Today, The Louis Armstrong House Museum and Center announces the 2024 cohorts of their prestigious Armstrong Now Artist-in-Residence program. Following last year's residencies and inspired works from esperanza spalding, Amyra León and Antonio Brown, this season, three new exceptional artists have been selected to work with the institution. In an in-depth approach, they will delve into the treasures of the Armstrong archival collection to find inspiration for new works that fuse music, dance, spoken word, and various visual and performing arts.
Regina Bain, Executive Director of the museum states “This tremendous new class of Armstrong Now Artists joins a deepening community of creative individuals who believe in legacy and have the power to innovate, creating thrilling experiences for audiences worldwide. At the Louis Armstrong House Museum, we are focused and persistent in our learning and sharing of the Armstrong legacy. Through that focused study, we tell a universal story and provide a unique artistic experience for the people in our neighborhood, for audiences the world over, and for future generations whose lives will be shaped through this work. Our goal, always, is to learn from our ancestors and to continue their work - now, our work - providing new creative interpretations by artists and thinkers of today.”
Among this year’s artists include tap dancer, choreographer and original Broadway cast member of Shuffle Along, Lisa La Touche, jazz saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins (The New York Times #1 Jazz Album of 2020), saxophonist, composer and educator Steven Salcedo and dynamic musicians and multimedia artists Soul Science Lab. In the true spirit of tap, Lisa La Touche calls this opportunity the “call and response of a lifetime! One of spirit filled proportion, held with the anticipation of great honor and gratitude.”
The Armstrong Now Artist-in-Residence program contextualizes Louis Armstrong’s contributions within historical and 21st Century constellations of Black making, thinking, and vitality. The residency provides established and emerging artists with a platform to create new work inspired by the vast collection of artifacts and documents in the Armstrong Archives. Artists-in-Residence will spend time at the Museum for an intensive period of research and rehearsal, creating their new work based on thematic content drawn from the Armstrong Archives. At the end of their residency, artists will present a public performance of the work at the Museum and additional performances may premiere in collaboration with partners throughout New York and beyond.
“Throughout his entire life, Louis brought his music to all corners of the world spreading love and creating a global community in Jazz.” says Steven Salcedo. “Like Louis, I strive to bring people from different walks of life together through the universal language of music. Digging deep into his archives, I'm looking forward to seeing where our paths intersect on a deeper level, and hope to continue in his footsteps providing an artistic statement that will help carry on his legacy.”
Immanuel Wilkins shared “Archives are important. It's a rare opportunity to comb through a jazz musician's traces that was so aware of what he was leaving behind for many generations after him. Louis Armstrong is a figure who opened so many doors for American music and through his trumpet playing, his visual art, his voice recordings, and many more, he has created a map or sorts that I am so excited to respond to in my own creative way."
The Louis Armstrong House Museum has also recently won the IMLS National Medal for Museums, the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate significant impact in their communities. Among the 10 Museum and Library Awards recipients, the Louis Armstrong House Museum is the only honor recipient in New York state. The award will be accepted by the museum’s Executive Director Regina Bain at a ceremony in Washington, DC in July.
Last July, The Louis Armstrong House Museum opened the doors to their new state-of-the-art Center, preserving and expanding the legacy and ideals of America’s first Black popular music icon. Armstrong’s values of Artistic Excellence, Education and Community are fostered in Here to Stay, the Center’s exhibition, curated by award-winning pianist, composer and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, Jason Moran. Grounded in the new building design by Caples Jefferson Architects, the Center has become a permanent home for the 60,000-piece Louis Armstrong Archive (the world's largest for a jazz musician) and houses a 75-seat venue offering performances, lectures, films, and educational experiences.
The Center has quickly become a new international destination celebrating Armstrong’s distinctive role in African-Diaspora history and vitality, offering year-round exhibitions, performances, readings, lectures, and screenings through an array of public programs for all ages. With longstanding partners Queens College and the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (President, Wynton Marsalis), and with a growing list of members, supporters and programmatic collaborators, the museum and center has become a Queens-based hub for inspiration and learning, economic development and tourism - from New Yorkers to the world.
