March 2009 e-Newsletter

LEH annual awards ceremony

Mark this date - March 21, 2009! The LEH will hold its 2009 Annual Awards Banquet at 12:30 p.m. March 21 at the Houmas House Plantation and Gardens in Darrow, Louisiana. Admission to the event, which includes lunch, is $50. Checks can be sent to 938 Lafayette St., Ste. 300, New Orleans, LA 70113, or contact Brian Boyles at 504-620-2632 or boyles@leh.org.

The 2009 LEH award winners are:

Humanist of the Year - Dr. Barry Jean Ancelet, of Scott, La., and long-time professor of French and Acadian culture and language at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities Award - Priscilla Lawrence, executive director of The Historic New Orleans Collection.
Chair's Award for Institutional Support - Friends of the Humanities of Lafayette, for its excellent work in humanities studies and activities in Louisiana.
Humanities Documentary Film of the Year Award - Louisiana Story: The Reverse Angle by Tika Laudun and Charles E. Richard, a production of Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
Michael P. Smith Memorial Award for Documentary Photography - Lafayette photographer Philip Gould.
Legislative Awards - State Senator Cheryl Gray of New Orleans and State Rep. Joe Harrison of Labadieville.
Individual Achievement in the Humanities Awards - Dr. John W. Hall, professor emeritus in geography at LSU Shreveport, and Dr. Thomas Fick, a resident of Covington and English professor at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.
Public Humanities Programming Award - Karen McPheeters, director of the Farmington Public Library in New Mexico, and Gail Garcia, community relations manager for the Iberia Parish Library.
Humanities Book of the Year Award - Ned Sublette for his new book The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square.
Humanities Teacher of the Year Award - Cathy Mills, a middle school art and Louisiana history teacher at Episcopal School of Acadiana in Lafayette, and Jennifer Williams, an elementary school teacher at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.

RELIC: Readings in Literature & Culture

How do we measure the humanities?
A journalist for the Abbeville Meridional asked and then answered that question in reporting on the conclusion of a humanities program that was conducted at the Vermilion Parish Library headquarters. "On Thursday, the sixth and final class of RELIC (Readings in Literature and Culture) finished 'Becoming American: The Literature of Immigration and Acculturation' with a review of Bharati Muhkerjee's Jasmine, the story of a young Hindu woman who flees poverty and terrorism in her native India to reach the United States. . . . Everyone seemed sorry that the class was over," he wrote.

RELIC programs' effects could be measured in numbers - attendance, books, hours of discussion all tell us something - but the more significant effect is measurable in how we change ourselves in the discussion process. The reporter mused: "Given that even without fees, tests or grades, this was still a class, [and] the teachers must have brought something they wanted the participants to 'get'. And if they 'got it', was it worth 'getting'? The answer is yes to both," and he elaborated on this outcome, adding "if 'getting it' meant exposure to new ideas to be shared and then taken home.'"

RELIC programs, along with all other programs developed, promoted or fostered by the LEH, are successful when communities are changed on their own terms by the participants. "Eventually, the participants will get their minds around all that was presented," the reporter wrote. "Animated discussions and answers, questions without answers, together with old friends, new friends, and friends-to-be in the wonderfully stimulating mental tugging at issues that few were really aware of before the class began." But his eyes were open to the realities staring down at us, when he concluded by observing, "Sadly, our troubled economy is now threatening funding for RELIC."

RELIC is not the only program threatened by looming state budget reductions. LEH's work can be measured succinctly as the reporter did in Abbeville, and significant cuts in funding will have measurable impacts in communities throughout Louisiana. Our political leaders in Baton Rouge will appreciate more fully these programs if they hear from citizens in the Abbevilles throughout Louisiana.

