News from LEH

April 2008	LEH Newsletter

LEH Presents Humanist of the Year and other annual awards

Ellis Marsalis, an internationally acclaimed New Orleans musician and teacher, was named "2008 Humanist of the Year" by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities during special ceremonies March 29 at the Houmas House Plantation and Gardens.

In addition, Dr. Norman Francis, long-time president of Xavier University in New Orleans and recipient of the President's Medal of Freedom, received the LEH's "Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities" award.

Also recognized during the special ceremony as the new Louisiana Poet Laureate was Darrell Bourque, a resident of rural St. Landry Parish, La., and professor emeritus of English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

LEH president and executive director Dr. Michael Sartisky received a special award, recognizing his 25 years as head of the nation's largest state humanities council.

Each year, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, or LEH, honors Louisianians who have made outstanding contributions to the study and understanding of the humanities. In addition to Humanist of the Year, awards are given for Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities, Chair's Award for Institutional Support, Humanities Documentary Film of the Year, Individual Achievement in the Humanities, Public Humanities Programming, Humanities Book of the Year, and the Humanities Teacher of the Year award.

Other award winners included:

Chair's Award for Institutional Support - The Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier for its contributions and partnership in LEH's PRIME TIME programs in the Shreveport-Bossier area.

Humanities Documentary Film of the Year Award - Reconstructing Creole by Jennifer John Block.

Individual Achievement in the Humanities Awards -

Delma McLeod-Porter, a professor and coordinator of developmental writing at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.
J. Paul Leslie, a history professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.
Jack Heflin, a professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Public Humanities Programming Award - John R. May, an English professor at LSU in Baton Rouge.

Humanities Book of the Year Award - Bliss Broyard's One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets (Little, Brown and Company: September 27, 2007).

Humanities Teacher of the Year Award -

Catherine Green, a social studies (history) teacher at Caddo Middle Magnet School in Shreveport.
Emmitt Glynn III a teacher of political theory, U.S. government, advanced placement U.S. government and history of religion in America at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge

Click here to view photos...

PRIME TIME-UNO Teacher Institute extends application deadline

From July 7 to July 31, approximately 25 New Orleans kindergarten through 8th grade teachers will participate in the "Prime Time for PRIME TIME in New Orleans Schools" Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS).

A partnership between the LEH and the University of New Orleans, the Institute will be co-directed by Dr. Nancy Dixon, who teaches at the University of New Orleans and has been a PRIME TIME scholar for several years, and Dr. Olivia Pass, the associate director of PRIME TIME who has served as a PRIME TIME scholar for 7 years as well as a program coordinator for PRIME TIME. The Institute will be held at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners Hall in New Orleans. Guest instructors include Jack Heflin, Endowed Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a PRIME TIME scholar, and Cindy Tremé, a PRIME TIME storyteller from Lake Charles.

In this Institute, teachers will employ PRIME TIME methodologies and books to enhance their ability to teach reading and critical thinking skills in grades K-8. They will also learn techniques for character education. "Teachers will learn to foster discussion, focus on real-life issues, and explore humanities issues by means of award-winning children's and young adults' books," said Nancy Dixon. Participating teachers will create lesson plans for use in their classes during the upcoming school year.

Teachers who participate in the Institute 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. Furthermore, UNO has waived tuition.

The EXTENDED DEADLINE to apply is Friday, April 11, 2008! All K-8 Orleans Parish public school teachers (includes RSD, Charter and NOPS) are invited to apply!

For more information, contact Miranda Restovic at 504-620-2486 or restovic@leh.org. Click to view program brochure.

Collaborative PRIME TIME great success in Thibodaux

A collaborative effort among the City of Thibodaux, the local Rotary Club and the Lafourche Parish Library proved to be a success this spring for a PRIME TIME at the Thibodaux Library. Wanting to do something to counteract the illiteracy and semi-literacy problems in Lafourche Parish, Woody Falgoust, local attorney, bookstore owner and president of the Thibodaux Rotary, conceived this collaborative idea and did the groundwork for the event.

Woody Falgoust invited Dr. Olivia Pass, associate director of PRIME TIME, to speak about the literacy program at a meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club last year. That meeting cinched the Rotary Club's involvement. Then, Falgoust and Pass met with Ron Alcorn, Thibodaux's director of recreation. Alcorn embraced the idea and talked with Mayor Charles Caillouet, who agreed that this program was a most worthy one for the city to undertake. From that point, Alcorn took the lead and met with Allison Clark, the Lafourche Parish Library's PRIME TIME liaison and a PRIME TIME veteran program coordinator. Clark was delighted to have the able assistance of Rotary and the city to help her with a PRIME TIME program in her parish.

The Rotary Club and the City of Thibodaux picked up the expenses for the PRIME TIME program and also helped with the donation of door prizes and food for each of the six sessions. Ron Alcorn had attended the PRIME TIME training workshop held in New Orleans in December. "I think we can do this every year," said Alcorn, who has become a PRIME TIME devotee.

