The 3^rd annual Tulane Research, Innovation, and Creativity Summit (TRICS) brought together undergraduates, graduates, fellows, faculty, and research staff for a two-day showcase at the Civic Theatre in Downtown New Orleans. Taking place from April 9–10, research posters and presentations spanned all disciplines and schools, with a strong showing from the School of Liberal Arts. Presenters hailed from departments like Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, English, and Gender and Sexuality Studies, and contributed on a range of fascinating topics — demonstrating not only the diversity of liberal arts research, but also the creativity embedded in their methodologies. From radiocarbon dating and geochemical analysis to data science models and qualitative analysis tools, these projects revealed the dynamic ways SLA scholars investigate the world.

Julia Sjödahlis a PhD student specializing in the archeology of the Andes. Her poster presented the pilot research for her dissertation project at a site called Arpiri in Ayacucho, Peru.

“The Huancasancos region in the south-central highlands of Ayacucho, Peru, is an archaeologically rich yet relatively understudied area,” Sjödahl wrote in her abstract. Her project, "Excavations at Arpiri, an Early Horizon (800-200 BCE) Site in Huancasancos, Ayacucho, Peru,” detailed the results of excavation and material analysis from the site, where the identification of certain ceramics and obsidian materials revealed evidence of continuous trade and contact within communities along the southern coast.

“Following fieldwork, we carried out radiocarbon dating of a circular structure, and geochemical analysis (portable x-ray fluorescence) of obsidian tools,” she shared. “In the future, we'll expand excavations to better understand the social and economic development of this area.”

In her presentation “Teaching with Tarot: The Art of Asking Questions and Discussing Values,” Associate Professor of Philosophy and Gender and Sexuality Studies Georgi Gardner explores an ancient art form from an epistemological perspective, and argues its value as a pedagogical tool in the liberal arts. “Teaching with tarot foregrounds interpretative and dialogical skills to explore scholarly ideas. It is engaged, object-based learning,” she shared. Through her research on the history of tarot, various tarot decks (including the Newcomb Archives’ tarot collection), and other scholarly perspectives, Gardner has developed a host of resources for those wanting to bring tarot into the classroom.

“Tarot cards are aesthetically rich,” she explains in her abstract. “They offer layers of meaning, interpretative depth, and cultural allusion, especially referencing classical mythology, theology, art, and history. These images sharpen contemplative, creative attention on nuanced social and philosophical themes, such as power, labor, duty, relationships, value, and death. This makes tarot an excellent tool for teaching in college classrooms.”

Research by undergraduate Avery Edwards (SLA ’26), a Sociology and Spanish major, Newcomb scholar, and undergraduate research assistant at the Newcomb Institute, explored some of the challenges to data collection and research in the humanities, with her project, “It Takes a Village: Considerations when Conducting a Scoping Review on Self-Managed Abortions in Illegal Settings.” 

“This study emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in reproductive health research,” Edwards explained in her abstract. Edwards and her team utilized qualitative analysis software (Covidence) as a tool to initially screen articles needed for full review, to then examine how researchers study Self-Managed Abortions (SMA) in legally restricted settings, focusing on methodological strategies that address ethical and legal concerns.

“I am most proud of the ways in which our research team tackled such a legally and ethically nuanced topic on a global scale. The magnitude of our scoping review felt daunting at first, but learning how to navigate Covidence, refine our inclusion criteria through ongoing communication, and engage in open discussions about article conflicts made the process deeply rewarding. It has been both intellectually rigorous and highly collaborative. I have learned to ask better questions, think more critically about methodologies, and problem-solve independently while relying heavily on my team’s insights. This balance and embracement of the iterative process has shaped how I think about research moving forward.”

Other SLA presentations included:

Alexis Culotta
Professor of Practice, Art
"A Digital Tool for Analyzing Artistic Newtworks"

Nghana Lewis
Associate Professor, English and Africana Studies
“Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children: A Model for Fostering Rehabilitation, Accountability, and Cost-Efficiency in Louisiana’s Juvenile Justice System” 

José Nicolás Cabrera-Schneider
PhD Candidate, Latin American Studies 
“Discourse Adaptation Around Mines in the Andes”

Renzo Aurazo Diaz
PhD Candidate, Political Science
“Workers on the Edge: Unraveling the Causes of Riotous Protest Actions”

Julie Ford
PhD Candidate, City, Culture, and Community Program
“Measuring the treatment effect of a sexual violence prevention curricular intervention for college students” 

Evelyn Howard (SLA ‘26)
Anthropology
“Two types of males? Morphology and dominance in wild capuchin monkeys”

Noah Fisher (SLA ‘25)
Political Science 
“JLN Research: An Exploration of Data Science Strategies for Enhancing Financial System Resilience Through Novel Hybrid Network Architectures”

 

 Julie Ford, PhD Candidate in the City, Culture, and Community Program, presents her poster to TRICS judges.

