Helping to sustain the traditional cultures of coastal Louisiana

We offer strategies to help ensure traditions are passed on to future generations. The Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program and the Louisiana Folklore Society produce workshops in addition to offering funds to organizations and individuals.

The Bayou Culture Collaborative supports workshops to sustain the traditional cultures of coastal Louisiana.  Currently we support two types of workshops. 

Sense of Place—and Loss workshops bring together artists, tradition bearers, folklorists, and scientists to explore the connections between art, tradition, and science and to inspire advocacy and creativity in the face of land loss and cultural shifts. We partner with other non-profits and university centers to produce these workshops. 

Passing It On workshops are taught by a tradition bearer to pass on a tradition. Funds can be paid to an organization or directly to the teacher. Expenses can include the teacher honorarium and supplies. Activities must take place before June 30, 2020. If you would like to offer a workshop or mini-apprenticeship, contact: Maida Owens, Louisiana Folklife Program, folklife@crt.la.gov, 225-342-8178 to discuss possibilities.  

How Can You Help? 

The Louisiana Folklore Society offers several opportunities for you to get involved.  Attend the workshops and gatherings and become a member.  Learn more at www.louisianafolklore.org.

Bayou Culture Collaborative in the News

In 2019, the Bayou Culture Collaborative received some media attention. Many thanks to Tegan Wendland at WWOZ for her radio spot that featured Houma Indian palmetto weaver Janie Luster and her apprentice Rhett Williams. Storms, Rising Seas Threaten Louisiana's Unique Mix Of Cultures aired on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday on Sunday, July 21 and WWNO on June 28. WWNO also produced Heart of the Palmetto, a video short about Luster and Williams.

In May as part of a LPB/WWNO collaboration, Tegan Wendland interviewed Maida Owens about the Bayou Culture Collaborative for the Sinking Cities project. The interview, Maintaining Louisiana Traditions as Communities Relocate, is online.

Louisiana Public Square in May focused on Louisiana's land loss as part of public television's rebroadcast of the Sinking Cities series. Sinking Louisiana featured a panel comprised of USGS climate scientist Dr. Virginia Burkett, Pat Forbes with Office of Community Development, Bren Haase with Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), and WWNO Coastal reporter Tegan Wendland. Maida Owens participated as an audience member.

In November 2018, Jonathan Foret with the Southeast Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center gave the Pecha Kucha, Moving Traditions Forward in which explains the impetus of the project.

Workshops or mini-apprenticeships can focus on traditional knowledge of the environment and any folk tradition, including music, crafts, dance, occupations, oral traditions, foodways, ritual traditions, and more. Tradition bearers can come from any traditional culture—from those of Native Americans to those descended from the earliest settlers to the most recent immigrants—in coastal parishes. See examples of traditions here.  

Below are the offerings this year.  Most events are free, but some require registration because space is limited. See last year's workshops and events here.  

Find essays on the Folklife in Louisiana website and other sources that address traditions in Louisiana's coastal communities here.

Collaborators and Funders

This project is a collaboration between Louisiana Folklore Society, the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program, the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, Nicholls State University Center for Bayou Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Center for Louisiana Studies, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, and other non-profits.

The collaborative is funded with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

If you would like to know more, contact the Folklife Program director or explore the Folklife in Louisiana website.