the human behind those emails, or in this case, those submittable messages. We also have a $500 Microgrants for Creative Support initiative and I’m the human behind our Emergency Grants programs as well. 

Outside of [grants], I also am the point of contact for our Monthly Grants & Application Support Community Office Hours [which happen every 2nd Tuesday virtually and in person]. Folks can also fill out our 1-1 Community Office Hours Form [to request a meeting] and you will likely talk to me after that, or I connect you to whatever other staff people it might make sense for you to chat with.

FreeQuency: What brought you to New Orleans? 

Jess: I came for the first time in 2019 on a cousin’s trip [where my cousins and I] pick a random city and go hang for a weekend. In this particular instance, it was one of my cousin’s birthdays. I had very little idea of what I was walking into on this particular cousin’s trip, for one, because I am one of the baby cousins, and I lean into my babyness when I’m presented an opportunity. I’m just like, “yeah, I’ll be there. I don’t care about the itinerary. Y’all got that.. I’ll be there. I will provide the vibes”.

I came to New Orleans and I remember smelling the air outside the airport and that was my first and very immediate sign that I was feeling this sense of home that I really only feel when I go to Barbados, which is where my mom is from. That was my first inkling that I was somewhere that would be very special to me, but throughout that entire trip, I felt everything align in a way that was telling me this was going to be home for me. I think my favorite part of that trip is that I wasn’t alone [in seeing this]. I’d lived in Los Angeles and I thought that I was going to move back to LA until I landed in Louisiana’s L.A. and it was like “oh, it’s this one, not that one”. I was with family that knows me very well and my family was like “no, I see it too.This is a city where you would thrive”. I was the only person that took that Monday off for the long weekend, so I stayed an extra night and I went out to Frenchman Street by myself. I immediately ran into this older woman that has, since that moment, become family to me. We hung out until like five in the morning before I needed to go to the airport. She took me to her house, and before that, she drove me around the city to show me all of these murals (she’s an artist and so is her partner). Then she said, “Hey, whenever you want to come back, you can stay here.” 

Over the next year or so, I spent time coming back to the city, staying at her house in Treme and just feeling out where I wanted to land and what I wanted to do when I got here. Then the pandemic was the portal for me. I got a really great severance package from the job I was at and I was like, “this is it. This is the time”. I moved here with some savings and just faith. 

I always feel very grateful that the city chose me and gave me a way to get back here immediately. I take that very seriously, that part where it feels like it picked me to be here. I try to be in right relationship with the city as someone that’s not from here. I’ve found a lot of myself and a lot of joy and growth here. 

FreeQuency: What makes New Orleans an important city for visual arts? And also, what does it mean to be “in right relationship” for you to this city?

Jess: It’s the specific culture that exists here. The histories that overlapped in this one place have all led to a culture that really is not like anywhere else in the world. It can remind me of other places, but it is super unique. And not just it’s histories, but it’s geographical location…all of that together makes it really unique. 

Also the cultures that exist here – the traditions of making that are passed along in this place are taken seriously in a way that I find to be admirable, especially in a world where people just hop in and out of things because of trendiness or for money centric reasons. Not to say that that doesn’t exist here, of course it does because humans are human…but at the same time, it’s really special to see making be centered as much as it is here. It’s not just people in art galleries, it’s people in the streets and people making their own costumes and decorating everything. I don’t use the word ‘serious’ to mean the tone of all this making is always serious. Sometimes it is, and then a lot of times it’s lighter or it can be everything, but the practice of it is built in in a way that I have been really inspired by. One of the things I really loved about being an artist who was joining this community was feeling a sense of community amongst the making people that I haven’t experienced as much in other cities I’ve lived in. 

[Being in right relationship] means respecting the folks that have been here first. That’s a huge part of it. That comes up at Antenna in a few different ways – whether it’s making sure you’ve been here for a while before you can access some resources we have, or just trying to do better continually at making sure we are engaging the people that have been here. I have always wanted to be someone that continues to cultivate that spirit, which I think is just about trying not to hoard anything – information or resources – and just making sure folks know about opportunities to support their making. 

FreeQuency: What is different about the way that Antenna curates their exhibitions and other visual arts programming that you think is important to highlight? 

Jess: More and more now, we’re trying to make sure we are accessible to the people that are here. A lot of times, opportunities – whether it be granting opportunities or exhibition opportunities – have existed behind paywalls or complicated application processes or a level of inaccessibility that keeps folks from being able to engage. In that same realm, sometimes the projects folks dream up – and that could be like exhibition wise or book wise – aren’t readily supported because of the content. 

One of the things I feel proud about at Antenna is giving folks a chance to voice or share their thoughts, their experiences and their voices in a way that is more accessible, giving folks a chance to experiment with the work they’re doing. That feels really important, especially in this particular age where we’re moving backwards in many ways in terms of censorship and access.

FreeQuency: How does your role at Antenna align with your larger assignments in life? 

Jess: It wasn’t until coming to Antenna that I felt more peace about this part of my life. I do this because I like it. I really do enjoy being able to support other creatives in this way. That is a very big part of my life when I’m thinking about my personal astrology or things like that – I was always going to be somebody that serves as some kind of facilitator – helping helping folks along – that feels like a big part of my larger purpose in this world. It certainly comes out in other ways in my life too, so I’m glad I’ve found a [more fitting] place to grow into that identity. I’ve existed in the ‘admin’ world in other arts organizations and institutions for a while now. The places I have been have not always felt as good because of their internal practices that wound up serving certain groups of people and leaving everyone else in the dust.

Outside of that, it’s very inspiring to be around other creators and makers all the time. I’m consistently fed by the people and the work that I encounter. 

FreeQuency: Sort of tied to that question, what do you hope that your impact will be through your role at Antenna in the larger New Orleans community, in the world, and the universe? …you can answer whichever scale of that question…

Jess: Um. I will go with New Orleans.

FreeQuency: …Not the universe? 

Jess: It trickles out into the whole world and galaxy (laughter), but I think about our [origins], where we came from, the specific people that were in the initial [artist] collective that became Antenna, and it’s a story I very much respect. At the same time, I’m someone who wants to take Antenna to the future. Antenna is in this place where we having spaces open, we’re able to give out opportunities to publish written work in ways that are super important and that’s something that I want to keep fostering as we continue to live through and move through collapse or change or both at the same time in this very quickly shifting landscape within this country.

I am hoping I can be a part of a team that is working to adapt to these new times that we’re entering.