Jonn Ethan Hankins leads the daily implementation of the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild as its founding Director. He previously held the positions of Executive Director of the New Orleans African American Museum, Development Director of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Foundation, and Principal Development Officer for Corporate and Community Affairs at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). At NOMA, he directed “Raised to the Trade: Creole Building Arts of New Orleans,” an award-winning exhibition and oral history research project that documented two centuries of families of master craftsmen who built and still maintain New Orleans’ unique architecture. Mr. Hankins has advocated for and lectured to apprentice trainees on the need to revive traditional building trade skills in a post-Katrina New Orleans.
Darryl Reeves, a graduate of Epiphany School and a third generation metal worker, is owner of Andrew’s Welding and Blacksmith Shop in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward. He is a board member of the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild and serves as a primary spokesperson, membership recruiter, apprenticeship host and trainer. He apprenticed under master blacksmith William “Buddy” Leonard and has trained apprentices for over two decades.
Jeffrey M. Poree, Sr, a graduate of Epiphany School and a fifth-generation plasterer, is owner of Jeff Poree Plastering and a board member of the Guild. Poree learned trade skills passed down for centuries and is a standard bearer for maintaining ornamental plastering traditions of New Orleans.
Teresa Parker Farris is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Tulane University. She focuses on race and representation in the U.S. South, and has written extensively on related topics. Since 2010, she has chaired the governor-appointed Louisiana Folklife Commission.
