Renderings: New memorial for Bourbon Street attack victims
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Rendering of the proposed memorial for the Bourbon Street terrorist attack. Courtesy of Studio West
A permanent memorial is in the works at Goldring Woldenberg Riverfront Park to honor the victims of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack.
Why it matters: Survivors and victims' families are helping shape the public tribute.
The big picture: The state-led commission picked a $3.9 million sculptural design from the team that created the temporary flags memorial over Bourbon Street earlier this year.
- Artists Babette Beaullieu and Jan Gilbert partnered with architect Jennie Cannon West of Studio West and landscape architect Emily Bullock for an "intimate yet large scale" installation called Embrace, according to the proposal.
- The tentative site is on the Moonwalk at the end of Iberville Street, near the Holocaust memorial.
- The Audubon Commission must sign off on the project.
Zoom in: The granite memorial will have 14 glass inlays hold relics from each of the victims, the proposal says.
- It will also have seating and wind chimes in nearby trees. The proposal calls for commissioning a song from a New Orleans musician and making it accessible via QR code.
- The Fourteens Foundation — the nonprofit led by survivor Brittany Francois and loved ones of victims — is fundraising to install the memorial.
- The memorial could open in three to five years, Francois says, though the timeline is fluid.
What they're saying: "Healing doesn't happen all at once, and having a place to return to really matters," Francois told reporters earlier this month.
- The permanent memorial ensures the victims are "remembered with care and intention," she says.
- Victims' family members told reporters they hope the memorial "invokes a fraction of the emotion that we feel every single day, grieving through it."
State of play: Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas drove a pickup truck into the crowd on Bourbon Street during the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, killing 14 people and injuring 57 others.
- He was killed during a shootout with police.
- The memorial that sprang up in the aftermath is now housed at the Presbytère.
- Michael Harrison, the city's deputy mayor of public safety, tells Axios that the city is installing gates on Bourbon Street to improve pedestrian safety, but a timeline hasn't been finalized.
What's next: The United Way of Southeast Louisiana is handling the donations for the memorial.
Go deeper: More renderings
