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KnowLA Entries Now Available as Downloadable QR Scans for Louisiana's Museums |
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities invites museums to utilize a new feature on KnowLA, The Digital Encyclopedia of Louisiana. For each entry on knowla.org, a downloadable QR scan is available for mounting alongside artwork and artifacts in your exhibitions.
For example, a museum with a painting by Ellsworth Woodward in its holdings can visit www.leh.org to download a QR code for Woodward's entry in KnowLA. Once the code is mounted next to the painting, visitors can scan it with their smart phones to explore more about Woodward, including a gallery of additional artwork, biographical information, and related articles in Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine, all free of charge.
Click here to see the list of entries and downloadable QR scans!
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May 11th - Louisiana Humanities Center Hosts Euro-American Celebration |
On Saturday, May 11th from 3pm to 5pm, the Alliance Francaise de La Nouvelle-Orleans presents "Euro-American Celebration" at the Louisiana Humanities Center (LHC).The afternoon features a discussion on the special relationship between Louisiana and Europe.
The event is free and open to the public. The LHC is located at 938 Lafayette Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans.
Speakers include Dr. Richard Campanella, Dr. Alla Rosca, Dr. Madeline Otte, and Dr. Lawrence Powell, with LEH Director Dr. Michael Sartisky as Chairman of the event and Consul General of France Jean-Claude Brunet present for the event.
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Photos and Video From the Humanities Awards Luncheon |
On April 6th, the LEH celebrated the 28th Annual Humanities Awards at Houmas House Plantation and Gardens. Honorees included Humanist of the Year William Pederson, Ph.D., Lifetime Contribution awardee Alfred Lemmon, Ph.D., and Chair's Award for Institutional Support recipient The Shell Oil Company. We thank the wonderful supporters who attended the luncheon.
Here's a brief video recap of the event:
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| Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Awards 2013 |
And for photos of awardees and guests, click here to visit leh.org for a slideshow.
We look forward to celebrating the humanities in Louisiana next year!
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PRIME TIME Partners with Louisiana Library Systems for National Project |
With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), PRIME TIME has partnered with the Jefferson and Lafourche Parish library systems to implement multiple special programs between fall 2013 and spring 2014. Other project partners include humanities councils Arizona, Washington, Illinois and Kentucky.
The funded project is titled "It's a Small World After All: Global Citizenship Education for the 21st Century" and will debut a new syllabus focused on themes of global citizenship. We live in a unique time in human history where the ideas, actions, and decisions of people on distant continents can quickly influence our daily lives. Developing knowledge and understanding of the concepts and forces that bind humanity is critical to our ability to fully participate in and positively contribute to our local and global communities. Each host site will use a new series of books tailored to engage families on issues regarding global citizenship.
Both library systems will plan and implement several PRIME TIME programs in partnerships with local schools. Site teams will include both library and school representatives who will work together on planning and hosting the programs, recruiting families and rallying community support for humanities education and literacy.
We look forward to working with libraries and schools in Jefferson and Lafourche parishes on this project. Further updates on the progress of "It's a Small World" will be provided regularly.
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KnowLA Celebrates Festival Season! |
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Panorama of Baptism on the Cane River, Clementine Hunter
Photo courtesy of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art |
For many Louisianans the month of May - that stretch of temperate days before summer's sweltering heat blankets the South - holds an array of outdoor festivals statewide. KnowLA, The Digital Encyclopedia of Louisiana, offers historical and cultural context for many of the players, places and plates that make our state and its many celebrations a destination for global audiences.
Natchitoches (pronounced NACK-a-tish) is the oldest European settlement in present-day Louisiana. From May 31st through June 1st, Cookin' on the Cane BBQ Festival pits will smoke the Cane River's banks. Not far from the city sits Melrose Plantation, where folk artist Clementine Hunter created more than 5,000 artworks, including paintings, quilts and narrative textiles. Her pictures illustrated plantation life in the Cane River community in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Echoing country music legend Hank Williams's lyrics to the song "Jambalaya" on the Louisiana Hayride radio show in 1952, it's time to "pole the pirogue down the bayou" to the Jambalaya Fest, May 23rd to 26th in Gonzales, the "Jambalaya Capital of the World." Thirty pounds of chicken is the minimum amount called for to enter the jambalaya cooking contest, and only specific ingredients are authorized to go into the pot, thus assuring the cultural "purity" of one of Louisiana's best-known culinary staples.
Lake Charles's Downtown at Sundown Friday Concert Series - the city's version of a block party - takes place from May 17 through June 7. Lake Charles is the birthplace of music legend Ida "Queen Ida" Guillory, believed to be the first woman to lead a zydeco band. Visitors to KnowLA may hear a sample of Queen Ida's music and her story in an interview from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1991.
