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 musician and composer Steve Lands, whose new work Rearranging the Planets debuted in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts in February. Don’t miss the virtual premiere of full performance on Wednesday, April 20, at 7 pm.
Name: Steve Lands
Discipline/Creative Practice: Music
How do you work to grow and develop in your practice?
Daily practice, daily listening, talking concepts of sound with musicians.
What does community look like to you?
An understanding of the tangible and intangible aspects of helping each other, being able to translate goods and services comfortably outside of simple financial exchange, accountability for ourselves and each other.
Who do you feel the most connected to or responsible for?
Keeping people aware of imagination.
What do you believe is the role of a museum?
To broadcast the remnants of the past, honestly.
What are you hoping to gain from your experience in NOMA’s inaugural Creative Assembly Cohort?
Meeting more people who care about something different. Not a lot of those.
What music do you listen to when you’re working?
Myself—haha.
What are three qualities you value most in others?
Complexity, self awareness, and liking themselves.
What do your peers value in you?
I honestly have no idea.
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?
Mary Lou Williams, who wrote Black Christ of the Andes. Her music was truly something that was different, but informed. I like artists whose art is both heavy in content and spirit.
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.
