NEW ORLEANS — When you pass the Ashé Cultural Arts Center on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, you might notice a very unofficial street sign that bears the name Carol Bebelle.
She's the co-founder of Ashé Cultural Arts Center but do you know how she came to be hailed as a guardian of our culture?
For two decades, she worked in the public sector. She spent her extra time helping community-based organizations and noticed that something was missing.
"I had worked in education. I had worked in health. I had worked in government, and the thing that was most possessed by black folks in New Orleans was the culture, and there was no place where we didn't have to ask a white person for a key to do something cultural. And I thought that was just ridiculous," explains Bebelle.
In December of 1998 that space was created. Bebelle and her friend Douglas Redd co-founded Ashé Cultural Arts Center.
Bebelle explains that its purpose was "...to have it be a sanctuary place for artists and culture bearers."
There was finally a space where black art and culture could be displayed and celebrated, and some questioned its purpose.
"Constantly challenging why, and I'm saying Irish, Vietnamese, Greek…help me understand what makes it problematic. Why are we called to have to not be so focused here?" Bebelle explained.
Despite the skepticism, Bebelle and her team continued stressing the importance of culture in understanding people and moving the country forward. The center provided a space for art exhibits, anti-racism workshops, community planning meetings, and theater.
For 15 years, Bebelle staged a production to highlight our African origins.
"People would say, 'Why every year?' Do we go to see the nutcracker every year? Does anybody ask we go to see the nutcracker every year? if we can go see the nutcracker every year, we can go see the 'Origins of Life on Earth,' an African creation myth every year," said Bebelle.
After two decades of championing for culture, Bebelle retired in 2019
That's when the Ashe family tried to get a part of the street named after her, when that effort didn't work out, they put up the makeshift street sign and unveiled it the night of her community retirement party
"They were thanking me for being a champion of culture, which I feel I will be doing until I'm no longer able to do it," says Bebelle.