The New Orleans Women Artists Collective was founded in 2006 in response to Hurricane Katrina.  NOWAC’s mission is to restore the lives of women artists by rebuilding their homes and helping them to sustain their livelihoods through the Arts & Trades.

NOWAC has helped to restore and rebuild more than 100 homes throughout New Orleans, working with schools, local grass roots and faith-based organizations.  These included: The Resurrection Project, Mustard Seed Ministries, The L9 Village, Boston School of the Museum of Fine Art (SMFA), Berklee College of Music, and the Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice (New Orleans). Most recently, on behalf of international artist Wangechi Mutu, NOWAC completed Ms. Sarah’s House, a newly constructed home in the New Orleans Holy Cross Historic District in the Lower 9th ward.

NOWAC’s newest project, Mandeville House, is soon to become an urban community learning and healing center, and also the home of our New Orleans Women in the Building Trades program. NOWIBT will collaborate with local trades organizations that are committed to recruiting, educating, and mentoring women in the trades.  This pre-apprenticeship program will provide classroom / shop instruction and on-the-job training in the areas of general carpentry, electrical, plumbing and HVAC with an emphasis on Disaster Recovery training and building “Green.”

NOWAC’s current goal is to finish renovating the Katrina-damaged home that will house the Mandeville House center by the fall of 2010.  An initial group of volunteers, from the New Orleans-based Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal, assisted with the rebuilding efforts last spring, and we’ve continued the work ourselves over the summer. With additional support, NOWAC will be able to obtain the materials needed, for the volunteers to complete the house.  NOWAC needs help to raise $10k for materials to complete the rebuilding of Mandeville House.

When Mandeville House is completed, it will also be opened as a shared space for our partners and collaborators in arts, music and the trades, to use with the community.  Some of these other programs will be a chipmunk woodworker program for youth, after-school arts programs, and a healing drum circle.  Some of our partners and collaborators are the NOLA-based Jazz Hip Hop Orchestra, the Boston SMFA, the Berklee College of Music, and other local and national artists.Info......