Categories: News

Leave it to New Orleans to create an unusual collabo for unemployed artists

When Devin De Wulf, band leader of New Orleans’ Krewe of Red Beans, realized how Covid-19 was devastating the city’s residents, he felt he had to help. As someone entrenched in Nola’s arts scene, he knew where to start: by connecting people who’d lost their jobs with others who needed their labor. The Krewe’s mission went from parading during Mardi Gras to hiring out-of-work musicians to deliver food to frontline workers. It eventually had them grocery shop for the elderly before creating the Hire a Mardi Gras Artist program, which matched struggling float designers with homeowners wanting to go all out for Carnival season, turning their houses’ exteriors into lavish displays worthy of the city’s colorful reputation. Though Red Beans’ biggest achievement was raising $2 million for its efforts, De Wulf takes pride in paying everyone a fair wage and elevating those around him. “The common thread is that the people are what makes New Orleans so magical,” he told Food & Wine.

Related Post
The Counter and The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter and The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

3 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

3 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

3 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

3 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago