The Bayou Culture Collaborative will host Culture and Climate Conversations, a series of community discussions intended to raise awareness about the cultural impact of the state’s environmental changes. At six events across south Louisiana, community members will explore how climate shifts and rapid land loss are affecting arts, heritage, and traditions.

Culture and Climate Conversations offers 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. The public is invited to participate in the BCC. For more information, see the Louisiana Folklore Society’s website.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public. Culture and Climate Conversations is funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the Louisiana Folklore Society. For more information, contact Teresa Parker at tcparker@tulane.edu.

Schedule of Events:

Healing Landscapes, Preserving Communities

Monday, September 18th, 3 p.m.

Georges Auditorium at Dillard University

2601 Gentilly Blvd, New Orleans

Panelists: Pamela Arnette Broom, Urban Agriculturalist, Project Manager, 7th Ward Revitalization Project; Diane Honoré, Creole Healer, Black Masking Big Queen of the Yellow Pocahontas, Historical Interpreter

Moderator: Mona Lisa Saloy, Dillard University Professor of English and former Louisiana Poet Laureate

Stories of Cameron Parish

Tuesday, October 10th, 3 p.m.

Calcasieu Parish Library, Central Branch-DeBakey Community Room

301 W. Claude St, Lake Charles  

Tradition bearers: Second-generation Cameron resident Judge H. Ward Fontenot; Creole, LA native and longtime Lake Charles community leader Dinah B. Landry

Moderator: Keagan LeJeune, Folklorist/Writer, Department of English and Foreign Languages, McNeese State University

Rougarou Fest Narrative Stage

Saturday, October 21st, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday, October 22nd, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Rougarou Fest

86 Valhi Blvd, Houma

Tradition Bearers: The Narrative Stage will feature several tradition bearers discussing and demonstrating basket weaving, creating moss dolls, preserving the Cajun healing tradition of traiteurs, uses of Louisiana medicinal plants, preserving the Louisiana French language, and sustainability in Louisiana’s fishing industry.

Moderator: Lanor Curole, Tribal Administrator, United Houma Nation

The Sportsman’s Paradise in a Changing Environment

Thursday, November 16th, 6 p.m.

Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Roy House, 1204 Johnston St, Lafayette

Tradition bearers: Dale Bordelon, Rapides Parish duck-call maker and conservationist;

Keith Dupuy, Denham Springs cypress pirogue restorer and antique boat expert

Moderator: Jacob Gautreaux, Adjunct Instructor of History, ULL

United Houma Nation Tribal Celebration (open to tribal members only)

Saturday, December 2nd, Time TBA

Bayou Black Recreation Center

3688 Southdown Mandalay Rd, Houma  

Tradition Bearers: Grayhawk Perkins, Native American storyteller, stomp dancer, & oral historian; Raymond Clark, UHN palmetto ­hut builder, stickball expert, drummer & singer

Moderator: Lanor Curole, UHN Tribal Administrator

Landmarks & Land Loss in Terrebonne Parish

Sunday, April 14, 2024, 2:00 pm

Chauvin Sculpture Garden Picnic and Blessing of the Fleet Celebration

 5337 Bayouside Dr, Chauvin

Tradition bearers: Cecil Lapeyrouse, 3rd-generation Cocodrie grocer and Cajun-French storyteller; Deborah Cunningham, Chauvin native and multi-generational shrimping family descendant

Moderator: Dr. Gary LaFleur, Jr., Professor of Biological Sciences, Nicholls State University

About the Bayou Culture Collaborative

A collective of more than 800 people and organizations, the Bayou Culture Collaborative (BCC) is organized through the Louisiana Folklore Society to accelerate environmental adaptation through culture and the arts. The BCC recognizes that culture is a powerful catalyst for action and that ecological disruptions threaten community ties to the land and resources that sustain cultural heritage and lifeways. The BCC is funded by Louisiana Division of the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. To learn more about the BCC visit https://www.louisianafolklore.org/. Information about the Louisiana Folklore Society may be found at louisianafolklore.org.

The Bayou Culture Collaborative has several working or networking groups identifying what is needed to include the human dimension and culture in Louisiana’s plans to address our statewide environmental changes. We are working towards recommending policy changes to state agencies and providing networking opportunities.

The groups set their own schedule and meet via zoom. Some are meeting every two to three weeks. Everyone is welcome to participate. See below for information about the working groups, how to join, and links to their jamboards and notes, and upcoming meetings. See a summary of all working groups efforts here.

If you would like to join a working group, click the link to get email announcements about that group’s meetings. For other questions or more information, contact bayouculturecollaborative@gmail.com

The initiative is supported by funding from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Culture and Coastal Planning. From a broad perspective and in a wide range of contexts, this working group is developing recommendations to include culture in coastal planning in addition to formulating metrics that might be developed to facilitate incorporating cultural concerns into coastal restoration modeling. This working group also explores the connections between ecology and culture and the importance of connections to the land, especially in the face of land loss and other negative environmental impacts. Issues include the importance of sense of place, the links between local ecosystems and culture, the history of local connections to the land as well as changes in these connections and the projected cultural impacts of continued land loss. This group merged with the Ecology and Culture Working Group. The convener is Amy Lesen.

This group meets every other Monday at 2 pm. To join, go to Culture and Coastal Planning Working Group. See their jamboard and notes. See Ecology and Culture’s jamboard.

Artists and Tradition Bearers. This working group seeks to support writers, craftspeople, and visual and performing artists who are affected by the environmental changes around them. We also welcome any who are interested in creating or who have already created work that responds to these changes in some way, such as to express how it feels to experience environmental disruption or to educate others as to what’s happening. We provide a forum to exchange ideas and share each other’s work, and there is also potential for organizing participatory events with current or former coastal residents. This networking group merged with the Coastal Culture Writers Working Group and includes all who write about or in the Louisiana coast.

This group meets on third Wednesdays at 7 pm. Lauren Hémard and Mark DeWitt are co-conveners. Join this group by contacting the conveners at bccartistgroup@gmail.com. See their notes.

French Language Preservation. This working group is examining ways to support the preservation of the French language in Louisiana (and the heritage associated with it), particularly as this can be accomplished through the introduction of French language curriculum into local schools.  The Languages of Louisiana working group merged with this group to also examine all languages including indigenous and other heritage languages. They explore Louisiana’s cultural heritage through the languages of its Indigenous and immigrant populations.

This group meets monthly on the second Tuesday at 2 pm. Join by contacting the convener Ivy Mathieu at frenchworkinggroupbcc@gmail.com. See their recommendations and their notes.

Preparing Receiving Communities. This working group is concerned with issues surrounding the current and future migration of people away from the coast. They are examining 1) the means in which the transition of coastal residents (and their culture) to other communities can be facilitated or encouraged, and 2) ways in which potential receiving communities can be prepared for these migrants.  Traci Birch and Haley Blakeman are co-conveners.

This group meets monthly on third Tuesday at 2 pm. Join the Preparing Receiving Communities Working Group. See their notes.

Protecting Collections. This working group provides a way for anyone concerned about the archival collections (including all universities, local and regional museums, libraries, oral history collections, cemetery, and church records) endangered by environmental changes to share concerns and learn about resources and strategies to address their needs. The convener is John “Pudd” Sharp.

This group meets monthly on third Thursdays at 2 pm. Join the Protecting Collections Working Group. See their notes.