Photograph of oil refineries along Mississippi River by AnnieLaurie Erickson

What’s Happening After Ida

We hope this message finds you well and safe.  

Antenna would like to thank members of our community who have reached out and offered support as staff return to the city and our organization comes back online ready to activate and leverage resources to support the artists and communities impacted by Hurricane Ida and years of divestment and extraction.  

Even before Hurricane Ida and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the communities of New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana, the region has long faced multiple challenges associated with unmitigated climate change policies, environmental pollution and degradation, coastal land loss, hurricanes, and oil spills—as well as ongoing injustices, vulnerabilities, and displacements caused by harmful public and private sector practices that have plagued the region, disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and low-income communities, long before Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent climate and human-induced disasters of 2005. 

The direct relief and movement building efforts Antenna forged and mobilized at the onset of the pandemic remain relevant and necessary at this time as we work to reimagine what it means to live in a changing climate and interrogate the role of artmaking in liberatory movements, serving as critical sites of intervention for effecting transformative change. The residents of Southeast Louisiana know first-hand the causes and consequences of living in the region dependent on fossil-fuel-based economies rooted in racial slavery and settler colonialism. 

As our staff recovers from damages and displacement, and readjusts our fall programming in the wake of Hurricane Ida, we would like to share the following updates, opportunities, and calls for support: 

> Platforms Fund

The storm has delayed the selection process for the Platforms Fund. Announcements will be made later than initially scheduled. If you submitted an application, no action is necessary at the time. You will receive an email no later than Thursday, September 23, on the status of your application. We apologize for the inconvenience. 

> Open Calls

On Monday, September 20, Antenna’s 2022 Open Calls for residencies, exhibitions, chapbooks, guidebooks, and graphic novels applications will open. The online application will be active from Monday, September 20 through November 30 at 11:59 pm CST. 

> Exhibitions 

Trenity Thomas‘ September exhibition at Antenna Gallery has been rescheduled to 2022. 

Antenna’s Prospect 5 Satellite exhibition, Sugar, curated by Denise Frazier and Renee Royale, originally scheduled to open on October 9 during Second Saturday, has shifted to a later date. More details on the opening reception and associated programming will be announced soon. We will share details on upcoming support and engagement opportunities and when our Gallery will be open for regular visiting hours in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines by email and social media.  

>Paper Machine

Paper Machine, Antenna’s print shop located in the Lower 9th Ward, is currently operating by appointment only for printing. We’re available to support printing needs for ongoing relief efforts. Please get in touch with us at print@papermachine.works for printing support. 

In addition, Antenna is producing a publication/workbook for youth, ages 3 to 15, discussing the experience and impacts of hurricanes and climate change with a youth-friendly approach. The content will include topics and activities concerning the environment, evacuations, house damage, trees, emotions, fear, anxiety, rebirth, and hope. The publication will be free and distributed to residents, organizations, and relief initiatives in New Orleans and the outlying river and bayou parishes. The booklets are inspired by the kits Antenna produced during the COVID-19 shutdown of 2020. We are soliciting content and designs for pages of the workbook. 

If you are interested in contributing, contact us at publications@papermachine.works for more information and submission specs. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, September 29. 

> Creative Response Relief Fund 

Antenna will reactivate the Creative Response Collaborative Relief Fund supporting artists, performers, writers, culture bearers, filmmakers, and related creators impacted by Hurricane Ida. Working in collaboration with Junebug Productions, Ashe Cultural Arts Center, and The Weavers Project with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Family Independent Initiative along with a host of funders and supports, the Creative Response Collaborative Relief Fund provided direct support to 805 artists and creators during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, processing $760,000 in emergency grants. 


We are eager to activate the Fund again to support artists facing the social and economic impacts of the stormdisaster and unmitigated climate vulnerabilities across the region–and invite you to join us.  The success of the Creative Response Collaborative Relief Fund was through the generous support we received from community members. To donate to the Relief Fund, please click here.

> Support Local Organizations and Relief Efforts 

Beyond Antenna’s work, there are many organizations across the region providing support to affected communities. Here’s an abbreviated list of some organizations and direct relief efforts that need financial support: 

Antenna’s work would not be possible without your support. We will continue to focus our efforts on directly supporting artists and creators in the wake of this storm, and on shifting our upcoming programming to accommodate the needs of our community. If you want to support Antenna directly, our donation page can be found here: www.antenna.works/donate

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As an artist-centered institution, neighbor, and vision, accountable to the Black and Indigenous communities that make our work possible, Antenna is committed to moving art beyond the confines of galleries and museums by attending to the histories, communities, and ecologies of the region and their (trans)national implications in our programming to support a more just and equitable city.

You can donate to the Creative Response Relief Fund below:

Featured Image: AnnieLaurie Erickson, Gaslight River. Work in progress photographed along Cancer Alley for upcoming exhibition, Sugar.