Our History

Civic Studio grew out of the Blue House, a shared workspace and collective founded in 2014 at 1700 S. Rampart in Central City, New Orleans. COVID shut down the Blue House, which provided us with an opportunity to restructure the business as a worker cooperative. In 2021, we moved across the street into Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church No. 2, located at 1626 S. Rampart. We are grateful to the Central City Renaissance Alliance, Cooperation New Orleans, Tanya James, Tamah Yisrael, and Olivia Woollam for their support in the development of Civic Studio, and to all of the past members, managers, and founders of the Blue House for creating the foundation upon which Civic Studio exists.

2020

Began organizing as a worker-owned cooperative – core group has working together since then

But the idea of Civic Studio existed even earlier, though, as part of Blue House programming and ideation – the Blue House was a shared work space that opened up in 2014 in Central City, and closed in 2020 due to COVID. Support from Tanya James and Central City Renaissance Alliance

2021

New digs, incorporation, infrastructure

In 2021, we moved from the former Blue House space to Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church No. 2 and incorporated as an LLC. We started building infrastructure, drafting bylaws, and received support from Cooperation New Orleans and Olivia Woollam. We began working on projects  and organized our first Family Fest and Culture Jam events.

2022

Figuring out the strengths of our team and diving into neighborhood history and projects

We continued to explore place through the Legacy of Central City Exhibition, Program, and Activity Book. Youth focused projects also became a major theme this year with partners like PlayBuild, YEP, and Kuumba.

2023

Our first big, multi-year projects and partnerships

We had the honor of taking on major projects that tested the way we worked together. We developed art and historical exhibits for DDI, Green infrastructure interventions with the Water Leaders cohort in New Orleans East, open studios for the Lead Service Line replacement project, and
supported facilitation of the Gulf South Open School.

2024

Imagining the future

We began to see our vision come to life through the opening of the Dew Drop Inn, Earth Day Celebration, the launch of the Gulf South Open School (including monthly Community Tables) and began work on an Exhibition about Imagining the Future of New Orleans and Bulbancha.