The Division of the Arts is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
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Mission Statement
The arts are an essential and unique part of life in Louisiana to which each citizen has a right. The Louisiana Division of the Arts in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council is the catalyst for participation, education, development and promotion of excellence in the arts. It is the responsibility of the Division to support established arts institutions, nurture both emerging arts organizations and our overall cultural economy, assist individual artists, encourage the expansion of audiences and stimulate public participation in the arts in Louisiana.
In affiliation with Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education, The Division of the Arts hosted an Imagination Conversation on May 20 at the Manship Theatre in BatonRouge. Panelists discussed implementing the method of introducing imagination into classrooms to develop student's capacities to think imaginatively and creatively, which improves their performance in all subject areas. The panelists for Louisiana's Imagination Conversation were Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne, Julio Melara, business leader and publisher of 225 magazine, Senator Sharon Weston Broome, Derek Gordon, CEO, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Chris Meyer, Policy Advisor for the Louisiana Department of Education. The moderator of this panel was Sarah Cunningham, director of education for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. The keynote speaker for this conversation was Louisiana Artist Laureate George Rodrigue.
Three immigrant organizations received grants and training as part of the first year of the Division of the Arts Open Doors Mentoring Program: Yang Guang (Sunshine) Dance Troupe (Baton Rouge), Adelante, Inc (New Orleans), and Asociación Cultural Latino-Acadiana (Lafayette). Here is the first class in January 2011. For details about this pilot year, visit http://www.louisianafolklife.org/newpopulations/OpenDoors1.html
David Douglas from Washington-Marion Magnet High School in Lake Charles will represent Louisiana in the National Poetry Out Loud finals, April 28 and 29th in Washington, DC. Pictured with David are Justine Chiapptetta (left) Program Assistant, Poetry Foundation, and Dána LaFonta (right) Executive Director, Louisiana Division of the Arts.
The Office of Cultural Development/Division of the Arts partnered with the Creative Capital Foundation to present a Professional Development Weekend workshop, March 25-27th for 24 selected Louisiana artists in strategic planning, funding and promotion of their work. This Professional Development opportunity is designed to deliver skill-building tools to individual artists. The goal is to provide a cohesive structure that will help artists to organize, plan, and sustain their creative careers.
