Culture Beats in Tremé: The Story Behind My 2026 Tremé Fall Festival Poster

New Orleans has always painted itself into my work — but this piece is different. I've been named the 2026 poster artist for the Tremé Fall Festival, commissioned by Friends of Tremé Culture, and my painting, Culture Beats in Tremé, will be this year's official festival artwork.

Why I Painted This

Tremé isn't just another New Orleans neighborhood — it's the oldest African-American neighborhood in the entire United States, the birthplace of jazz, and a place where brass bands, second lines, and generations of culture-bearers have kept a living tradition alive against every odd. I wanted this piece to feel like a heartbeat — the idea that culture in Tremé isn't something preserved behind glass, it's something alive, still moving through the streets today.

At the center of the painting is a man in white, arm raised high, playing a drum marked "Congo Square" — a direct nod to the birthplace of New Orleans music itself. Behind him, a brass band member lifts a tuba into the golden evening light. Around them, women in second-line finery — pinks, yellows, and blues, one twirling a pink parasol — move through the frame in full celebration. In the background, the historic Tremé street sign and the steeple of a church founded in 1841 anchor the scene in a real place with real history, all of it washed in a warm sunset sky.

Every detail was intentional. This isn't a generic parade scene — it's Tremé specifically, its landmarks, its rhythm, its people, caught in the exact kind of joyful motion that's kept this neighborhood's culture alive for two centuries.

An Honor I Don't Take Lightly

This commission also came with a detail I'm still sitting with: I was hand-selected for it by Terrance Osborne, one of New Orleans' most legendary living artists and the festival's artist consultant since its inception. His own work has shaped how the world pictures this city, and being trusted by him with this piece is a responsibility I feel all the way down — but the honor, at its heart, belongs to Tremé itself, and to getting to add my own voice to how its story gets told.

Full Circle, Again

New Orleans has given me so much of who I am as an artist — the color, the rhythm, the faith, the resilience. Every piece I paint is my way of giving some of that back. Getting to paint something for Tremé specifically, a neighborhood that means so much to this city's story, feels like one of those moments I'll look back on for the rest of my career.

Thank you to Friends of Tremé Culture, and to Terrance Osborne, for this honor. I can't wait for everyone to see Culture Beats in Tremé when it debuts at the 2026 Tremé Fall Festival.

This high-quality 24" x 36" print brings the original artwork into your home at an accessible size and price point — perfect for festival-goers, Tremé natives, and anyone who wants to carry a piece of this culture with them.

Details:

• Museum-quality print, 24" x 36"

• Available signed, unsigned, or remarqued

• Official 2026 Tremé Fall Festival artwork

• Ready to hang / frame

The original 36" x 48" painting will be available for purchase live at the Tremé Gala on Friday, October 16. Signed, unsigned, and remarqued 24" x 36" poster prints are available now at tremefest.org.

Sources:

• Tremé Fall Festival — Friends of Tremé Culture

• Support Tremé Fall Festival — Friends of Tremé Culture (FOTC)