Hot off the press, the NOLA Artist Incubator was recently featured in the Louisiana Inspired section of the Advocate, Times-Picayune, and Acadian. Read the full story from the interview with our Executive Director below!
Stewart makes the world a better place a block at a time
BY JAN RISHER
Staff writer
Lissie Stewart worked for 10 years as a teaching artist in NOLA Public Schools. She is a TeachNOLA Master Teacher and oversaw the Talented Visual Arts Department and Advanced Placement Studio Art program while working at Edna Karr High School.
After leaving the classroom to raise her first child, she began advocating for the arts and the environment through running the Galvez Garden and daily operations at the NOLA Artist Incubator. She is a certified Louisiana Master Gardener and certified permaculturist. She’s excited about facilitating youth programming and focusing on her artist invitationals and summer residency at the Louisiana Children’s Museum.
What solutions is the NOLA Artist Incubator working toward?
We are rooted in the arts, education and sustainability – environmentally focused art. We believe in the power of art. We focus on the three pillars: sustainability via Galvez Garden, education via Sustainable Environmental Art Delivery. The third pillar is supporting cultural bearers, which we do through our artist in residency program. Southern artists with interests in experimenting in green architecture, environmental art installations or leading art/ nature workshops are encouraged to apply.
We are actively supporting culture bearers. We have selected 10 Louisiana artists to participate in Art in the Park program. They’ll be featured in a public art display. It will be called ”In Plein Aire: Observations and Perspectives of New Orleans.”
But the real story is our garden.
Tell us about your garden.
I became interested in broken sidewalks and vacant properties in our neighborhoods and wanted to create more green space.
Through that, the NOLA Artist Incubator was born.
The Galvez Garden is not-forprofit, noncommercial endeavor focused on benefiting the community. It’s located at 2317 N. Galvez St. We maintain the garden and facilitate educational and artist in residence programming on site.
We want to be welcoming to the community, safe and inviting for children and the elderly – and to serve as a demonstration and teaching garden for the neighborhood of St. Roch.
The smartest thing I did when we got the property is reach out to people who were smarter than me. It was during the pandemic.
As a family, it was a labor of love. We went every day and cleaned up. We found the more flowers we planted, the fewer needles we found. I’m happy to say that we haven’t found any needles in the last few months.
It’s a night and day transformation.
NOLA Artists Incubator recently won an award and grant, which I understand was more than you bargained for.
We won the 2023 Cultivating the Community Garden Grant, one of six award recipients from Louisiana and South Carolina.
The funds will allow NOLA Artist Incubator to increase the number of families that can be fed by our community garden.
They contacted us and said, ”Your award was for $10,000, not the $5,000 you requested.” We had to redo our budget. The additional money has allowed us to make many improvements. We make no money off the project. We recently started a farm stand.
We see how small acts can make a really big difference. We have more butterflies. We have ladybugs. A small garden can change a block.
What does your garden grow?
When we plant, I look at it from a place of sustainability. I’m not planting for the next season or the next five. I plant for the next 50 years.
We have tapped out our space in planting trees. We now have two citrus trees, figs, persimmon, mayhaw, native blueberries, native muscadines. It was important to us that we left a part of it open as a space for community gatherings. The best compliment we got was it was like having a little slice of City Park in their backyard.
What else does the organization do?
We offer weekly compost collection.
We started with a rain barrel from Greenlight New Orleans.
We also coordinate the Budding Artists Program. It’s an arts in literacy program to teach the joy in gardening with the stream of creating future steward – creating beautiful spaces that are productive. We believe that environment education is important. We want all the children to want to become stewards of the environment as well.
How big is the garden?
A regular sized lot, a little over 3,000 square feet.
How much time do you spend every week?
We’re there every day. Sunday is compost day. I try to go in the mornings and afternoon. The garden is open from sunrise to sunset. It is a drug and alcohol free zone.
How old is your daughter?
She just turned 3 1/ 2. We’re so close to it. We are that family that one of us brings her in a stroller while the other one carries a wheelbarrow.
Where are you from originally?
I’ve been in New Orleans for 15 years. I was born and raised in the desert. I grew up in Arizona.
How do you think growing up in the desert affects your desire for green space?
When I first moved here and it would rain, I would go out and put out pots to collect water. Out West, there’s more emphasis on sustainability. When I saw this city and how much it embraces art and culture, it immediately felt like home to me. However, New Orleans can improve in many ways – recycling, composting and more.
What difference do you think this project has made for your daughter’s perspective?
She has a tremendous respect for Mother Nature. I think it’s neat that she knows which caterpillars will turn into butterflies and which ones could hurt her.
She’s very observant. I wonder if she will think she grew up on a farm. She definitely has a respect for the environment.
Anything else you want people to know?
We have a Magical Mobile Arts Cart. It’s a whimsical makers space to engage the community in the arts. We were at Jazz Fest delivering arts programming and we’ll be at the Children’s Museum for the summer. We’re looking forward to working with more schools in the future to deliver our programming.
Follow the organization on Instagram, @nolaartistincubator.
Email Jan Risher at jan.risher @theadvocate.com.
NOLA Artist Incubator 