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 | LEH Hosts NEH Chairman's "Civility Tour"
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 On May 12, the LEH will welcome Jim Leach, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities to the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall in New Orleans. Chairman Leach will speak as part of his nationwide "Civility Tour." The event will begin at 7 p.m. and a reception will follow the speech.
Chairman Leach is visiting each of the 50 states, speaking at venues ranging from university and museum lecture halls to hospitals for veterans. He also will give interviews and appear on local television and radio. Partnering with the LEH on the May 12th event are Tulane University, Common Good, and the Young Leadership Council. The Louisiana Humanities Center is located at 938 Lafayette Street at the corner of O'Keefe in the Central Business District. For more information, visit www.leh.org or call 504-620-2632.
About Chairman Leach
Jim Leach is the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Nominated by President Barack Obama on July 9, 2009, and confirmed by the Senate in early August, Leach began his four-year term as NEH Chairman on Aug. 12. Chairman Leach previously served 30 years representing southeastern Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the Banking and Financial Services Committee, the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus.
After leaving Congress in 2007, Leach joined the faculty at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, where he was the John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs until his confirmation as NEH chairman. In Sept. 2007, Leach took a year's leave of absence from Princeton to serve as interim director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He graduated from Princeton University, received a Master of Arts degree in Soviet politics from the School of Advanced International Studies at The John Hopkins University, and did additional graduate studies at the London School of Economics.
For reservations, contact LHC Program Director Brian Boyles at boyles@leh.org or 504-620-2632.
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| Teaching American History
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 On May 6, the LEH will conduct a one-day workshop in West Monroe for elementary, middle and secondary public school American history teachers from Ouachita, Richland, Morehouse and East Carroll parishes and Monroe City Schools. The workshop, featuring nationally acclaimed scholars from the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, will concentrate on the origins and history of the U.S. Constitution. On April 22, the LEH conducted a similar one-day workshop on Abraham Lincoln for American history teachers in Calcasieu Parish. Both programs are underwritten by U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History grants secured by the LEH for those school districts. For more information, contact John Kemp at kemp@leh.org or 504-620-2481. |
| LEH-Sponsored Events
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| |  New Orleans: Now in its 8th year, the Saints and Sinners Festival has grown into an internationally recognized event that brings together a who's who of publishers, writers and readers from throughout the United States and beyond. The Festival, which will be held May 13-16, features panel discussions and master classes around literary topics that provide a forum for authors, editors and publishers to talk about their work for the benefit of emerging writers. This year's speakers include Cecilia Tan, one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature; award winning playwright and author Jim Grimsley; Ann Bannon, "The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction"; Michael Nava, the author of a seven-volume series of novels featuring a gay Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios, and so on. For more information, visit http://sasfest.org/category or call 504-581-1144.
Plaquemine: The Iberville Museum, 57735 Main St., presents the latest installment of its People of Iberville exhibition and public program series titled Anglo-Scotch of Iberville. The exhibition, which continues through May 22, showcases the cultural, political and economic contributions of Anglo-Scot settlers in the region. For more information, call 225-687-7197.
Shreveport: The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of Louisiana, 2911 Centenary Blvd., continues its Uniquely Louisiana Collectors series with Focus Gallery: Selections from the Collection of David and Nicole Holcombe until May 23. The exhibit includes a variety of media by Louisiana artists, some well-known and others not as well, collected over a period of 25 years by David and Nicole Holcombe of Alexandria. Until May 30, The Second Northwest Louisiana Artists' Triennial Competition highlights art produced by contemporary working artists in northwest Louisiana. For more information, visit www.centenary.edu/meadows or call 318-869-5014.
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| Announcing new national expansion grants for PRIME TIME
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| |  Applications are currently available for PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME, an award-winning reading, discussion and storytelling series offered by PRIME TIME FAMILY READING, Inc., an affiliate of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Statewide organizations, including state libraries, state humanities councils, centers for the book, library associations, as well as library systems outside Louisiana are invited to apply. Proposals in response to this opportunity will be accepted through an online process. Links to the proposal guidelines and online application site are accessible here. The deadline is May 28. View the full press release here.
Interested agencies are encouraged to contact PRIME TIME staff members with questions.
The LEH and PRIME TIME Family Reading Inc. wish to thank the NEH for its continued support of the national expansion of PRIME TIME.