With scholar Linda Stanga of Nicholls State University and storyteller Sue Peace, manager of the Methodist Day Care in Houma, leading sessions, approximately 16 families attended each week. The Fanguy family, who had perfect attendance for this PRIME TIME program, attended the Rotary Club's April 1 meeting to give their personal testimony about the effect that PRIME TIME has had on them.

PRIME TIME to host Summer 2008 training workshop

PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME® will host a training workshop on Saturday, July 26 - Sunday, July 27, 2008. The workshop will take place at the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners Hall in New Orleans, LA. Approximately 60 individuals from California, Kansas, Nebraska, New York, and Louisiana are expected to take part in two days of intense practice and instruction on PRIME TIME methodology and program implementation. This promises to be an enlightening event as librarians, school administrators, teachers, university scholars, and storytellers learn to use the humanities to reduce illiteracy. For more information about the July 2008 PRIME TIME Training Workshop, contact Shantrell Adams at 504-620-2625 or adams@leh.org.

Become a Fall 2008 PRIME TIME host site

The deadline to apply for a PRIME TIME FAMILY READING grant for the Fall 2008 session in Louisiana is April 15. Public libraries, schools, community centers, and other public institutions are eligible to apply. To fill fall and spring sessions, PRIME TIME grants are awarded twice per calendar year.

The grant provides:

Training for 3 team members in New Orleans
Selected syllabus of books for 25 families (loan)
Team member stipends
Transportation for participating families
Promotional materials
On-going technical support

For more information about PRIME TIME, visit our webpage http://www.leh.org/html/primetime.html.

For more information on bringing PRIME TIME to your community, contact Faye Flanagan, project director at 504-620-2485 or flanagan@leh.org.
Click here for library and institutional forms

LEH organizes American history teacher institutes in Lake Charles and Shreveport

The LEH - funded by two $1 million grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History program - has organized institutes in American history this June for public school teachers in Caddo and Calcasieu parishes. Three summer institutes will be held in Caddo Parish in partnership with LSUS and four institutes in Calcasieu Parish in partnership with McNeese State University. The LEH also is serving as the fiscal agent for the Algiers Charter School Association's Teaching American History summer institutes for New Orleans public school teachers.

New Louisiana Cultural Vistas hits newsstands

The spring 2008 edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas, featuring New Orleans artist Jean Seidenberg, is now on newsstands and in the mail. Seidenberg's works are currently on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, and a book featuring his paintings and sculptures, funded in part by the LEH, is scheduled for release later this year.

Other stories include:

The Burning of Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1864 at the hands of retreating Union troops.
An interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, a native of Bogalusa, La.
Photographs by Donn Young of Hurricane Katrina's damage to New Orleans as part of an exhibit titled "40 Days and 40 Nights" that will premiere in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana State Archives in August 2008.
Native-American basketry from the Whitecloud Collection, featuring works from the Chitimacha, Coushatta and Houma tribes.
A history of development in suburban New Orleans East, an area that was largely inundated by floodwaters from the August 2005 levee failures.
Portraits of Louisiana artists by photographer Jerry Siegel.

LEH-Smithsonian Institution on Main Street events in April

With the upcoming Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street and Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities tour of the exhibition entitled "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music," the following activities are planned:

Abita Springs - "New Harmonies" opens its Louisiana tour at the Abita Springs Trailhead Museum. The exhibition will be on display in Abita Springs April 12-May 24; selected public programs scheduled for April are listed below. For more information, contact 985-892-0711 or 985-892-3597.

April 5-6: En Plein Air art exhibit, Abita Springs Trailhead Museum. Landscape paintings of Abita Springs.
April 20: An informance on blues history by Abita's own blues man, Amadee Fredericks, backed by his son Amadee Jr. and his blues band. Afterward, three generations of the famous Clark family will present a gospel informance. At the Trailhead Plaza beginning at 1 p.m.
April 26: The New Harmonies Talent Show is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Abita Town Hall. Fifteen emerging roots musicians will perform and three will be selected to audition for the Abita Springs Opry and perform at the Trailhead Plaza as part of "New Harmonies" programming.
April 27: Informance on the music of Hank Williams featuring the Steve Anderson Group. Trailhead Plaza, 1 p.m.

Jeanerette - April 15: In anticipation of the Jeanerette Bicentennial Park and Museum's stint as host of "New Harmonies" this summer, local organizations are hosting a series of public humanities programs focusing on roots music themes. The Iberia Parish Library will host a film and book discussion on The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio. For more information, contact 337-364-7024 or 337-276-4014.

The Smithsonian's "New Harmonies" Louisiana tour schedule: April 14-May 24, Abita Opry Inc., Abita Springs; June 2-July 12, Lincoln Parish Library, Ruston; July 21-Aug. 30, Jeanerette Bicentennial Park and Museum, Jeanerette; Sept. 4-Oct. 15, Le Musee de la Ville de Kaplan, Kaplan; Oct. 23-Dec. 5, Delta Music Museum, Ferriday; Dec. 11-Jan. 15, 2009, Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum, Oil City.