One of the most impactful experiences for an art history student is the opportunity to observe a work of art in person. I was part of a lucky group of art history students from the Newcomb Art Department who got the chance to witness, in the flesh, some of the greatest works of art ever created. 

Taking place over the Mardi Gras break, this whirlwind art exploration was made possible through generous funding by Sandy Heller (A&S '94), a New York City-based art advisor. The trip brought together a group of students from Holly Flora’s seminar on Medieval Italian Art and from Stephanie Porras’s course Van Eyck to Bruegel: Northern Renaissance Art. Our group received private tours of the Revoir Cimabue exhibition in the Louvre, the Foundation Custodia in Paris, and the Siena: Rise of Painting traveling exhibition in the National Gallery. Accompanying these tours, we had the opportunity to learn directly from museum curators Professor Thomas Bohl (Musée du Louvre) and Dr. Cecile Tainturier (Foundation Custodia), as well as Newcomb Art Department Professors Flora, Porras, and Leslie Geddes. 

Flora shared, "It's been a huge honor to be able to teach courses framed around museum exhibitions and to be able to take students to see works of art in person — and make connections with curators in museums like the Louvre.” 

The Louvre is one of the most famous museums in the world, and boasts a collection of old master paintings, dynamic sculptures, and priceless antiquities from across the globe. We were able to experience the Revoir Cimabue exhibition privately with Flora and Bohl.

Flora previously worked in the museum world in New York and curated the exhibition Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting, at the Frick Collection. We were also able to attend her public lecture at the Louvre, Cimabue and the Franciscans, which coincided with our trip — learning about works discussed in class back at Tulane, such as Madonna Enthroned. 

“Visiting the Louvre’s A New Look at Cimabue exhibition was my favorite part of our trip,” shared Marjorie Kennedy (SLA ‘25). “We were given a wonderful tour by the curator Dr. Bohl, and I was so thrilled to see the works we’d been studying in class!”  

The next day, we returned to the museum to further explore the Louvre’s extensive collection. It was incredible to listen to faculty experts Porras and Geddes as they walked through the museum and lectured on the works of art on display. Their passion and breadth of knowledge was apparent, which made the experience more thrilling. 

“As a professor, it is incredibly rewarding to have students in front of the objects they’ve studied,” Porras shared. “It is truly a transformative experience, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

At the Foundation Custodia, our group received another private tour, this time with curator Tainturier. From the museum archives, she brought out priceless cartoons and prints from master artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt. 

After an exhilarating few days in Paris, we traveled to London to visit the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The journey was not without a few hiccups, as a WWII bomb was discovered a few miles from Paris, prompting a cancellation of all Eurostar trains, including ours — which led to an impromptu flight and an interesting story to tell! But we all arrived in London, even if several hours later than we hoped to.

A lifelong art lover and advocate for arts education, Heller sponsored the creation of the Strategy, Leadership, and Analytics Minors (SLAM) course titled “How to Acquire a Work of Art.” He continues to support the class, which is taught by one of his former professors, Michael Plante. During that course, SLAM students (and many Art History majors) had the chance to learn from curators, gallery collectors, and other members of the art world. Students also went through the very real process of purchasing two pieces of art, now on display in School of Liberal Arts buildings. 

“What I love about art is, we’re all students here — if you’re a viewer of art, you’re a student. And art is the teacher,” Heller told Tulane Magazine in 2018. “Great art has the ability to transport and transcend. It’s going to take you somewhere as long as you’re open to letting that happen.”

The trip concluded with an amazing day at the National Gallery, where we carefully combed our way through the Siena: The Rise of Painting, an exhibition on the innovative artists and creative power of central Italy during the 14th century, and brought together some of the monumental paintings created there during that period. This was another special chance to interact with the artworks we study in our coursework. This experience was so meaningful to me and my classmates because it not only allowed us to view individual pieces of art firsthand, but granted us the chance to immerse ourselves in the culture we discuss in the classroom. 