RELIC Library Reading Program Schedule, March-April:

LaPlace, St. John the Baptist Parish Library. "Battleground Louisiana: Civil War Events and Experiences." Thursdays, March 5-Apr. 9, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Lafayette, South Regional Branch, Lafayette Parish Public Library. "Elizabeth I of England & Her Times." Tuesdays, Mar. 24-Apr. 28, 6-8 p.m.
LaPlace, St. John the Baptist Parish Library. "Battleground Louisiana: Civil War Events and Experiences." Thursdays, Mar. 5-Apr. 9, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Larose, Lafourche Parish Library. "Louisiana History: Perspectives on the Pelican State." Wednesdays, March 4-Apr. 8, 6-8 p.m.
Metairie, East Bank Regional Library, Jefferson Parish Library. "Encounter in Louisiana." Wednesdays, Feb. 11- March 18, 2-4 p.m.
Monroe, Stubbs Avenue Branch, Ouachita Parish Public Library. "Where Is North Louisiana?" Mondays, March 2-Apr. 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Morgan City Public Library. "Folktales and Stories of the South and Louisiana." Wednesdays, Apr. 15-May 20, 6-8 p.m.
Napoleonville, Assumption Parish Library. "Louisiana History: Perspectives on the Pelican State." Wednesdays, Apr. 14-May 19, 4-6 p.m.
Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish Library. "Where Is North Louisiana?" Tuesdays, March 3-Apr. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
New Orleans, Alvar Branch, New Orleans Public Library. "Louisiana Characters: Biographies of the Bayou State." Thursdays, Apr. 16-May 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
New Orleans, Mid-City Branch, New Orleans Public Library. "Elizabeth I of England and Her Times." Mondays, March 2-Apr 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Winnsboro, Franklin Parish Library. "Louisiana Characters: Biographies of the Bayou State." Tuesdays, Apr. 7-May 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival

The 23rd annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, funded each year by the LEH and winner of the 2008 Governor's Arts Award for Outstanding Arts Organization, takes place in the heart of the historic French Quarter March 25 - 29, 2009. Join literary and theatrical luminaries in the beautiful French Quarter for four days, and one glamorous evening, of literary programs, theater, music, scholarship, food and fun.

Literary participants will include: Tony-winning playwright John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation); Pulitzer-nominated author John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil); bestselling author Jill Conner Browne (Sweet Potato Queens series); bestselling mystery novelists Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon series) and Laura Lippman (Tess Monaghan series); Pulitzer-winning authors Rick Bragg and Richard Ford; National Book Award-winning poet Mark Doty; Pulitzer-nominated playwright John Biguenet; acclaimed novelist Amanda Boyden (Babylon Rolling); Bill Loehfelm, winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Award; author Anthony Swofford (Jarhead); Grammy-winning author Tom Piazza (City of Refuge); Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc (featured in Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke and author of the memoir Not Just the Levees Broke); and editors Dan Menaker and Amber Qureshi, just to name a few.

From the world of the performing arts: three legends of Broadway, Tony-winning actresses Zoe Caldwell, Marian Seldes, and Frances Sternhagen; acclaimed television writers and producers David Simon and Eric Overmyer (HBO's The Wire); actors Jeremy Lawrence and Doug Tompos; slam poet Nick Fox; improvisational comedy troupe the National Comedy Company; the Cripple Creek Theatre Company in a production of Kingdom of Earth; John "Spud" McConnell returning as the ever-popular Ignatius J. Reilly; drama students from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts; musicians Rich Look, Vernel Bagneris, and The Last Straws; and some of New Orleans' most talented actors performing vignettes from Williams' plays before a panel of celebrity judges in "Tennessee's Got Talent!" Plus, we've just confirmed a new theatrical offering starring Jeremy Lawrence and Frances Sternhagen as Tennessee and his agent in Mr. Williams and Miss Woods.

Visit www.tennesseewilliams.net to view the complete schedule and to purchase tickets. Box office line: 1-888-990-FEST. Discounts for book club members and group rate packages are both available. Call 504-581-1144 for details.

"Professors" piano night at LEH Humanities Center

On Wednesday, March 11th, the "Professors" piano night series continues at the Louisiana Humanities Center with Ronald Markham. The evening will include an hour of music and an interview conducted by documentarian David Kunian. Doors open at 6:45 and a short reception will follow the performance. Tickets are $5, free to students and LEH members. For more information, contact Brian Boyles, 504-620-2632 or boyles@leh.org.

PRIME TIME Family Reading Time®

The Connect2Educate Event: A Community Resources & Public School Mixer will take place March 7th (11a.m.-6p.m.) at the University of New Orleans Lindy Boggs International Conference Center. It will provide a unique opportunity for schools and resource providers to make personal contact, share information, and determine interest in pursuing a future connection. This event is designed to offer one-on-one networking opportunities between public school representatives (teachers, leadership, staff) in New Orleans and the many quality programs and resources available to assist in educating and supporting the youth of New Orleans.

