Join José Fermín Ceballos and Frederick “Wood” Delahoussaye for a conversation on gulf south poetry and their artistic practices.

This program is in conjunction with an upcoming event featuring award-winning poet, author, and performer Elizabeth Acevedo; sponsored by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Newcomb Institute.

Fermín Ceballos is a tri-lingual Afro-Dominican songwriter, musician, bandleader, composer, actor, and poet living and creating art in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied art & music at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and was a professor of music for the Dominican Republic Secretary of State for Culture National School System. His primary musical instruments are the accordion, guitar, piano, and voice. Fermín continually works on several musical projects in the Gulf South and the US; such as Merengue4-FOUR, a musical project focused on Dominican Music (Bachata & Merengue Típico), Fermín’s Latin Fusion Orchestra performing original salsa inspired compositions, and Fermín Acústico a musical concept based on guitar and voice. With all his projects, he performs original compositions based on his fusion of different sounds and musical rhythms. In 2019, he released his first book of poems in Spanish and English entitled Pisando Mi Sombra (Walking My Shadow).

Educator, entertainer, emcee, and New Orleans native Frederick “Wood” Delahoussaye has propelled through the elements of artistry, socially engaged interdisciplinary projects and entertainment for almost two decades.

He serves as Artist in Residence and Chief Creative Officer - Artistic Director for the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, a nonprofit organization that creates and supports programs, activities and creative works emphasizing the contributions of people of African descent, located in New Orleans, as well as Lead Artist for Junebug Productions’ Homecoming Project, a community-based, storytelling performance series that marries artistic practice with a commitment to maintaining the essential relationship between culture and progressive social change through engagement with New Orleans communities that have been historically oppressed and exploited. He is a featured performer in KM Dance Project’s Distorted Images​ and ​Taken​, and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s Big Easy Award-winning ​The Origin of Life on Earth. ​ He is also a member of the New Orleans Youth Open Mic (NOYOM) executive committee, an initiative providing stage and space for local youth to share and support each other through writing and spoken word.

Wood is a published author, poet, and has been a featured writer for numerous publications. He served as associate producer and writer for Cox Television Productions’ ​Spoken​, director of the ACT I Black Theater Festival productions, The Color of Self a​nd ​Change Gon’ Come​ and Poetic Panther Productions’, ​The Motherland Before They Came​. He was musical coordinator for Ebony Square Cultural Center and is the Founder of Lifeline Entertainment Group.

He is a recipient of the Asante Foundation’s Cultural Ambassador Award for Performance Art, National Performance Network Mentorship and Leadership award, Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Servant Leader Award, a Puentes Public Leader Fellow, Mellon Foundation Community Engagement Fellow, Junebug Productions John O’Neal Cultural Fellow and is a member of the National Advisory Board for Imagining America.

Zoom webinar link: https://tulane.zoom.us/j/96289557736?pwd=ejArN2d2eDdhNXE5VlNPZU01L2RCdz09

For more information, please contact Regina Cairns at 504-314-2854 or rcairns@tulane.edu.