Starting Sunday, Semaine de la Francophonie, will hold a five-day creative placemaking summit featuring special activities, networking opportunities, and experts and scholars in the fields art, culture, economic development, and tourism.
Semaine de la Francophonie is expanding its reach from Arnaudville to other French speaking communities throughout Acadiana, including Washington, which will be the location for Day Four of the summit.
For a complete schedule and list of keynote speakers visit, semaine-francaise-arnaudville.org.
Arnaudville
Sunday
The Making of Multicultural Places
9 to 9:30 a.m. Registration check-in, NUNU Arts and Culture Collective
9:30 to 10 a.m. Coffee/Tea/Breakfast Foods
10:30 a.m. Ann Markusen discusses diversity challenges relating to Native American languages in regards to recovery and preservation that is being addressed across the country, and also speaks to the institutional and informal formats (e.g. Ojibwe language table at a nearby reservation) where the languages are being rediscovered. She discusses how curricula in schools (elementary through college levels) are incorporating native languages, how texts are being written, and so on. She will also reference the Finnish language. Goal: to engage the audience so as to address their own language challenges.
11:30 a.m. Ann Markusen led activity
Noon lunch
1 p.m. Panel.
George Marks, director NUNU Arts and Culture Collective presents on the evolution of Semaine de la Francophonie and the Saint Luc French Immersion and Cultural Campus; T.L. Richie, associate professor of the Department of Interior Design, Louisiana State University, 2017 St. Luc Visioning Project; and Gaye Hamilton, former director of Louisiana Cultural Districts, explores the use of culture as a Creative Placemaking tool.
2 p.m. Panel.
Joseph Dunn, director Louisiana Perspectives Marketing and Consulting, speaks about the diversity of French language in Louisiana, including contributing variants that are deeply embedded in the different migration streams, work and community structures of the people who settled in Louisiana; Béatrice Odunlami, deputy mayor for events, Cite d’Orléans, and Sophie Ferkatadji, director of Culture for the City and Region of Orléans, France, discuss diversity in the Francophone world and practices at the annual France-Voix de la Francophonie festival in Orleans.
3 p.m. Jennifer Ritter Guidry leads participants in a break-out session focused on a 2019 international exhibition that debuts in the United States at Acadiana Center for the Arts and produced by Les Anneux de la Memoire, Nantes, France. The 2017-2018 internationally traveling exhibit will be the focal point of an expanded multi-discipline exhibit focusing on historical and modern day human rights issues as it relates to minority cultures and immigrant people.
4 p.m. Conference component concludes.
5 to 6 p.m. Film screening of Theo’s Choice, followed by a panel discussion.
6:30 p.m. Dedication of lemon tree honoring legacy of Creole musician Amédé Ardoin.
6:45 p.m. Drum circle and lighting of the “Fire of Good Intentions,” with wood from former La Pataterie.
7 p.m. - Potluck social, music, dance, food and fellowship
Additional activities
4 to 6 p.m. Conference participants are invited to tour
Tee Tiny Houses of Arnaudville.
Bayou Teche Brewery.
Downtown Arnaudville businesses and shops.
Hands-on activities taking place during the conference.
Quilting with Les Coudre Pointes Collective - NUNU collective.
Mosaics with Michelle Fontenot, Sculpture Garden - NUNU collective.
Blacksmithing with LAMA, LAMA Barn - NUNU collective.
Pollinator Gardens with Candide Wyble - Teche Farm.
Monday – Sliman Performing Arts Center, New Iberia.
Tuesday – Abbey Players Theater, Abbeville.
Wednesday – St. John Episcopal Church, Washington.
Thursday – Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette.
