Sense of Place and Loss Workshops are one type of workshop and presentation supported by the Bayou Culture Collaborative. They explore the connections between art, tradition, and science to inspire advocacy and creativity in the face of land loss and cultural shifts. 

Produced by the Louisiana Folklife Program and the Louisiana Folklore Society, some are for targeted audiences, such as Louisiana arts leaders, and others are open to the public.  

Contact Maida Owens, folklife@crt.la.gov, if you would like a presentation for your group. 

Upcoming Workshops and Presentations



Publications

Richardson, Grant, Jon Kay, Maida Owens, and Tim Frandy. 2023. Urgencies in the Field: Three Perspectives. "Climate Change Needs Folklorists." Journal of American Folklore. 136 (54): 181-198.

Sense of Place and Loss Workshops and Interviews
  • Climate Migration for Folklorists. Workshop, American Folklore Society, November, 2023, Portland, OR.
  • Traditions Changing with the Coast, July 15, 2023. Coastal Erosion Art Exhibit, Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve, Thibodaux, La.
  • Creating Climate Resilience in Appalachian Communities, May 16 and 23, 2023. Appalachian Funders Network, via Zoom
  • Climate Migration and Welcoming Newcomers, April 19, 2023, Louisiana Preservation Conference, Lake Charles, LA
  • Climate Migration and Welcoming Newcomers, March 24, 2023, Louisiana Folklore Society, New Orleans, LA
  • Sense of Place -- and Loss Workshop - Welcoming Newcomers, September 21, 2022, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Folk Arts Pre-Conference. Kansas City, MO
  • Main Streets and Climate Migration, May 18, 2022, Main Street Now, Richmond, VA
  • Sense of Place and Loss Workshop for Louisiana Main Street Managers, March 8, 2022. Presenters include Kelsea McCrary and Mike Saunders.

Sense of Place and Loss Presentations

  • The Intersection of Culture and Environmental Change. Delta Symposium. Arkansas State University, April 4, 2024.  
  • Building Community to Save Culture: The Bayou Culture Collaborative. Poster presentation at the Bayou Studies Symposium, Nicholls State University, March 9, 2024. By Gary LaFleur. 
  • Storytelling and Community panelist at the Science + Art Collaborations: Engaging Communities in the Gulf, a pre-conference workshop at the Gulf of Mexico Conference, February 19, 2024, Tampa, FL. 
  • The Louisiana Folklore Society Responds to  Louisiana's Environmental Changes, Presentation. Gulf Center for Equitable Climate Resilience, Avondale, Louisiana, November 8, 2023.  
  • Interviewing Basics, October 18, 2023. Bayou Ya Ya Project / Restore the Mississippi River Delta. New Orleans, LA.
  • Bayou Culture Collaborative Responds to Louisiana's Environmental Changes. September 13, 2023. Presentation to LSU Landscape Architecture / Architecture class on designing for receiving communities.
  • Bayou Culture Collaborative Responds to Louisiana’s Environmental Changes. August 25, 2023. American Society of Landscape Architects, Louisiana Chapter, New Orleans.
  • Expanding Approaches to Climate Adaptation panelist. State of the Coast Conference, June 2, 2023, New Orleans, LA 
  • American Society of Adaptation Professionals, with Traci Birch, Honora Buras, and Barrett Ristrop. May 24, 2023. Via Zoom. 
  • Bayou Culture Collaborative Responds to Louisiana's Environmental Changes, April 20, 2023, Louisiana Preservation Conference, Lake Charles, LA
  • Louisiana and Climate Migration, March 17, 2023, ULL Coast in Crisis Speaker Series, Lafayette, LA 
  • Sense of Place -- And Loss, November 3, 2022, with Kelsea McCrary. National Creative Placemaking Consortium, South Summit.  Via Zoom. 
  • Empowering Small Business. November 2, 2022. Panel with Mileyka Burgos-Flores, Allapattah Collaborative CDC, Little Santo Domingo, Miami, and Brittany Morgan, PastForward Conference. Online.  
  • Louisiana Folklorists Respond to Climate Adaptation, November 30, 2022, Goucher College, Via Zoom
  • Folklorists and Climate Adaptation, October 14, 2022, American Folklore Society, Tulsa OK. 
  • Climate Change, Migration, and Sustaining Culture, September 24, 2022. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Kansas City, MO
  • Bayou Culture Collaborative, September 14, 2022. Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Initiative, Via Zoom. 
    • Climate Displacement is Everywhere, April 23, 2022.  Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations Intergenerational Spring Seminar
      • Artists as Environmental Activists, March 11, 2022. Louisiana Arts Summit.  Kathy Randel, Jonathan Mayers, and Maida Owens, presenters.
      • Climate Change Needs Folklorists, February 22, 2022, American Folklore Society
        • Artists, Land Loss, and Climate Change, June 22, 2021. Presenters included Maida Owens (host), Jeffery Darensbourg (moderator), and presenters Ama Rogan, Brandon Ballengée, and Sam Oliver.
        • Traditional Crafts of Coastal Louisiana, March 24, 2021, presented with Janie Luster, for South Talks, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, U of Mississippi
        • Sustaining Culture in the Face of Land Loss, presented as part of the Pandemic, Hurricanes, and Heritage: Southeast Resilience Roundtable (Risk and Disaster Track) at the Society of Applied Anthropology, March 22, 2021
        • The Arts’ Role in Responding to Land Loss, February 25, 2021, for Regional Arts Council and Cultural Districts staff along with State Arts Council and Folklife Commission members. Presenters included artist Monique Verdin, artist/researcher Dr. Sharbreon Plummer, and Maida Owens.
        • Preservation of Traditional Culture, January 28, 2021. Focus on Louisiana – Part Deux, panel presented by LSU Seagrant on the impact of oil spills on the human dimension.  
        • Sustaining Our Cultures in the Face of Land Loss, December 10, 2020. Lunch and Learn for Restore or Retreat's COAST network.  
        • Hispanics and the Bayou Culture Collaborative, October 14, 2020 for the Environmental Defense Council
        • Traditional Culture, Climate Change, and Folklorists in Louisiana. October 19, 2020. American Folklore Society forum with Maida Owens, Shana Walton, John Sharp, Carolyn Ware, Susan Roach 
        • The Arts and Creative Responses to Louisiana's Land Loss, September 29, 2020, Arts Summit, zoom.  
        • Sustaining Culture in the Face of Land Loss.  February 6, 2020, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program Management Council meeting. 
        • Land Loss, Migration, and the Office of Cultural Development, January 2020, professional development presentation for Office of Cultural Development staff  
        • Artists and Scientists Facing Change, September 21, 2019, Lafayette. See excerpts here.
        • Heart of the Palmetto, July 2019, a video short by WWNO about Janie Luster and her apprentice Rhett Williams.
        • Sinking Louisiana May 2019 by LPB focused on Louisiana's land loss. It 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.
        • Moving Traditions Forward November 2018, Pecha Kucha by Jonathan Foret, Southeast Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center in which he explains the impetus of the project.
        • Bayou Conversation: Environmental Displacement and Cultural Retention. October 2018, 2018. American Folklore Society forum with Maida Owens, Susan Roach, John Sharp, and Carolyn Ware.  

        See Sense of Place and Loss Workshops for more details. 

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