Sam Tarpley is a Master's student in the Department of English. He is a WACNO intern and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Community-Engaged Scholarship. His work in relaunching WACNO’s Academic World Quest motivated him to study abroad in Latvia during his winter break in 2023-24. Upon returning, he applied for and received a Boren Fellowship. This allowed him to spend six months in Riga, Latvia, studying Russian and Information Security and Conflict Resolution. Recently, Sam has been named a semi-finalist for the Fulbright ETA program in Kazakhstan. At WACNO, Sam works to bring accessible and inviting international education to the Greater New Orleans area.

Time has a particular way of passing us by when we have the fortune to return to the places we call home. And yet, so much can change when the ability to return home is taken away. For some, this is not only a reality, but a lived experience permeated through crisis, uncertainty, and war. On the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, families and countless lives are continually being fractured between borders — and despite these challenges, hope persists. I’m proud to see my Tulane and New Orleans communities answering the call, and with the World Affairs Council of New Orleans (WACNO), the impact of those experiences is coming to life through the power of spoken word.

An internationally minded organization, WACNO is dedicated to bolstering awareness of global issues in the greater New Orleans area, and it is the great diversity of our port city that allows for this communication across cultures. Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, WACNO has advocated for all those who have been displaced, offering not only a platform for experts to sustain public discourse, but a place for the Ukrainian population in New Orleans to foster solidarity — all the while portraying how even the most stringent of challenges may be overcome through community.

As an Andrew Mellon Fellow in Community-Engaged scholarship, I discovered the breadth of international outreach possible in our city, first as a student of Russian language at Tulane, and later as a contributing member of an organization that continues to effect change. Partnering with WACNO for the Mellon Fellowship, I have been able to contribute to causes that exist not only locally, but globally. Broadening my horizons in this way, my service with WACNO has ranged from tutoring immigrants to sparking social change through art — and I’m eager to see how this journey will continue to take shape.

Set against the reverence of the Marigny Theater, WACNO cultivated a new sort of conversation beyond collectivity and into history. At a panel discussion on February 24, in partnership with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a moving work-in-progress documentary was unveiled — showcasing the oral histories of Ukrainian refugees now residing in the state we call home. In the coming weeks, this collection of lives and voices will become a permanent part of the Williams Center for Oral History at LSU, standing as a testament to the history being made in front of us all.

Alongside WACNO President, Dr. Alla Rosca, I took part in these interviews, exemplifying the interconnectedness not merely between university settings, but in the very city of New Orleans. Witnessing these candid accounts of adversity and real hardship marked a pivotal juncture in my understanding of identity juxtaposed by language — Ukrainian, Russian, and English. This was the very concept School of Liberal Arts Professor Lidia Zhigunova made critical in each of her classes at Tulane. As a panelist and member of WACNO herself, she emphasized how matters of imperialism across her native North Caucasus region, now a part of Russia, have intruded upon the preservation of culture and belonging itself. As she placed this divide into the context of today, we were all reminded of how the saliency of identity can be influenced by the language we speak and the places where we feel safe. In the North Caucasus as in Ukraine, these matters continue to arise — and it’s why reclaiming home through these conversations will keep us all moving toward a future worth hoping for.

 

School of Liberal Arts Professors Sam Ramer (speaking) and Lydia Zhigunova (R-Center) participate in WACNO's panel discussion at the Marigny Opera House.

Tulane University Theatre & Dance students had the special opportunity to workshop new theatre as they rehearsed Prick, an ensemble-based play centered around the Scottish Witch Trials, which began in the 1560s and continued for more than a century. To make the experience even more unique, the cast built a chorus of voices and distinct characters under the guidance of Associate Professor Amy Chaffee, alongside playwright Laurie Flanigan-Hegge, giving students the opportunity to learn what it was like to work with a dynamic script. Flanigan-Hegge listened in on various Zoom rehearsals and readings, made edits in real-time, and even traveled to New Orleans to watch the production’s American premiere. 

Before the show on Saturday, February 22, student Assistant Directors Sofia Severson (SLA ‘27) and Grace Harmon Graugnard (SLA ‘21, SoPA ‘26) spoke with Flanigan-Hegge to get her insight on the play’s creation. As assistant directors, Sofia and Grace developed a personal stake in the stories of the accused women presented in Prick. Their position brought about relentless pursuit of artistic goals, similar to Flanigan-Hegge’s goals in writing the play, to highlight an era of history that speaks to the treatment of women as a society and to reckon with how much — or how little — treatment of women has changed across centuries. As the play's song "Today / Today" suggests, anachronistic elements are woven into the story that invite the audience to draw comparisons between the era of the witch trials and contemporary society.

