Connecting with Communities Workshops at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2026

CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITIES WORKSHOPS AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2026

Connecting with Communities Workshops

EVENT WEBSITE | REGISTER

Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 10-14 June 2026. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.

Workshops at Kolaj Fest New Orleans offer participants the opportunity to engage with their process or materials in a new way; explore subjects or themes; or practice a new collage technique to make. Over a dozen workshops take place during the festival. Here is a selection:

WORKSHOP

Success is Strategy

“At It’s a Colorful Life, we believe that art shouldn’t be confined to gallery walls—it should be woven into the fabric of your daily experience. Our store transforms contemporary collage art into beautifully crafted everyday objects, from journals and mugs to home décor and accessories. Each piece is designed to spark joy, inspire creativity, and remind you that life is meant to be lived in full color. These aren’t just functional items—they’re daily companions that encourage you to pause, reflect, and find meaning in the ordinary moments.” In this workshop, Lafayette, Indiana artist, art leader, activist, and It’s a Colorful Life business owner Kerrie Bellisario will guide artists through the process of creative entrepreneurship. From creating art, providing services, or designing products, success begins with a business plan. She will work with participants through the process of developing a brand, identifying target audiences, exploring deliverables, and strategizing financial outcomes. Participants will develop a mission statement for their idea or brand and complete a worksheet mapping brand to the audience to deliverables. Bellisario will speak about budgeting and partnerships. “This will not just be a boring business workshop.”

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Lafayette, Indiana, USA. Kerrie Bellisario works in photography, collage/ assemblage, and interdisciplinary, multi-media installations. She holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the University of Connecticut. She was a member of the Studio Art faculty at the University of Connecticut, followed by ten years as an Associate Professor at Lesley University, where she taught studio art, art education, and community art courses. Bellisario’s work has been written about in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Baltimore Sun, among others. She has been actively involved in guest residencies and lectures in the United States as well as in Canada, Spain, Peru, Portugal, and Japan. Her works are included in the public collections of The Slater Art Museum, Lesley College of Art & Design, and the corporate headquarters of Courtemanche & Associates. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina. The artist is currently the Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Haan Museum of Indiana Art. In 2025, she opened her online art boutique, It’s a Colorful Life. Learn more at www.itsacolorfullife.shop and on Instagram @kerriebellisario. 

WORKSHOP

Building Community with Collage

How can collage artists use collage to build community? Since September 2025, New Orleans, Louisiana collage artist and clinical social worker Bethanie Mangigian has led the popular workshop series, Collage the Tarot, at Kolaj Institute Gallery. That experience has led her to develop an approach to workshop facilitation that fosters connection, curiosity, and creative exploration for artists and non-artists alike. During this workshop, Mangigian will outline “the facilitation framework I have been developing over the last six months to support individual artists who want to bring their work into community spaces in an accessible way that promotes creativity, community cohesion, and confidence for artists and non-artists alike.” She wrote, “Art making can be a solitary act, yet, hundreds of artists flock to Kolaj Fest New Orleans every year to be in community with one another. We are all seeking more ways to contend with late capitalism, loneliness, political and social division and the general existential crisis we confront through daily living. Art making, specifically collage, is uniquely positioned to provide an accessible way for community members to come together to express themselves and engage with others. Through the framework of Creativity, Community, Clarity, and Completion, I’ll lead artists through a template that allows them to leave with a fully designed, replicable workshop model they can bring into their own communities.” Discussions will include how to translate personal process into accessible, recurring community-based structure; how to guide non-artists with confidence and create psychological safety in group settings; and how to design time-bound workshops that lead to completion. Mangigian wrote, “Through both my personal artwork and my facilitation of creative spaces, I seek to nurture connection, imagination, and shared meaning. Collage models the world I want to inhabit: one where fragments are honored, where differences coexist in dynamic composition, and where beauty emerges through relationships.”

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Bethanie Mangigian is a collage artist and clinical social worker. She has shown her work at Kolaj Institute, Second Story Gallery and in New Orleans art markets. In 2024, she participated in the Kolaj Institute Collage in Scotland Artist Residency, “Castles as Buildings, Metaphors, and Systems of Power.” With Kolaj Institute, she created and leads the monthly collage workshop, Collage the Tarot, which was featured on Fox 8 WVUE. Mangigian incorporates her mental health training by providing collage workshops for community-based organizations in New Orleans, with a particular emphasis on collective art-making practice as a vehicle for emotional healing and personal meaning-making. Learn more on Instagram @glu_grlie.