The Crawfish Festival takes place in Breaux Bridge on May 3rd, 4th and 5th. In the past, such zydecogreats as Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin have appeared; this year's lineup includes D.L. Menard, often called "the Cajun Hank Williams." Times might change, but it's likely that today's festival-goers will react much like the ones photographer Turner Browne observed in 1974.
Although traditional jazz revivalist William "Bunk" Johnson was born in New Orleans and played there with jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden, he later settled in New Iberia. The Bunk Johnson Band recorded "New Iberia Blues" in 1944, so the city celebrates The Bunk Johnson Jazz Festival, also dubbed "Bunkfest," on May 1st, 4th, 9th, 10th and 26th.
In Marksville, the Tunica-Biloxi Native American tribe Pow Wow, May 17th and 18th, features traditional music, dancing, crafts and foods and is open to the public. The Tunica-Biloxi is one of Louisiana's four federally recognized Native American tribes.
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Readings in Literature and Culture (RELIC) Brings the American West to Monroe |
The latest Reading Literature and Culture (RELIC) in Monroe, "The American West in Fact and Fiction," concluded in late March with a flurry of activity. Exploring the region commonly referred to as the American West and its symbolic role in the American identity, the program continues to draw large crowds in many places. Weekly attendance was in the mid-twenties, with most of the audience showing up for every session as facilitator Georgiann Potts made a popular program even more appealing by bolstering the program's historical and literary texts with excerpts from American cinema, television, photography, art and even sculpture.
More striking, however, is the persistence that readers have shown for seeking out the RELIC experience. "Particularly delightful was the presence of three women who made special efforts to attend," Potts noted. "A truck driver from Farmerville is in the hauling business with her husband. She was on the road last year when I presented this program in Union Parish. When she learned that it was going to be presented in Ouachita Parish this year, she rearranged her driving schedule so that she could attend. She made five of the six sessions.
"The other two were enthusiastic attendees for several years at the Morehouse RELICs. Last fall, they moved to assisted living in Ouachita Parish and missed the program. This year these two ladies (one is blind) came every single night and were enthusiastic in their pleasure at 'being out and thinking for a change.'"
Personal memories of the West increased enthusiasm during the sessions. "While every evening brought opportunities for the participants to contribute," says Potts, "it was the final session during which they did a 'show and tell' that was the most rewarding. From the woman who was a professional dancer with a Native American tribal group in Texas who came in full regalia to the gentleman who recounted superb oral history passed down from his grandparents, this evening was a success."
One particularly striking item: a 19th century portrait of an Oglala Sioux man on buffalo hide!
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PRIME TIME Scholar and Storyteller Recruitment |
The PRIME TIME staff is seeking qualified professionals to train and serve as scholars and storytellers throughout the state. PRIME TIME scholars and storytellers are the backbone of the program, and their roles define the quality and impact of each program. Reading stories and asking families questions about them seems simple, but it truly takes a special personality to successfully carry out those tasks according to the PRIME TIME methodology.
PRIME TIME requires professionalism, strong work ethic, a willingness to learn, commitment to preparation, and a desire to serve vulnerable populations. Accordingly, scholars and storytellers are not asked to volunteer their time and expertise. Stipends for program facilitation and mileage reimbursement for traveling to and from program sites is provided.
Click here for details on eligibility and/or the selection process. Send résumés and curriculum vitas to the PRIME TIME staff, and contact Shantrell Adams with questions. |
July 2013 PRIME TIME Training Workshop Dates Announced |
 The PRIME TIME Training Workshop is scheduled for July 13 - 14, 2013. The workshop will be held at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall in New Orleans.
The PRIME TIME Training Workshop includes an intense review of the program methodology, as well as practice of strategies for planning and implementing the program.
Affiliate project directors should begin considering whether any team members will need training and prepare to alert the PRIME TIME staff via online Affiliate Data Forms by Monday, June 3, 2013.
This training workshop will also include team members who are training for roles in the NEH-funded project "It's A Small World After All: Global Citizenship Education for the 21st Century." All trainees will receive preliminary details on the training in May. All others should contact the PRIME TIME staff with questions regarding upcoming training opportunities.
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Purchase a copy of A Unique Slant of Light at Your Local Bookstore |
Looking for the perfect gift for a Louisiana art lover? Stop by your local bookstore to pick up
A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana. Copies are available in these stores:
A Unique Slant of Light may also be purchased directly from the LEH by clicking here.
The book features 276 entries on Louisiana artists and more than 400 images. Pick one up today!
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