board of directors
LAURENCE COPEL
Chair
Laurence Copel was born and raised in Paris, France until she turned 18, when she left for the U.S to attend college. She received her Masters in International Business from the University of South Carolina in 1985 and, upon graduation, started working for a multinational that sent her to Bogota, Colombia for a year. She returned, enchanted with Latin America, but deeply disillusioned with the work of international business and decided to get back to her original inspiration, books! She worked as a book dealer and cataloguer for many years before joining the New York Public Library and getting her Masters in Library Science.
She worked for NYPL for 10 years, traveling throughout the city to deliver books, services and storytelling to schools, jails, homeless shelters and public venues.
In 2010 she decided to move to New Orleans where she started the Lower Ninth Ward Street Library program for which she was awarded the inaugural Lemony Snicket award in 2014. She fell in love with the city and its culture and joined Second lines clubs and Mardis Gras Krewes. She is currently retired and hoping to help share the culture she loves with her native France.
JOCELYNE NINNEMAN
Vice-Chair
Jocelyne Ninneman is a dynamic curator and operations director with over 20 years of experience growing music and cultural programming, venues, festivals, and boutique hotels. Born and raised in Detroit, she has served as a music programmer, producer, booking agent, talent buyer, partnerships strategist and writer based in New Orleans since 2005. While earning a formal education in Anthropology and Urban Planning at WSU, her expertise in the music industry was borne from creating and managing DIY independent record labels and artist collectives in Detroit, as well as 7 years as a sweat equity partner at a tech startup for indie artists. She has since served on the opening team for 5 New Orleans venues, executed A&R and stage management for dozens of local and national festivals, including New Orleans’ 3 largest annual fests, and served as a founding board member of the Music & Culture Coalition of New Orleans for 10 years. Her expertise in program development, contract negotiation, budgeting, and a proven track record of community engagement are evident in her commitment to the sustainability of culture bearers. All of Jocelyne’s work is rooted firmly in the conviction as a witness to the power of culture as a mechanism for global connection, social change, and human evolution.
DARYL PFEIF
Member
Daryl Pfeif brings a long lasting love of music, the performing arts and New Orleans culture along with wealth of expertise in non-profit management to the BoD including; business development, communications, marketing, grant writing, volunteer coordination and event production.
Daryl is a founding member and the COO of DFRWS.org an international, volunteer driven profit organization that hosts three annual conferences around the globe and the founder of the Cyber Sleuth Science Lab, an initiative designed to introduce young women and BIPOC youth to careers in DFIR and Cybersecurity. In years prior she was actively engaged in the production of music festivals, film, television, video, radio, theatre, software, interactive games, literary magazines, streaming media events, social media and marketing campaigns.
MAHMOUD CHOUKI
Member
Mahmoud Chouki was a musical child prodigy in his native Morocco. Today, the masterful guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and genial collaborator makes his home in New Orleans. His music is unique: with deep roots in European classical and jazz guitar, Chouki weaves a variety of musical influences from around the world to express his own voice and to explore how music connects cultures. Chouki combines classical guitar with instruments such as the loutar, the oud, an oriental lute, the banjo… and a variety of percussion instruments. He has engaged in prestigious performances and collaborations around the world, from Bahrain to Spain to the New Orleans Museum of Art, where he curates a monthly music program. He also organizes a series of musical residencies in Sierre, Switzerland, and teaches music at the Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans.
RACHEL MAUCCI
Member At-Large
Based in France and visiting New Orleans since 1998, she felt in love of New Orleans and Louisiana upon her first trip. For 15 years she worked at the front desk of different hotels in Alps and on the French Riviera. From 1997 she became for 20 years the Personal Assistant to the CEO European Fund Administration SA in Luxembourg. She finished her career at the Luxembourg University as Mobility Administrator.
Since 1999, she also participate each summer at Jazz a Juan Festival logistic.
She booked Tony Coleman Band in Europe from 2003 to 2018 and kept up to date his website during this time. Tony was BB King drummer for more than 30 years.
She also wrote reviews and interviews for Blues Magazine (France) and she created Mr. Sipp’s website and keep it up to date until now.
CULTURAL ADVISORY BOARD
AYO SCOTT
Ayo Scott is a New Orleans–based visual artist, educator, and cultural strategist whose work centers on storytelling, memory, and the transformative power of art in community. A graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana’s Art Department, Scott creates narrative-driven paintings, digital works, and public art that honor Black cultural histories while engaging contemporary conversations about identity, resilience, and collective healing. His practice bridges traditional and digital mediums, blending symbolism, emotional literacy, and lived experience to create work that resonates across generations.
Beyond the studio, Scott is deeply committed to arts education and community-building. He has developed interdisciplinary arts programming for youth and young adults, mentored emerging artists, and collaborated with institutions across New Orleans to expand access to creative expression. He is the co-creator of Pass It On, a multidisciplinary open mic and arts series rooted in fellowship, performance, and cultural preservation, where he works to cultivate intergenerational creative ecosystems.
JEROME BOSSARD
Founder and artistic director of the Nantes-based professional brass band Zygos Brass Band .
Director and drum teacher at the SONIK Club Musical music school.
For the past 14 years, he has organized training programs in New Orleans for professional French brass bands and groups under the Trempo banner.
Percussionist and drummer in various New Orleans-style ensembles.
Musician, artistic director and administrator in his spare time of the company Zygomat’Hic, which was created in 2000.