Grace: When did you first hear of the Scottish Witch Trials?

Flanigan-Hegge: That is a really great question. I was asked to write this piece by an American graduate student getting her M.F.A. at Edinburgh Napier University. She needed a thesis project and wanted to work on an original play. She had been on a witch tour [in Edinburgh], and everywhere she looked, she was seeing what we call the ‘witch kitsch’ that was going on, but couldn't really get into the main story.

In 2022, the “Witches of Scotland” campaign kicked off on International Women’s Day. The campaign is essentially these two really brilliant women, Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, and they are working for three things in Scotland: a pardon for all those accused, an apology from the government (which they received from Nicola Sturgeon on International Women's Day 2022), and a national memorial. 

They just released a new tartan that is designed specifically to be a living memorial. I don't know the details of the threads and whatnot, but it's really interesting. The count of threads, the color of threads, the way they’re spaced out, it’s all related to the long arc of the Scottish witch trials.      

Grace: Was there a particular detail or story that inspired the play itself, or was it a slow process of research before coming to the play?

Flanigan-Hegge: I started listening to the “Witches of Scotland” podcast, and with each episode, I was connecting dots. There's a Wikimedian by the name of Ewan McAndrew, and he put out an online database of all the names of the known accused. People started going into this online database and looking at the records for witches in their community. There’s this huge boom of research around specific women.

Sofia: The play premiered at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is one of the biggest theatre festivals in the world. Have you noticed any differences in the energy and reception of the play here at Tulane compared to the reception at Fringe? 

Flanigan-Hegge: I am still learning what the reception is here, and it's a brilliant opportunity for me to find out what this play means to an American audience. I think there are subtle things. My approach is possibly less surprising to an American audience than it might be to a Scottish audience.

I can say that I’m very curious to know what you think, how you respond to this material, and especially the anachronistic aspects of it. This show will hopefully have more American productions, and everything that Amy has done in her laboratory with these students has just been so informative for me. And since that Edinburgh production, I have done some rewrites in collaboration with Amy and with the student cast.

Sofia: Within the play, there are a lot of different stories that are told, and a lot of different characters portrayed. Is there a story or detail that you wish you could have fit into the play?      

Flanigan-Hegge: Well, this might be where some of the questions about an American audience versus a Scottish audience come into play. As a writer, working on this piece when I did it for the Fringe, compared to working on the piece in February 2024 in America, my voice and my perspective — what I want to say, how I want to feel, what I want to express — might be a little hotter. And there's one specific thing I would add that I don't want to tell you because I don't want to give it away. It comes at the end of the play. 

Grace: Do you see Prick more as a living script or a living document that changes with its ensemble? How do you hope to see the play change and grow in the future?

Flanigan-Hegge: For a playwright, it’s often harder to get a second production than it is to get a first. When I wrote this piece, I was having to fight for my vision a little bit in ways that distance makes difficult. It was a process of discovery with this company that was across the ocean.

I knew Prick was coming to Tulane and that Amy would have her own group of students. I felt very strongly that we could rebuild this production with her company. The cast is larger, so a lot of the choral and shared vocal elements were either rewritten or re-edited to fit this cast. 

I hope that eventually, I learn enough for the play to become solid enough to be published and licensed, but I would still like to invite any director to create their own version of it. When you're working on a play with a living playwright, if there's something you need to discuss, you should just email them and ask.

Students perform the original play, Prick, in Tulane’s Lupin Theatre.

In March, both undergraduate and graduate economics students had the opportunity to attend the highly anticipated lecture by the prestigious James Poterba, who was invited to campus as the 2025 Tulane Distinguished Lecturer in Economics. Poterba is the Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT and the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a non-profit research organization with more than 1700 affiliated economists. His lecture, titled "Debt, Deficits, and Sustainability: The US Fiscal Challenge," delved into our country’s rising debt and its potential to have widespread repercussions in the near future. We quickly realized that this was not just a lecture about niche economic theories, but an urgent and timely lesson that resonated well beyond our fields of study.