Information from over 100 community resource providers offering supplementary educational and enrichment services which include arts education, computer skills/technology training, health/nutrition instruction, homework assistance, mentoring, sports/recreation activities, and more will be shared with public school representatives during one-on-one sessions throughout the day.

Registration and parking for this event are FREE! A NOLA-style reception, with music and food, will take place from 4-6 p.m. The invitation to register and attend is exclusive to public schools in New Orleans. School Representatives (principals, executive directors, teachers, support staff, etc.) should pre-register at www.c2e.eventbrite.com/

Also, the much-anticipated Connect2Educate Notebook: A Public School's Guide to Community Resources will be published and distributed in conjunction with the Public School Mixer. The Notebook provides a comprehensive snapshot of most locally available, high quality community resource programs for public schools. Copies will be available during and after the Public School Mixer.

The Connect2Educate (C2E) Collaborative is an innovative partnership of diverse organizations that have come together to help overcome the inequitable public school utilization of community programs as well as the inefficiencies that exist in connecting community resource providers and public school decision-makers.

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and PRIME TIME Family Reading Time are proud to be among the founding members and sponsors of the two Connect2Educate initiatives described above. For additional information on Connect2Educate or the initiatives described here, contact Miranda Restovic at restovic@leh.org.

LEH-Sponsored events in March

Alexandria: Louisiana State University at Alexandria presents the AEH Cavanaugh Public Lecture Series entitled "From Acadia to Acadiana." Drs. M. Anthony Tremblay and Ellen Rose, respectively of St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, will offer four public lectures on comparative Francophone literature and communication. Topics will include cultural and historical connections between southern Louisiana and eastern Canada, cultural survival, and the interaction of communication, culture, technology and society. Lectures will be held at various locations at the university and in downtown Alexandria from March 2-6; for more information, contact Dr. Virginia "Ginger" Jones at 318-427-4475.

Baton Rouge: The Louisiana Art and Science Museum presents Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, a LEH-funded exhibition consisting of 143 objects and interpretive text view, spanning 2,250 years of creativity, along with maps, historical data, photographs, and educational programs, focusing on the unique culture of the Inuit, or Eskimo peoples, indigenous to the Canadian Arctic. For more information, contact the museum at 225-344-5272.

Leesville: The theme for this year's conference of the Louisiana Folklore Society is, "Louisiana Frontiers, Margins and Psychological Boundaries." A series of public events will focus on the traditions and culture of Louisiana's Neutral Strip, and will take place at various locations on the Fort Polk campus of Northwestern State University from March 27-28. The keynote address by Dr. Alan Jabbour, past director of the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center, will combine an interpretive performance of traditional Southern frontier fiddle tunes with a lecture on the region's distinctive history and culture. This presentation is scheduled for 8 p.m. March 27 at Gallery 111, located at 111 South Third St. in Leesville. For more information, contact Dr. Keagan LeJeune at 337-475-5312.

Shreveport: The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College presents the LEH-funded Open the Vault: The Journey of Jean Despujols Concludes, an exhibition that includes paintings, drawings, photographs, and newly acquired antique costumes and textiles of the Dao, Tien and Man peoples depicted in Despujols' works. Programs developed in tandem with this exhibition include:

March 1st, 2 p.m., Meadows Museum of Art, 2911 Centenary Blvd., Shreveport, a lecture entitled The Minority People of Northeast Vietnam with Dr. Michael Howard, Professor of Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
March 1st, 3 p.m., Meadows Museum of Art, a dance and dress demonstration entitled Dances and Dress of the Minority Peoples of northeast Vietnam with Mrs. Kim Be Howard, dancer from Hanoi University.
March 14th, 10 a.m., Meadows Museum of Art, a workshop entitled the Raku Process with Chris Kelly, ceramist.
March 15th, 2 p.m., Meadows Museum of Art, a lecture entitled New Ceramic Work with Chris Kelly.
March 16th, 2 p.m., Meadows Museum of Art, Artist's Circle with Chris Kelly.

For more information, visit, or contact project director Diane Dufilho at ddufilho@centenary.edu or 318-869-5014.

New Orleans: The Louisiana Museum Foundation presents From Tramps to Kings: Celebrating One Hundred Years of Zulu, 1909-2009, a LEH-funded year-long special exhibition at the Presbytere on Jackson Square, covering the 100-year history of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. For more information, please contact the Presbytere at 800-568-6968 or 504-568-6968.