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| Mahalia Jackson Center to open in New Orleans
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| |  At 10 a.m. May 15 the Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation (ECFLF) will host a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house for the new Mahalia Jackson Center (MJC), 2405 Jackson Ave., New Orleans. With the goal of enrolling every Central City child in the MJC early education program, the foundation has partnered with vital institutions to provide much-needed services to entire families within the community. Such services include job training, health care, child care, a public library, arts and humanities programming, and PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME.
In March the LEH and PRIME TIME formally joined the ECFLF by committing to a year of sustained, neighborhood-specific delivery of several initiatives based on the PRIME TIME methodology. This partnership outlines the following elements of the envisioned partnership:
- a full-time project coordinator dedicated to program implementation and coordination
- professional development and classroom support via PRIME TIME teacher workshops
- award-winning family literacy programming via PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME
- on-going parent/child literacy support via Monthly PRIME TIME book clubs
To learn more about the Early Childhood & Family Learning Foundation and the Mahalia Jackson Center click here. Click here for more information on the ribbon-cutting ceremony. |
| PRIME TIME training workshop dates UPDATE!
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 Due to the recent National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the dates for the July PRIME TIME Training Workshop have been revised. The new dates are July 23 - 25. The workshop will be hosted at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall in New Orleans, 938 Lafayette Street. Contact Shantrell Adams with any questions or concerns regarding the July Training Workshop.
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RELIC: Readings in Literature and Culture
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 The RELIC programs for the winter/spring period are occurring throughout Louisiana and the responses by program coordinators, scholars and audience members attest to their popularity and the intellectual fulfillment. "The program is going well. We usually have 27 to 30 people and the discussions are good," reports Carolyn Flint, Director of the Franklin Parish Library, concerning the program "Where Is North Louisiana?" If fact, Louisiana subjects are popular regardless of the theme. At Shreveport's Broadmoor Library, "Louisiana History: Perspectives on the Pelican State" brought people together in unusual ways, according to branch manager Maria Colon. "We had a total attendance of 291," she said. "Many in the group were couples. They were able to share a set of books. It was a wonderfully successful program and I was very pleased with the response." Sometimes, RELIC participants get too excited about the Louisiana subjects. In the New Orleans Mid-City program on Louisiana History, Dr. Carolyn Kolb mused, "I don't think I have had a bunch who talked so much!" Indeed, there is always room at a RELIC program for readers and talkers and those in between. It is never too late to sign up at the hosting library and participate in these lively discussions about Louisiana history, prize-winning Louisiana authors, north Louisiana culture, America in World War II, American immigration, or even Elizabeth I of England. See the list of available program sites and contact the library for information about registering.
- Baton Rouge - Goodwood Branch, East Baton Rouge Parish Library. Becoming American: The Literature of Immigration and Acculturation. 7-9 p.m. Thursdays, April 15-May 20. 225-231-3746.
- DeQuincy - Calcasieu Parish Library. I'll Be Seeing You. . .America and World War II. 4-6 p.m. Mondays, April 12-May 17. 337-721-7087.
- Monroe - Stubbs Avenue Branch, Monroe, Ouachita Parish Public Library. Elizabeth I of England and Her Times. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursdays, April 8-May 13. 318-327-1490.
- Napoleonville - Assumption Parish Library. Louisiana Characters: Biographies of the Bayou State. 4-6 p.m. Thursdays, April 15-May 20. 985-369-7070.
- New Orleans - Mid City, New Orleans Public Library. Louisiana History: Perspectives on the Pelican State. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, March 24-April 28. 504-596-2656.
- St. Francisville - West Feliciana Parish Library. Encounter in Louisiana. 9:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays, May 4-June 8. 225-784-0260.
- Winnsboro - Franklin Parish Library. Where Is North Louisiana? 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, April 6-May 11. 318-435-4336.
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| Louisiana Humanities Center performance
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|  The Louisiana Humanities Center's original series, "As Told by Themselves: The New Orleans Brass Bands" concludes at 7 p.m. May 25 with the Young Fellaz Brass Band. LHC Program Director Brian Boyles will moderate the conversation, followed by a performance by the band. Admission is $5, free to LEH members and students. The series was made possible through a grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the LHC thanks GNOF for their friendship and support. The LEH also provided partial funding for the series.
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Upcoming grant deadlines
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 May 3 - Public Humanities grants
For information concerning this and other LEH grants, contact Walker Lasiter, 504-620-2631 or lasiter@leh.org |
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