“Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond”

After 15 years on view, the Presbytere exhibition “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond” is undergoing renovations to update its multimedia displays (with the Solomon Group supporting staff curators) and to broaden and extend the city’s recovery timeline into the present.

“We need to do the normal refresh you do from infrastructure aging over 15 years,” said Becky Mackie, acting director of the Louisiana State Museum’s 10 institutions. “Also, we have more of a story to tell.”

A Museumgoer overview of the work underway, to debut August 29 (Katrina’s 20^th anniversary), will run in the August 17 edition of the New Orleans Advocate | The Times-Picayune. Read it here.

Interviews with Billy Nungesser, whose portfolio as Louisiana lieutenant governor includes oversight of the state-museum system, and Karen Leathem, a State Museum historian and curator who was part of the team that did the original installation and who is now working on the renovation, are in a new episode of the Museumgoer Podcast. Listen here.

A few photos from the pre-renovation exhibit are way below.

Extra thing

Katrina’s 20^th anniversary will be recognized by local museums over the next few weeks through exhibits and public programs, including documentary screenings. Here’s a list, which I’ll continue to update here as events join the queue:

At 1 p.m. August 16, the Historic New Orleans Collection will host the 2025 Morrison Lecture, which takes the theme “We’re Not Done Yet: Post-Katrina Urban Planning Lessons.” David Dixon, who helped draft the city’s post-Katrina master plan, will deliver the lecture, which will be followed by a panel of local community leaders. More.
At 5:30 p.m. August 21, the Amistad Research Center will present “Conversations in Color: Moving on From Disaster in the Land of Opportunity.” The free event will include clips from the 2011 documentary Land of Opportunity and a conversation with filmmakers Luisa Dantas and Rebecca Snedeker. More.
A new documentary, Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina, will screen at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center at 5 p.m. August 24. Former Times-Picayune reporter Trymaine Lee is host and executive producer. More.
The new exhibit “The Katrina List: An Untold Story of Hurricane Katrina” will open August 28 at the New Orleans African American Museum. Presented in partnership with the Katrina National Memorial Foundation, it will remain on view through August 30, 2026. More.
The Ella Project will host “The State of New Orleans Culture: 20 Years After Katrina,” a free reception and panel discussion at 5 p.m. August 28 at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. More.
After a ribbon-cutting at the Presbytere to mark the “Living with Hurricanes” renovation at 9 a.m. August 29, a free symposium will take place at Le Petit Theater from 10 a.m. to noon. Panelists will be Nungesser, Walter Isaacson, and Aaron Broussard. Norman Robinson will moderate. More.
A “then and now” photography exhibit will open at 6 p.m. August 29 at the George Dunbar Gallery in Slidell City Hall. A related commemorative event is scheduled for 4 p.m. August 30 at Slidell Municipal Auditorium. More.
Thirteen artists will address the anniversary in an exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans. “K20: When the Water Met the Door” opens August 29 and will remain on view until October 31, 2025. More.
At 6:30 p.m. September 4, the Jackson Barracks Military Museum will host a presentation by Major General (retired) John Basilica Jr. about the Louisiana National Guard’s role during and after the storm. More.
Opening September 13, Katrina’s 20th anniversary and the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene will be recognized in an art exhibit at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibit originates in Asheville, North Carolina. More.
“Dapper Bruce Lafitte: A Time Before Katrina,” an exhibit of large-scale drawings, is on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art. More.
The photography exhibit “Looking Back: Hurricane Katrina at 20” is on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. More.
“Surviving Katrina: The Hope, Healing and Rebirth of New Orleans,” an exhibit of paintings by Ted Ellis, is on view at the Tate, Etienne and Prevost Center. More.

Thanks to Billy and Karen, and thanks to you for reading and maybe listening.

Questions, comments, corrections: [email protected].