Poterba began his lecture by outlining the national debt crisis and its potential consequences. Our current net debt of $28.3 trillion — at least 110% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — Poterba explained, is projected to hit 180% by 2055 if nothing changes. “We are on a trajectory at the moment that is not sustainable,” he warned us. Yet no one is panicking. Poterba called this the “Cassandra Problem,” where economists have sounded the alarm, but — because “the wheels haven’t fallen off the economy” yet, we continue as usual, “spending more than we’re collecting in taxes” and increasing debt. With more debt comes increased interest payments, which only leads to more borrowing. The longer we wait to make the change, the harder the cycle is to escape.

As the national debt surges, the government must raise interest rates in order to attract lenders. Not only does this make the debt harder for the government to pay back, but the higher returns draw investment away from the private sector and into government bonds. Less money flowing into businesses slows economic growth; as Poterba explains it, “The ultimate cost of the higher debt stock is that we have displaced capital that would have otherwise been productive capital.”

The massive debt makes the entire system more delicate, growing the potential for a recession. To address this issue effectively, Poterba advised that the government increase taxes and decrease federal spending. While these changes would create immediate financial hardship for everyday Americans, postponing action only increases the risks and the economic burden.

At the end of the lecture, we asked Dr. Poterba if non-economics majors should learn about or care about this issue. The answer was an emphatic yes. The economy has a massive impact on real people's lives, it is not just theoretical factors and equations. The older generation, politicians, and bond owners are not the ones who will face the economic consequences; it is young people like us — students growing up in this increasingly destabilized economy — who will bear the burden. “Folks in the cohort that most of you represent, who are going to be paying taxes in the US for decades to come — you're the folks who are going to pay these bonds off.” He painted the scenario where in 10 years one of us is trying to buy a house, only to face interest rates that double overnight because this issue has been ignored. He emphasized that we can’t trust politicians alone to fix this, but we must understand and create pressure for change as young people. This is not a lesson for economists, this is a warning for society — the national debt is getting out of control, leaving us young adults in a very vulnerable position.

We attended the guest lecture knowing this prestigious professor would heighten our economic perspective and aid our studies. However, what we did not expect was a lecture that so clearly connected economic theory to our personal lives, helping us see these issues not just as economic students but as young adults who will face the consequences of our national debt. We are also both Environmental Studies majors and often think about our sustainability. This brought the same lens of sustainability onto our economic environment, bridging our interests across several dimensions and then applying it to a tangible impact on all of our futures.

A packed hours for the 2025 Tulane Distinguished Lecture in Economics, sponsored by the Murphy Institute for Public Policy and the School of Liberal Arts Economics Department.

Project Lazarus is a non-profit that provides housing, support, and resources for people living with HIV/AIDs in the greater New Orleans area. As part of their mission to heal and empower, the transitional living facility partners with local institutions and universities to offer wellness education opportunities for their residents. José Roberto González Bisteni is an MA candidate in Tulane’s Philosophy Department, and has been co-leading weekly classes at Project Lazarus since Fall of 2024. Additionally, three PhD candidates, Chen Wang, Craig Koch, and Daniel Stearman, co-teach the program alongside Bisteni.

By José Roberto González Bisteni (SLA ’25)
MA in Philosophy

Photo: José Roberto González Bisteni (SLA ’25)

Participants in the Project Lazarus program come from many walks of life. It is always interesting to see how they interpret topics presented in our weekly philosophy lessons, how they process thought experiments and philosophical arguments presented to them, and also to see them actively think about those problems in group discussions. The beautiful thing about philosophy is that no prior knowledge is needed. It is not necessarily what philosophy should "produce"; first comes thinking itself, and this is a possibility that we generally share as humans.  

Starting in October 2024, I have been visiting Project Lazarus about once a week to co-teach philosophy lessons. The classroom has been rather informal — a kitchen table that fits 10 people comfortably. From the beginning, we found it to be the most suitable setting to discuss, question, and reflect.

The purpose of the lessons is to either introduce a philosophical problem or present the content of a philosophical text. Sometimes these two objectives overlap. For example, last semester Kant's philosophy was introduced to present both the problem of aesthetics and the problem of ethics. In the case of aesthetics, we detailed material from Kant's Critique of Judgement in order to explain why Kant thinks that judgements about beauty are subjective. In the case of ethics, we presented Kant's famous categorical imperative.

