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The Diana Helis Henry Fund of The Helis
Foundation has donated $50,000 to help the
LEH expand its unequaled collection of
artwork by the late New Orleans artist John
Scott, a recipient of the MacArthur Genius
Award. Through this generous gift, the LEH
purchased four additional pieces, bringing
the growing collection to 14 artworks.
"I cannot begin to thank all of those at the Foundation who have made this possible," said LEH President and Executive Director Dr. Michael Sartisky. "As New Orleans struggles to rebuild it is going to be increasingly important that we are reminded that beauty, creativity and genius can come from anywhere and can live in anybody. Scott grew up in New Orleans, a product of a working class neighborhood. His artwork describes the beauty of everyday life that few of us are able to recognize." The Scott Collection, the largest permanent collection of Scott's work in the world, offers visitors the opportunity to see the beauty of life in New Orleans and connects that visual culture to the humanities, and that is no small thing. |
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The LEH, with its statewide partners, is now
gearing up to create the state's first
web-based encyclopedia of Louisiana culture
and history. Titled KnowLA, the
encyclopedia will be a ground-breaking,
multi-faceted resource for anyone interested
in the literature, art, cuisine, culture,
history, and music of Louisiana. Now in the
planning and research stages, the LEH has
added three full-time staff members to help
create the most innovative on-line cultural
resource in the nation. New staff members are:
Dr. Catherine Corder, editor of
KnowLA, is a fifth-generation Texan
who comes to the LEH after teaching at
colleges in Texas and California. She
received her doctorate degree
in history from Claremont Graduate
University in 2006 and her master of arts
degree in education from George Washington
University in 1998. She brings her enthusiasm
for computers and digital history to the project.
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The LEH - funded by two $1 million grants
from the U.S. Department of Education's
Teaching American History program - has
organized three American history institutes
this June for Caddo Parish area public school
teachers. The institutes are a partnership
with the LEH, Caddo Public Schools and LSUS.
In addition, the LEH, in partnership with the
Calcasieu Public School system and McNeese
State University, has organized four American
history institutes this June at McNeese for
Calcasieu Parish public school teachers. 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.
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Just a reminder! The LEH will hold its annual
awards banquet at 12:30 p.m. March 29th at
Houmas House Plantation and Gardens in
Darrow, La., just south of Baton Rouge.
During the ceremony, the LEH will present its
Humanist of the Year award to New Orleans
musician and teacher Ellis Marsalis.
In addition, Dr. Norman Francis, long-time president of Xavier University in New Orleans, will receive the Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities award. The Chair's Award for Institutional Support will go to the Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier for its contributions and partnership in LEH's Prime Time programs in the Shreveport-Bossier area. Jennifer John Block's film "Reconstructing Creole" will receive the LEH's Humanities Documentary Film of the Year Award. Official recognition of the new state Poet Laureate, Dr. Darrell Bourque, of Lafayette, will be commemorated at the event.
Individual Achievement in the Humanities
awards will go to Dr. Delma McLeod-Porter,
a professor and coordinator of developmental
writing at McNeese State University in Lake
Charles; Dr. J. Paul Leslie, a history
professor at Nicholls State University in
Thibodaux; and Jack Heflin, professor
of English at the University of Louisiana at
Monroe. Dr. John R. May, an English
professor at LSU in Baton Rouge, will receive
the Public Humanities Programming Award, and
the Humanities Book of the Year Award will go to
Bliss Broyard's One Drop: My
Father's Hidden Life-A Story of Race and
Family Secrets, a remarkable account
of a young woman's journey to discover her
racial identity in the wake of discovering
her father's African-American ancestry.
Teacher of the Year awards will be presented
to Catherine Green, a social studies
(history) teacher at Caddo Middle Magnet
School in Shreveport, and to Emmitt Glynn
III, who teaches political theory,
government and history of religion in America
at The Episcopal School in Baton Rouge.
