Sean Reilly of Baton Rouge and Bill Fenstermaker of Lafayette have assumed leadership roles in BluePrint Louisiana.Reilly will be the new chairman and Fenstermaker will become the new secretary.
Epcot
The State of Louisiana and the Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival Team Up for a Taste of Culture
Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu announced today that the State of Louisiana has been invited to take part in the 2008 Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival, which will take place Friday, September 26, to Sunday, November 9.
This will mark the 13th year of the festival, which is hailed as one of the largest and longest-running food and wine festivals in the world and ranked one of the best food and wine festivals in the United States by Forbes Magazine. This year, the festival will feature the state with an experience dedicated to Louisiana culture and heritage. It is the only U.S. state-dedicated experience at this year's festival.
"We are honored to be invited to take part in such a respected and successful event as the Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival,"
said Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. "Louisiana's participation in the festival will provide us the opportunity to share our unique culture and authentic heritage with travelers from all over the world."
The Louisiana Experience-"My Louisiana"-will feature a food and beverage kiosk, an artisan area, cooking demonstrations, entertainment, children's activities and a merchandise and artisan shop modeled after the French Market. The Experience is custom-built by Walt Disney Imagineering to offer visitors a sensory experience of Louisiana's unique culture and heritage.
Jim MacPhee, Epcot Vice President, is delighted to have the State of Louisiana represented at this year's festival. "Louisiana is a state with such a strong heritage and an incredibly vibrant culture, and will serve as a great experience along with all the other festival offerings at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival," said MacPhee.
"We are excited to give travelers just a small taste of what our state has to offer and invite them to Louisiana to get the full cultural experience," stated Chuck Morse, Assistant Secretary, Louisiana Office of Tourism.
The Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival provides an opportunity for Louisiana to showcase its unique culture to an international audience with a high tendency to travel. Visitors to the festival come from across the globe to experience the finest in culinary traditions, culture and entertainment. In addition, the festival will provide the state an opportunity to showcase the Louisiana Culinary Trails program to a global audience that has a higher focus on culinary tourism.
Each week the "My Louisiana" experience will feature a different region of the state focused on the state's newly launched Culinary Trails
program:
-- Week 1: Creole Fusion region in the New Orleans area, including St.
Tammany and Jefferson parishes
-- Week 2: The Delta Delights region, covering northeast Louisiana including Ruston and Monroe, in partnership with the Prairie Home Cooking region in the center of the state, including Alexandria
-- Week 3: Seafood Sensation region, including Lake Charles and the surrounding area
-- Week 4: Red River Riches region in the northwest corner of Louisiana, including Shreveport
-- Week 5: Cajun/Bayou Bounty region in Acadiana, including Lafayette
-- Week 6: Capital Cuisine region in southeast Louisiana including Baton Rouge and the surrounding area
The Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival features cuisine from across the globe, a spectacular live music concert series, exciting culinary demonstrations and seminars presented by celebrity chefs.
Sub-sponsors for The Louisiana Experience include Abita Brewing Company, Louisiana Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, Louisiana Department of Agriculture&Forestry, Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board and TABASCO(R).
Additional sub-sponsors from the tourism industry across Louisiana include Alexandria/Pineville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Arts & Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana, Ascension Parish Tourist Commission, Avoyelles Parish Tourist Commission, Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bossier Parish Police Jury, Caddo Parish Commission, Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau, Cameron Parish Tourist Commission, City of Alexandria, City of Bossier City, City of Pineville, City of Shreveport, Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority, Iberia Parish Convention & Visitors Bureau, Iberville Parish Tourist Commission, Jeff Davis Parish Tourist Commission, Jefferson Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc., Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission, Lafourche Parish Tourist Commission, Lake Charles / Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, Livingston Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau, Monroe-West Monroe Convention & Visitors Bureau, Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, Paragon Casino Resort, Pointe Coupee Parish Office of Tourism, River Parishes Tourist Commission, Ruston Lincoln Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sabine Parish Tourist and Recreation Commission, Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau, St. Bernard Parish Government Office of Tourism, St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission, St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission, St. Tammany Parish Tourist & Convention Commission, Tangipahoa Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission, Webster Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau, West Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau and West Feliciana Tourist Commission.
For more information about the Epcot(R) International Food & Wine Festival, guests can call 407-WDW-FEST(407-939-3378) for special events and programs. Festival details can be found at www.disneyworld.com/food.
Charter Schools
What would New Orleans look like if it were home to the nation’s top urban public school system?Executive Producer Matt Wisdom and Digital Filmmaker Tim Ryan help to convey that vision in their short Internet documentary about recent successes within New Orleans public Charter Schools.The short film also addresses the impact current public school reform will have on the future of New Orleans.The film is included within The New Orleans 100, which is a worldwide initiative that highlights and encourages discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.Moreover, segments of the film were presented at events sponsored by Friends of New Orleans at both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention.
“The Charter Schools in New Orleans may be the one area our citizens are really in control of, and a lot of the schools are doing an incredible job. It may be the most hopeful thing I’ve ever seen.Sustained success in education will give us the city we’ve always wanted -- lower crime, better jobs and companies, and higher quality leadership,” says Wisdom.