By looking specifically at one important text from the history of philosophy, we hope to show students the aspects involved within that area of philosophy. Furthermore, the lessons are meant to show a one-time student what philosophical questioning looks like; and for those students that continue to participate, to give a sense of what philosophy in general might be all about (this, of course, is itself a problem for philosophers). 

This semester began with a paper that argues that philosophy has, as one of its ends, the living of a good life. In my own lessons, I have attempted to return to this problem, with attention to how it is that thinking can contribute to living life well. Perhaps it allows us to understand things better not only through the discarding of falsities, but also in highlighting how thinking done poorly can be dangerous and often indistinguishable from careful thinking, if one rushes to answers and does not stick with the problematic long enough. This line of thinking therefore does not blame philosophy for the existence of bad philosophies, but encourages the individual to constantly question instead of being contented with answers.  

It is also worth mentioning that my co-teachers and I don't necessarily see eye to eye on all of these problematics, and are not always working within the same philosophical traditions. This gives the students multiple perspectives to consider: on philosophy, the ways of doing and thinking about philosophy, and on interpretations of these texts. 

One student, who has attended nearly all of the lessons since I first arrived, has expressed his gratitude for our visits. In my view, he has gone from resisting the problems that we posed in favor of his preconceptions about philosophy, life, and politics, etc., to actively engaging with the lessons and finding ease with being confused over the problems, despite the headache that it causes (a trait that the Socrates of Plato's dialogues mentions is true of those first engaging with philosophy in more than one dialogue). Just this comfort in not knowing and the ability to be perplexed is, I believe, a great progress in developing oneself as a thinker (perplexity, as Plato's dialogues suggest, is the beginning of philosophy). These past two lessons, I have been very pleased to see more students show up and participate.

I thought these lessons would be a great opportunity for developing as a teacher and to get practice teaching philosophy in particular. I tend to struggle with feeling comfortable explaining things without being as precise as I possibly can, which might make my lessons more demanding for someone with no background in the area. In this regard, teaching at Project Lazarus was a great opportunity for learning how to respond to what is appropriate to the student's needs and desired outcomes, given that everyone is at a beginner level and being introduced to these concepts for the first time. However, I am constantly encouraged by the participation of the students, by the sense one gets that they are getting something from the lessons, and that they appreciate our being there. No one is there who does not want to be there, and this makes for a very gratifying time. 

The Project Lazarus Transitional Living Facility, pictured here along with a view of one of its gardens, was founded in 1985.

On the evening of Thursday, February 20, the Tulane Entertainment Business Network and Tulane Career Services welcomed Matt Rowean, chief creative officer and founder of Matte Projects, a film production and creative agency in NYC, for an inspiring and eye-opening talk. Over the course of an hour, students weren’t just given a glimpse into a remarkable career — they were infused with unfiltered ambition and proof that chasing creative dreams is not only possible but necessary. By the end of the night, jaws had dropped, and aspirations had soared.

Rowean took the audience on a journey through the rise of Matte Projects since its inception in 2011. He didn’t just highlight the successes but also the turbulence of the creative industry and the need to forge unconventional paths, relatable to many in the crowd of creative-leaning and enterprising liberal arts students. Prior to his role at Matte Projects, Rowean was a painting and communications student at Syracuse University who then moved to New York City after college and pursued advertising. But fate — or perhaps creative chemistry — intervened when he crossed paths with fellow founders Brett Kincaid and Max Pollock. “We had a collective desire to put new creative products into the world,” Rowean reflected. And that’s exactly what they did.

From orchestrating motocross spectacles at Fenty runway shows to celebrating Donald Duck’s 90^th birthday with Anderson .Paak, to launching global campaigns for PUMA, Matte Projects has never played by the rules. “Each of our clients sees us differently,” Rowean explained. “Some know us for throwing unforgettable events, others for producing films or putting on runway shows. We’re incredibly multifaceted, though that can be a challenge at times.”

For the ambitious students of the Tulane Entertainment Business Network (EBN) — those driven by passions for sports, film, music, and marketing — Matt’s story wasn’t just an industry insider’s perspective. It was a testament to the power of versatility and creative risk-taking. Ellie Frankel, a sophomore at Tulane and social director of EBN, shared, “I love how much he emphasized not limiting yourself — rather, recognizing your skills and interests and allowing them to work alongside one another… there’s no need to confine yourself to one niche.”

Our evening with Rowean was more than just a conversation; it was an invitation to dream fearlessly, create relentlessly, and embrace the beautiful chaos of the non-traditional path.