The Krewe honors a woman each year who embodies the sprit of one of the nine muses selected that season. Honorary Muses are chosen for having made a significant contribution to the New Orleans community in the area that the Muse represents.

2010 - Calliope, Muse of Eloquence and Poetry - Mary Matalin
Matalin has served as political advisor and strategist for several presidential administrations, authored two national bestsellers, and hosted her own critically acclaimed television and radio public affairs shows. She currently serves as a CNN contributor and the Editor-in-Chief of the Simon and Schuster imprint, Threshold Editions.

Mary and her husband, political consultant James Carville, moved to New Orleans with their two daughters in 2008 and quickly became involved in the City's community affairs and rebuilding efforts. She serves on the boards of the Academy of the Sacred Heart and Bureau of Governmental Research, and is a member of Women of the Storm. Strong supporters of New Orleans and its promising future, Matalin and Carville were chosen as co-chairpersons of the 2013 Super Bowl Host Committee.

2009 - Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy - Kimberly Rivers Roberts
Kimberly Rivers Roberts is the star of the award-winning Katrina documentary "Trouble the Water," with first-person footage during the storm shot by Roberts with a hand-held camcorder she had purchased on the street only days before the storm. The movie tells the story of Roberts, who is also a bounce hip-hop artist known as BlackKoldMadina, as she was trapped in her Ninth Ward home during the storm and her family’s ordeals during the storm's aftermath.

Kim’s performance in the movie has been lauded on a national level and the film was on many end-of-the-year top ten lists. Her indominatable spirit and her unstintingly honest and cogent observations about her experience reveal her as one of the heroes of Katrina and a role model for all women on how to rise above horrific circumstances and truly succeed.

2008 - Polymnia, Muse of Sacred Song - Marva Wright
Known as Louisiana's Blues Queen, "Marvelous Marva" is a gospel and soul powerhouse. She has performed in venues all over the world - including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Brazil. Wright has collaborated with many talented musicians including Harry Connick Jr., Bobby McFerrin, Aaron Neville, Fats Domino, Lou Rawls, and Marcia Ball.

2007 - Erato, the Muse of Poetry - Brenda Marie Osbey
Brenda Marie Osbey, the Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana, has taught numerous literature subjects around the country and has twice been appointed visiting writer-in residence at Tulane University and scholar-in-residence at Southern University. She has conducted seminars and colloquia in literature, creative writing and New Orleans black culture. A native of New Orleans, Brenda is the author of All Saints: New and Selected Poems (LSU Press, 1997), which received the 1998 American Book Award. She is the author also of Desperate Circumstance, Dangerous Woman (Story Line Press, 1991), In These Houses (Wesleyan University Press, 1988) and Ceremony for Minneconjoux (Callaloo Poetry Series, 1983; University Press of Virginia, 1985). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies and collections.

2006 - Urania, the Muse of Astronomy - Becky Zaheri
Muse Becky Zaheri is the founder of the Katrina Krewe. The Katrina Krewe has organized over 1,000 volunteers to clean up the streets of New Orleans twice a week. Muses is proud to be able to honor one of our own members with a ride in the fabulous shoe float.

2005 - Euterpe, the Muse of Music - Charmaine Neville
Charmaine began her career backing up the Neville Brothers and went on to perform with the Survivors, a band whose alumni list includes Harry Connick Jr. and Bobby McFerrin. Time Magazine named Charmaine Neville, the best pair of lungs [in New Orleans], and stated that her “delightful scat-singing and good-humored blues … had visitors dancing in the aisles at the Snug Harbor bar.” Her work has paid off - as one reviewer recently wrote, "Charmaine Neville is beginning to rival her father and uncles in terms of popularity in New Orleans."

2004 - Thalia, the Muse of Comedy- Becky Allen

2003 - Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance- Maria Giacobbe

2002 - Clio, the Muse of History- Cherice Harrison-Nelson