Community Voices
The Bayou Culture Collaborative strives to make our working groups more inclusive with the Community Voices Project. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, this BCC project includes Louisiana community members in Working Groups that may contribute to a better understanding and preservation of local traditions and knowledge in the face of environmental changes, such as land loss.
Our goal is to include tradition-bearers, artists, community representatives, researchers, and interested members of Louisiana communities. By adding these perspectives to the project, they will help to craft a more accurate and authentic narrative of life in south Louisiana as we know it today. Community Fellows for 2025 include Tara Fitch, Gwen Lanoux, Jennifer Morrison, Gwen Richard, and Aronda Smith. Past community fellows include Baley Champagne, Pat Arnould, Sabina Miller, Theron Oubre, and Vickie Eserman.
Community Conversations
Community Conversations offered local artists an important platform to present their crafts, rituals, traditional practices, and other local knowledge now at risk. “As our land is changing,” said by Jonathan Foret, one of the founding members of the BCC, “we need to be intentional about preserving our culture.” This is one of many BCC projects intended to create networks of concerned Louisianians to develop action steps for endangered communities and traditions.
Community Conversations was funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the Louisiana Folklore Society. Past Community Conversations were held at several locations, including: United Houma Nation Tribal Celebration, Rougarou Fest Narrative Stage, Chauvin Sculpture Garden, Calcasieu Parish Library, Dillard University, the Center for Louisiana Studies at UL Lafayette, Micah 6:8 Mission in Sulphur, and The Acadiana Center for the Arts.
Upcoming conversations include:
West Baton Rouge Museum
May 10, 2025
10:30 a.m.
West Baton Rouge Museum in Port Allen will host a Community Conversation with Dr. Joy Banner, co-director of the Descendants Project and a historian of Creole culture, to explore the connection between Creole identity and the changing environment, particularly changes along the Mississippi River. There will be a discussion and reception afterwards.
Free and open to the public.
Nunez Community College
Date and time TBD
Nunez Community College will host a Community Conversation about changes in the shrimping industry, including changes in storms and the weather, in May 2025. Featured will be fisheries biologist Dr. Jacqueline Richard hosting a panel discussion with shrimpers from St. Bernard and Lafourche parishes. There will be a question-and-answer session afterwards.
Free and open to the public.
The South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center is revolutionizing how we think, teach and learn about Louisiana’s disappearing coast. Our programs focus on developing adaptation skills in our young people. By doing so, we ensure the survival of our culture along with our workforce.
CONTACT
7910 Park Ave.
Houma, LA 70364
985-580-7289
jforet@slwdc.org