USA Travelogue Late Fall 2008 & Winter 2009
A highlight of the fall season for the international art world was the opening of Prospect.1 New Orleans, directed by Dan Cameron. Toby Devan Lewis, a member of USA's National Leadership Committee, was a generous supporter of this tremendous project. USA Board Member Samuel Hoi, Program Director Amada Cruz, and I attended the opening events featuring artists' projects and installations at 24 venues throughout New Orleans. It was extraordinary to witness communities coming back to life while their ongoing challenges were illuminated by the participating artists. We were proud to see USA Broad Fellow and USA Board Member Mark Bradford's remarkable piece Mithra, a large-scale "ark" located in the Lower Ninth Ward. While selecting the site for this work, Mark became involved with a neighborhood organization, L9 Art Center, and helped raise funds to restore its building, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. We were moved by the stories of L9's director, Keith Calhoun, and his wife, Chandra McCormick, both photographers, whose lifelong archive was all but destroyed by floodwaters.

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