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 poet, writer, and educator Tiana Nobile.
Name: Tiana Nobile
Discipline/Creative Practice: Poetry
What does community look like to you?
Community is a collective of folks who care about the health, safety, growth, and preservation of each other and the spaces they inhabit. Community is symbiotic; it’s participatory and active.
What do you believe is the role of a museum?
I think it’s important that we shift our understanding of museums as exclusive, sterile, silent spaces. I remember going to museums as a kid and being told to be still and quiet; we weren’t allowed to explore or engage. I think museums should serve as community hubs—places for people to learn, discover, and interact. I think education, access, equity, and inclusion should be at the center of a museum’s role in the community.
What are you hoping to gain from your experience in NOMA’s inaugural Creative Assembly Cohort?
I’m excited to connect with local artists and makers and to find new ways to connect the museum.
What’s the last book you read?
I’m a founding member of The Starlings Collective, and our book club pick this month is Surviving the White Gaze by Rebecca Carroll, which is a memoir about growing up as a black transracial adoptee in rural New Hampshire. I’m also trying to read more classics this year and just finished Giovanni’s Room, my first James Baldwin—soooo good.
What music do you listen to when you’re working?
As a writer, it’s really hard for me to focus while listening to music! I prefer silence.
What are three qualities you value most in others?
Kindness, reflection, joy.
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.