The motivation behind the short documentary is to present some of the positive changes taking place within the schools at a vital time in the city's overall recovery.The piece is posted on You Tube so that people can watch it free.The short documentary includes interviews with faculty, students and administrators at two RSD Charter Schools (LangstonHughesAcademy and KIPP Believe College Prep). Jim Land from Power Plant Digital Post Production edited the final piece.The overall production is under the umbrella of New Schools for New Orleans who served as fiscal agent and provided statistical data and introductions to school leaders.
“New Orleans is undergoing a tremendous amount of change on so many levels.We wanted to show something positive happening within the public school system based on tangible increases in test results.We’re excited that the film was recognized by The New Orleans 100 and Friends of New Orleans as confirmation of our objective to highlight something in New Orleans,” says Ryan.
For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Tim Ryan at (504) 339-4350 or Matt Wisdom (504) 296-7565
OgdenMuseum and Oxford American
On Thursday, September 25th, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host the launch party for the Oxford American magazine’s latest issue, one that is devoted exclusively to New Orleans and the GulfCoast, and which features the work of some of the region’s best writers, photographers and artists.
Entitled "3 Years After: New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," the issue focuses on the state of the city and the surrounding region since Hurricane Katrina and features the local talents of writers and photographers such as Constance Adler, Brett Anderson, Lolis Eric Elie, Ernest J. Gaines, David Ramsey, Chris Rose, Michael Smith, Wright Thompson, and Jesmyn Ward.
"It’s an honor for the museum to be able to host this collection of New Orleans voices and visions assembled by the Oxford American," says Ogden Museum Director Dr. Rick Gruber. "While the last three years have been marked by challenges for the city and the Gulf Coast, they have also sparked a flame that ignited a larger creative spirit."
"The Oxford American is pleased and honored to officially launch our New Orleans/Gulf Coast issue at a great Southern institution like the Ogden Museum of Southern Art," adds Warwick Sabin, publisher of the Oxford American magazine. "This particular issue is a unique contribution to the national conversation about post-Katrina New Orleans, because nearly all of the writing, art and photography is contributed by residents of the region. As a result, it offers an extremely personal and moving portrait of one of the most beloved areas of America, and it was very important for all of us at the Oxford American to come to New Orleans and personally introduce the issue to our readers and fans."
This exclusive event, 5 pm to 6 pm at the OgdenMuseum, is open to the media, contributors and subscribers of the Oxford American, and members of the Kohlmeyer Circle -- an organization of younger Ogden patrons. Following the party the public can mingle with the issue's contributors and Oxford American staffers at Ogden After Hours, the museum’s regular Thursday night music event open to museum members and the community. Performing will be GG Shinn. The celebrated swamp pop band is appearing in collaboration with the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation and will begin at 6 pm.
Stories in the issue range from Ramsey’s experiences as a first-year teacher in New Orleans to author and Times-Picayune restaurant columnist Brett Anderson on the city’s post-storm restaurant scene to a series of portraits by Seventh Ward painter Willie Birch. All three will be available for interviews that evening. Also on hand will be Ada Liana Bidiuc, Anne Gisleson, Moira Crone, Brett Anderson, Sara Roahen, Ellen Ann Fentress, Alex Cook, Pia Ehrhardt, Ginny Kazmarke and Alison Pelegrin. Oxford-American staffers include Editor and Founder Marc Smirnoff, Managing Editor Carol Ann Fitzgerald, and Publisher Warwick Sabin.
The Oxford American -- www.oxfordamericanmag.com -- is a national magazine dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. Billed as "The Southern Magazine of Good Writing," and "The New Yorker of the South," it has won two National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. Its pages have featured original work by William Faulkner, Walker Percy, John Grisham, John Updike, Roy Blount, Susan Sontag, Steve Martin, Charles Portis and many other distinguished authors, while also discovering and launching the most promising writers in the region. The New York Times stated that the Oxford American "may be the liveliest literary magazine in America."
The mission of The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, is to broaden the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South through its permanent collections, changing exhibitions, educational programs, publications, research center, and its Goldring-Woldenberg Institute for the Advancement of Southern Art and Culture. To that end, the museum will collect, conserve, exhibit, study, and interpret the art of the South within the context of the region's history and culture.
Sunrise Solar Corp today announced plans to provide advance solar technologies to a major new water park and entertainment center near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Sunrise Solar will develop and implement a comprehensive plan to provide solar water heating for the park’s pools, slides, and rivers. In addition, Sunrise will design solar-powered lighting systems including entertainment oriented LED systems such as those found in major sporting venues and install auxiliary solar power systems for the water park.
"This will be America’s first truly “green” water park and entertainment center,” said Mr. Eddie Austin, Chairman and CEO of Sunrise Solar Corp. "This project will include multiple solar technologies – solar heating for the pools and water attractions; solar entertainment systems; and solar power generation. Our design proposal will make this a cutting edge, energy efficient entertainment venue with an exceptionally small carbon footprint.”
While Sunrise Solar does not compete directly with industry giants such as; First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), Kyocera, Sanyo, or Suntech it expects to provide exiting and practical solutions to businesses and individuals worldwide that understand the value of solar power. Solar power requires a capital investment on the front end but keeps paying a return investment long after the upfront capital cost is recovered.