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More than 100 project directors, scholars,
storytellers, and library coordinators from
across the country attended a PRIME TIME
FAMILY READING, Inc. training workshop in New
Orleans at the Louisiana Humanities Center at
Turners' Hall Jan. 17-20, 2008. Five states
were selected to participate in the next
phase of the bilingual national expansion,
funded by a grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Team members from
Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and
New York attended this training along with
affiliate participants from Georgia, Kansas,
Oregon and New Mexico. Experienced team
members from Nebraska, New Mexico and Florida
served as trainers along with Louisiana
presenters and the LEH staff. Dr. Robert
Becker, Professor of History, Weber State
University, and author of "Agamemnon Among
the Bunnies: Finding the Humanities in
Children's Literature" delivered the keynote
address. Concurrent sessions addressed the
logistics of implementing a bilingual program
as well as the "best practice" strategies for
discussion leaders.
The Zemurray Foundation continues to support
the in-state expansion and development of
bilingual (Spanish/English) family literacy
programming. Recently the Zemurray
Foundation
made a $25,000 contribution to PRIME TIME,
with a pledge for an equal contribution to be
made in 2008, bringing the total amount to
$50,000 over two years. The Zemurray
Foundation has championed the funding for
PRIME TIME's bilingual (Spanish/English)
programming since 2006, making it possible
for PRIME TIME to be presented to
bilingual
audiences in seven programs across five
parishes.
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Several new adult reading programs have been
added to the RELIC winter and spring
schedule. "Battleground Louisiana" will
start in Alexandria on April 1, "The Native
American World" is at the Ouachita Valley
library on April 3, and "The Creole Identity"
will begin on April 23 in Slidell. These and
other programs available in the winter and
spring can be found in the schedule.
Click here to view RELIC Library Reading Program Schedule, Winter/Spring 2008. |
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Here is your chance to send loved ones, your
friends from college, a neighbor or maybe a
few business associates one full year of the
best Louisiana has to offer!
Four times over the next year they will be able to paddle the bayou, walk the French Quarter, and explore the Cane River. They will learn Louisiana's history from Hot Sauce to Hot Jazz and travel our towns from Abbeville to Zwolle. And finally, they will enjoy the work of our finest writers, photo-essayists, and artists all bringing forth the magic that comes from Louisiana's people and places, history and culture. Winner of 75 awards from the New Orleans Press Club, Louisiana Cultural Vistas has won the New Orleans Press Club's "Best Publication" six of the last ten years including 2006. In 2006, the magazine received 10 awards, including the following first-place awards for photography, design, editorial writing, and best publication. With this special offer, your first gift subscription is the regular price of $16, after that they are only $12 each - a full 25% discount! To purchase your gift subscriptions online, please click on www.leh.org for the order form or call Barbara Lopez at (504) 523-4352. The Winter 2007-08 edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine premiered in mid-December with a cover story on a major exhibition of paintings, depicting the emotional toll of Hurricane Katrina by the nationally acclaimed artist Rolland Golden, on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art through Feb. 17, 2008. Other features include:
To subscribe, or to view past issues in their entirety, log on to www.leh.org. |
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Walker Lasiter has been named acting director
of the LEH grants program. He replaces Dr.
Gary Talarchek who has taken a new position
at Tulane University.
Walker has been with the LEH intermittently since 1997 and has more than five years of experience administering the grants program. He has a master's degree in Southern Studies as well as a law degree from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). |
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Natchitoches
The Old Natchitoches Courthouse Museum in Natchitoches will open the exhibition "Visual Memories: My Acadian Ancestors-Mary Anne Picot de Boisblanc" on Feb. 8. From stories handed down to her by her family, De Boisblanc's memory images emerge on canvas depicting the history, culture, and traditions of the Acadian community from Nova Scotia and Louisiana's Acadiana. For more information, contact the Friends of the Old Natchitoches Courthouse Museum at 318-352-3774. Lake Charles McNeese State University in Lake Charles continues its acclaimed Banners series of arts and humanities events with a presentation by Dr. John Wood entitled "Poetry and History: A Reading, Lecture and Slide Show" on March 14. Dr. Wood is a prize-winning poet and art historian, as well as founder of McNeese's creative writing program. For more information, contact Banners at 337-475-5123.
New Orleans area |
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