Louisiana Crossroads Season 9: This year, the 17-event season unites accomplished performers with deep understandings of their diverse histories and aesthetics. Louisiana Crossroads is a meeting ground defined not by geography but by experience, where songs, stories, traditions and history are shared. Performing in March is Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, celebrating 20 years on the road. Their performance schedule:

March 25th, 7 p.m., Sliman Theatre, 129 E. Main St., New Iberia.
March 26th, 7 p.m., Vermilionville Performance Center, 300 Fisher Rd., Lafayette.
March 27th, 8 p.m., Manship Theatre, 100 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge.
March 28th, 7:30 p.m., Banner Series, F.G. Bulber Auditorium, Lake Charles.

For more information, visit www.louisianacrossroads.org, or contact project director Vicki Chrisman at vicki@acadianaartscouncil.org or at 337-233-7060.

PRIME TIME: Important Upcoming Dates

Application Deadline for Louisiana PT sites
The deadline to apply for a PRIME TIME FAMILY READING grant for fall 2009 in Louisiana is April 15. Public libraries, schools, community centers, and other public institutions are encouraged to apply. PRIME TIME grants are awarded twice per calendar year, to fill fall and spring sessions. For more information about PRIME TIME please visit our webpage www.leh.org/html/primetime.html. Or, for details on how to bring PRIME TIME to your community, please contact Miranda Restovic at restovic@leh.org. Eligible applications will be provisionally approved for the PRIME TIME award pending potential rescissions to Louisiana's state budget. Approved organizations will be kept up to date on the status of their PRIME TIME grant. Click here for grant applications.

PRIME TIME Family Reading Time® at LSUE
The Louisiana State University at Eunice will implement a summer installment of PRIME TIME Family Reading Time on the heels of a highly successful fall 2008 program at the university's Arnold Ledoux Library. Library Director and PRIME TIME Program Coordinator Gerald Patout has done a remarkable job of pulling the community together to benefit participating families and the summer program is certain to be a success! The program will take place on Wednesday evenings, June 10 - July 29. Call 337-550-1380 for additional details.

PRIME TIME training workshop dates announced!
Mark your calendars! Dates have been set for the next PRIME TIME training opportunity in Louisiana. The PRIME TIME Training Workshop will be held July 18-19 at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall in New Orleans. For additional details on the event, contact Shantrell Adams at 504-620-2625 or adams@leh.org.

Putting PRIME TIME in New Orleans Public Schools
From June 8 - July 2, 2009, the University of New Orleans will host an LEH-funded PRIME TIME Teacher Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS) at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall in New Orleans. K-8th grade teachers from the Recovery School District (RSD) and other Orleans Parish Public Schools are invited to apply to participate in this unique professional development opportunity.

The institute will provide instruction in the PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME® methodology and will be directed by Dr. Nancy Dixon, Retained Instructor of English at the University of New Orleans and experienced PRIME TIME scholar. Participating teachers will explore elements of PRIME TIME methodology and learn how to use books as prompts for encouraging students to talk and write about the humanities. Teachers will learn to combine award-winning children's literature with universal humanities themes to initiate open dialogue focused on real-life issues with their students as well as to create lesson plans that they will use in their classes during the upcoming school year. Participants will be given the tools and learn the skills necessary to enhance their ability to teach reading and critical thinking skills as well as character education in the classroom.

Participating teachers will receive a $750 stipend and are eligible to receive 3 hours of graduate credit from the University of New Orleans, as well as 45 CLUs. UNO has waived tuition for participants. Teachers interested in this opportunity should contact Nancy Dixon for additional details and/or an application and guidelines. For additional information, contact Dr. Nancy Dixon at 504-202-0121 or ndixon@uno.edu.

To view the 2009 Prime Time for PRIME TIME brochure, click here.

Florida Teacher Seminars

The Florida Humanities Council received a Landmarks grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct two week-long seminars in 2009. The topic will be "The Impact of Place on the Life and Work of Zora Neale Hurston." For more information please contact Ann Schoenacher at 727-873-2010 or visit www.flahum.org/Zora.

From:	Michael Sartisky <msartisky@leh.org>
Subject:	News from LEH
Reply:	msartisky@leh.org