Newcomb Art Museum, Taylor Center to host discussion on public safety

Newcomb Art Museum, in partnership with the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane, invite all to join for a dialogue exploring what public safety means to them and how we can reimagine and recreate municipal mechanisms for citizen safety. Premiering, Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. CT, this free virtual conversation, Reimagining Public Safety in American Cities, will feature a live Q&A with panelists beginning at 7:30 p.m. To register, click here

Moderated by Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, associate director for Design Thinking for Social Impact and Professor of Practice, Reimagining Public Safety will respond to ideas presented in Newcomb Art Museum’s current exhibition Transcommunality featuring works by Laura Anderson Barbata — specifically Intervention: Indigo which addresses, from an intercultural perspective, the symbolism of protection embodied by the color blue. Using design thinking strategies to address the harms of over-policing, this discussion will open a transdisciplinary dialogue that includes various perspectives on public law enforcement, behavioral health, the Movement for Black Lives, and U.S. history to imagine a new future of public safety.

Panelists include Brent Godfrey of Crescent City Corps, Ameca Reali, membership director at Law for Black Lives, and Christopher Rabb, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Additional information on the panelists as well as a suggested resource list to supplement the conversation can be found here.

The museum’s spring line up of programs is funded in part under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are also supported in part by a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership Grant and by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans.