CHAPMAN,
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ALEX SMITH,
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CO-FOUNDERS PRESCRIPTION JOY As actors, clowns and professional theater-makers, Becca Chapman and Alex Smith depend on their bodies. For both of them, serious injuries made them think about their work and the healing process. Smith suffered a broken foot in a car accident that left him unable to perform onstage or do set construction. For Chapman, a fall during a trapeze act left her with a serious concussion. “I flew off a trapeze and hit my head, and it took two years to fully recover from a concussion. It was so terrifying to no longer feel in control of my body,” Chapman says. They saw an opportunity to use their performing experiences to help others heal and launched Prescription Joy in 2017. They started visiting hospitals to provide comic relief to patients, as well as their family members and staff. “You’re using performative tools for something that’s therapeutic,” Chapman says. “It’s not always about laughs,” Smith explains. “We meet the patients where they’re at. Sometimes a visit looks like, ‘Hey, there is a plunger
stuck to my head, isn’t that silly.’ Other times it’s, ‘Your family members are coming today, what do you like about your uncle?’” Currently, their nonprofit employs six additional clowns, and they visit Children’s Hospital New Orleans, Ochsner Hospital for Children and other medical centers in the region as well as nursing home facilities and the New Orleans Women and Children’s Shelter. Their work includes inroom visits, short shows in waiting rooms and physical therapy areas, as well as assisting at vaccine drives. When the Covid shutdowns began, Prescription Joy shifted to Zoom and made the sessions interactive. They also were among the first organizations invited back inside hospitals when Covid protocols were relaxed. During the pandemic, they also launched a virtual escape room game. Chapman is currently studying palliative care and expects Prescription Joy to start programming for end-oflife care for patients and their families. Prescription Joy is part of a North American Federation of Healthcare Clown Organizations and will host the group’s annual meeting next year in New Orleans. — WC
GABRIELLE WASHINGTON,
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MUSICIAN During the early days of the pandemic, Gabrielle Washington and her husband, Dexter Gilmore, launched a YouTube channel called The Chamber, on which they livestreamed wide-ranging conversations music, tech and more. Both are musicians — Washington performs as Delores Galore and Gilmore fronts the futurefunk outfit SDTF (which also includes Washington) — so in those lockdown days of spring 2020, they just wanted a way to perform. “Me and Dexter like vaporwave, and malls are popular with vaporwave for some reason,” Washington says. “So, what if we created a mall where you could see live performances, you can buy merch from artists, you can just chat with people, have avatars, and it could feel like a community?” They dug into videos on YouTube and built Virtua Mall filled with 1980s-esque neons, a stage where the synth-pop project Delores Galore could perform, kiosks and a movie theater showing music videos. Users could access the mall through a web browser and wander around with directional keys and mouse.
MIKE ANTOINE,
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DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY SENIOR ADVISOR INSTITUTE FOR DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT As a firefighter after Hurricane Katrina, Mike Antoine worked two months without a break doing search and rescues. He vividly remembered seeing rows of kids on floating mattresses pushed by their parents, searching for higher ground. “It’s motivation for me to make sure we don’t have images like that again,” says Antoine, who soon will be appointed LSU’s Director of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Despite being 39, Antoine already has more than 20 years of work in public safety. He started out with the New Orleans Fire Department at age 19, worked his way up to be the youngest captain there, then pivoted to more planning, training, liaison and communication based work in various public safety roles. SPONSORED BY
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The mall has been quiet recently, but she plans to upgrade Virtua Mall for future opportunities. “Even though things are opening up, certain things get canceled because Covid is still here,” Washington says. “There are people who never get to leave their house, so we want them to feel included, too.” Originally from northern Virginia, Washington and Gilmore moved to New Orleans in 2013 and have become familiar faces in the indie music community. Washington has become a champion for Black women and non-binary artists in indie pop and electronica. As Delores Galore, she’s released three EPs, including the ambient album, “LEON,” in April. Washington and Gilmore also host an indie game development meet-up, “Show & Tell,” at the Sea Cave on St. Claude Avenue. “There’s not a lot of Black people in gaming, sadly,” Washington says. “There were some Black kids that came into ‘Show & Tell’ and they were excited to see two Black people doing it.” — JC
In 2018, Mayor LaToya Cantrell appointed him deputy director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness and, in 2021, became chief of staff of Public Safety and Homeland Security. During his deputy director role, Antoine restructured the city evacuation plan, designed to send 40,000 people out in 24 hours. Initially, the plan only used three bus lanes, but under Antoine, it expanded to nine bus lanes, airlines and trains to make evacuation more efficient. Antoine jokes that whenever he attends public safety conferences, his peers from other parts of the country seek him out because they know New Orleans emergency planning is like playing 3D chess. “Unfortunately, New Orleans gets tested too much,” he says. “But it’s always good to share that knowledge of how to stay safe.” — LP
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