NOMA’s Art Thrives initiative for adults 55 and older is proud to partner with the Congo Square Preservation Society to present the Elders Sacred Talk Series, four-panel discussions with prolific elder New Orleanians, celebrating the lives they lead while learning firsthand about the impact they’ve had on the city.

Join us on October 4, at 5:30 pm in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts for the second program featuring our second two honorees of the series: award-winning percussionist Bill Summers and Nana Anoa Nantambu, educator and community leader. Sula Janet Evans of the Congo Square Preservation Society will moderate the conversation. Doors open at 5 pm.

Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the admissions desk for directions to the Lapis Center for the Arts.

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About the Speakers

Bill Summers

Bill Summers is a multiple Grammy Award nominee and Billboard Music Award–winning percussionist. He has studied the rhythmic connections between Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas for more than three decades, making him a leader in the field of Afro-Cuban jazz and Latin jazz percussion. Summers performed with Herbie Hancock and worked with Quincy Jones on scores for Roots, The Wiz, and The Color Purple. His performance groups included Bill Summers & Summers Heat, which produced seven albums; Los Hombres Calientes, which produced six albums; and the Headhunters, which released nine albums.

Over the years, Summers recorded and/or toured with numerous artists including Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker, Carlos Santana, Young Jeezy, Keyshia Cole, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Malik Yoba, Kenny Loggins, Arsenio Hall, Nina Simone, Dianne Reeves, Prince, Michael Jackson, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kool & The Gang, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Gap Band, Jill Scott, and Earth Wind and Fire.

Bill Summers—Baba Eshubi—is an initiated Priest of Orisha Esu Elegba.

Nana Anoa Nantambu

Nana Anoa Nantambu, daughter of Roy and Mary Booker Cains, is a perpetual educator and student. After attending McDonogh #35 High School, she earned a BS in Mathematics from UNO and a PhD in Education (Research Methods and Statistics) from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has taught in universities, community colleges, training programs, and her community-based mathematics learning center, Neighborhood Math Place. She also lectured at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State, Nigeria, for four years. As an independent consultant, she provided program evaluations and community assessments for local nonprofit organizations for nearly 18 years. Nana is an initiated Priestess of Yemaya and was crowned in Cuba.

Her present work, her life’s calling, evolved through Wholely Living Simply Living, a not-for-profit organization that she started in Durham, North Carolina, while displaced after Hurricane Katrina. With a mission to foster the well-being and conscious living of Black people, particularly women, and to help transform individuals, families and communities, this mind-body-spirit work has as its guiding principle: Be Transformed by the Perfect Power within You.

About Congo Square Preservation Society

The Congo Square Preservation Society serves as a continuing catalyst in the resurrection and continuation of activities, advocacy, and preservation of historic and sacred Congo Square in New Orleans. Learn more at https://www.congosquarepreservationsociety.org/.

NOMA’s Art Thrives programs are supported by E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.