RELIC: Readings in Literature and Culture

Beginning in late March, RELIC is sponsoring adult reading programs at a number of libraries throughout Louisiana. They cover topics such as "The Creole Experience and Identity in Louisiana Literature and History," "Elizabeth I of England and Her Times," "Battleground Louisiana: Civil War Events and Experiences," and "The Native American World of the Southeastern United States." Sign up by contacting the hosting library and requesting that your name and information is added to the library's outreach list. These and other programs available in the winter and spring can be found in the schedule.

Upcoming RELIC reading programs around the state:

Feature Flicks at LEH

On April 19th, the Louisiana Humanities Center at Turners' Hall will present "The History of the Creole Wild West, as Told by Themselves." An oral history project created by the LEH and the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council, the event will include a performance by the Creole Wild West, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Bruce Raeburn, PhD, of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. Doors open at 8 p.m. For reservations, contact Brian Boyles at 504-620-2632 or boyles@leh.org.

LEH sponsored events for April

Gonzales - Louisiana Indian Heritage Association 42nd Annual Spring Powwow. April 25, 26 and 27 at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.
Lafayette - Video Art and the New Cinematics. April 7, 7 p.m., in the lobby of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum. Michael Rush, Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in Massachusetts will present an overview of the history of video art and discuss current practices that are shaping a new type of digital cinema.
Lafayette - History Department Lecture by guest Medieval Historian. April 16, 6:30 p.m., at the A. Hays Town Building.
Lafayette - Mata Ortiz pottery. April 19, 2 p.m., in the lobby of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum. Anthropologist and historian Spencer MacCallum will speak about her efforts to introduce Mata Ortiz pottery to the world.
Lafayette - A reading by Louisiana State Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque. April 22, 2:30 p.m., in the lobby of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Museum. Poet Darrell Bourque will be reading from his book The Blue Boat.
Lake Charles - McNeese Banners Lecture Series.Zydeco, Mardi Gras and Trail Rides. April 1, 7 p.m., at the Parra Ballroom, La. Dr. Nick Spitzer, producer of American Routes public radio series, will lecture on the creative traditions in Louisiana Creole communities; Einstein's Jewish Science. April 15, 7 p.m., at the Business Conference Center. Dr. Steven Gimbel will talk about Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which was referred to as "Jewish science" by sympathizers of Adolf Hitler; and, Inventing Vietnam: Lessons in Nation Building from a Forgotten Example. April 29, 7 p.m., Parra Ballroom. Dr. James Carter will look at Vietnam and to see what we can learn about Iraq.
New Orleans - April 4-5: The Louisiana Folklore Society invites the public to its annual meeting, which is this year entitled, Where Is Home and What Is It Like? Reconstructing Louisiana Material and Psychological Landscapes. The event features a keynote lecture April 4 by Dr. John Vlach, focusing on the history and future of New Orleans' signature dwelling, the shotgun house. On April 5, two oral historians and archivists will share their experiences working with the Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston Project, whose goal is to record the experiences and reflections of Louisianians displaced to Texas by the 2005 hurricanes. Events are scheduled to take place at the University of New Orleans' Homer L. Hitt Alumni and Visitors Center. For more information and full event schedule, contact 318-257-2728.
New Orleans - April 12-13: Symposium on New Orleans Free People of Color and Their Legacy at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. In conjunction with an exhibition of portraits of notable free New Orleanians of color, the public lecture and panel discussion features Creole historian Keith Weldon Medley and portrait artist Jose Torres Tama and will be facilitated by Ogden chief curator David Houston. For more information, contact 504-539-9600.
New Orleans - April 25-May 4: Sew, Sew, Sew: The Making of a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Suit, an exhibition documenting the painstaking process of making these elaborate costumes, will be on display at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. For more information, contact 504-558-6100; Living Color, Photographs by Judy Cooper. Casual portraits by New Orleans photographer Judy Cooper, takes place at the New Orleans Museum of Art until May 11.
Shreveport - Sounds in Black and White: Remembering the History of Popular and Roots Music in North Louisiana. The one-day conference will be held at the Lincoln Parish Library, on April 26. It will feature two roundtable-audience discussions on Shreveport Sounds in Black and White, a collection of essays published by the University Press of Mississippi's American Made Music Series.

NEH and Smithsonian celebrate Jazz

April 2008 marks the 7th Annual Celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM)! The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has led this nationwide effort to draw public attention to jazz as a living and historical treasure and will kick off this year's celebration, as it has in the past, with a special program at the end of March. This year's program will be a Town Hall meeting hosted by Ramsey Lewis, host of the Legends of Jazz radio and PBS television series, to discuss jazz's global impact and the role of jazz advocates in preserving jazz's heritage and performance.

NEH has participated in JAM by featuring jazz-related funded projects and resources on the NEH website (www.neh.gov) and lesson plans on EDSITEment (http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=379)

For more information on Jazz Appreciation Month and to access some of the lesson plans and other online material, please check the JAM website http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/jam/jam_start.asp.

Contact Information

email: sartisky@leh.org

phone: 504-620-2480

web: http://www.leh.org

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