New Orleans' art and culture, formal and informal, are intrinsically valuable as expressions of a people. But they are also part of everyday living and essential elements of the city's social capital, civic engagement, and economic development. This essay discusses prospects for rebuilding New Orleans' culture, specifically with an eye toward including root cultural practices--formal and informal creative cultural expressions carried out in communities, often in moderate- and low-income districts or neighborhoods. It presents findings from an initial scan (through 2005) of rebuilding, recovery, and relief efforts and offers a critique of rebuilding initiatives, particularly vis-