NOLAFugees Press proudly presents the People Say Project, a partnership between the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities/Louisiana Humanities Center and students from Loyola’s Film & Digital Media concentration. In four events this spring, with focuses on music, the visual arts, theater, and the culinary arts, The People Say Project will bring together artists from different backgrounds and generations to discuss the ways in which they make art and make a living in the city today.

Feb. 22nd: Music: Alex McMurray & Truth Universal
March 22nd: Visual Arts: Ayo Scott (NOYO Designs) & Bunny Matthews
April 5th: Theater: Andrew Vaught (Cripple Creek Theater) & John O’Neal (Junebug Productions)
April 19th: Culinary Arts: tba

LHC Program Director Brian Boyles will moderate each conversation, which will include an audience Q&A. A catered reception will precede each event, with local restaurants donating food and drink.

At www.thepeoplesayproject.org, students in the Developing Digital Content course at Loyola will contribute articles, media clips, slideshows, and archival material for each of the interviewees. By building the site, the class will create and maintain an original website reflecting the diverse artistic lives of eight culture bearers. In addition, video of each interview will be posted on the site.

Events will be held at the Louisiana Humanities Center, 938 Lafayette, with doors opening at 5:00 for a reception of free food and drink. The interviews will begin at 6pm.

Stay tuned!

The People Say Project Debuts Tuesday, Feb. 22nd: Music: Alex McMurray & Truth Universal

Local musicians Alex McMurray (Royal Fingerbowl, 007, Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, Tin Men) and MC Truth Universal (founder, Grassroots Hip-Hop Showcase, Guerilla Business, Self-Determination) discuss the hardest way to make an easy living.

A staple in the New Orleans Hip Hop community, Truth Universal has been a leader on the southern Hip Hop scene for more than a decade. While he calls the flourishing New Orleans Hip Hop underground home, Truth has an international perspective that he brings to his music through his birth and childhood in Diego Martin, Trinidad.

Truth has shared the stage with the likes of Talib Kweli, dead prez, Mos Def, The Roots, Luciano, Zion I and many more.

Alex McMurray is currently a soloist, a member of at least one duo, one trio, one quartet and a large nautical men’s chorus (six albums among these configurations), and he is a regular guest guitarist in several other bands. He has toured extensively, building a wide fan base outside New Orleans. He is a co-founder of Chaz Fest.