In a new series of questionnaires, we’re learning more about the members of this year’s Creative Assembly Cohort. Keep reading to get to know singer, violinist, and bookbinder Joseph Darensbourg.
Name: Joseph Darensbourg
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Discipline/Creative Practice: Music/Visual Art
Affiliation: Les Cenelles String Ensemble & New Orleans Musica da Camera
How do you work to grow and develop in your practice?
Research, language study, art residency, apprenticeship.
What does community look like to you?
All-inclusive.
Who do you feel the most connected to or responsible for?
Future artists and culture bearers.
What do you believe is the role of a museum?
To inspire wonder and enlightenment.
What are you hoping to gain from your experience in NOMA’s inaugural Creative Assembly Cohort?
Friendship, collaborative development, artistic presentation.
What’s the last book you read?
Becoming American in Creole New Orleans, 1896–1949 by Darryl Barthe Jr.
What music do you listen to when you’re working?
Vintage Cape Verdi music.
What are three qualities you value most in others?
Kindness, informative, creativity.
What do your peers value in you?
Intuition; curmudgeonly wisdom; local, insular, and world insight.
If you could have dinner with one person you admire or who has served as a source of inspiration, who would it be and why?
Jordi Savall i Bernadet is a Spanish conductor, composer and viola player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, and is largely responsible for popularizing the viola family of instruments in contemporary performance and recording.
About the Creative Assembly Cohort
New Orleans is one of the most culturally rich cities in the world, and its layers of culture can be experienced in an endless number of ways. As the largest museum in the region, the New Orleans Museum of Art has a singular opportunity to serve as a nexus and forum for New Orleans’ vast cultural production. The Creative Assembly Cohort is a multidisciplinary group of New Orleans-based creators who immerse themselves within the museum’s collection and use the institution as a catalyst for their own work and creativity.
The disciplines of cohort members vary, but range from musicians, dancers, and poets to mixologists, activists, and educators. Cohort members use the museum as a space for inspiration and collaboration and work with the museum and its staff to develop and implement programs that speak to a diversity of perspectives.
Learn More About Creative Assembly
NOMA’s Creative Assembly community engagement initiative is supported by the Wagner Foundation.
