Winter Louisiana Cultural Vistas Party

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities will host their annual year-end celebration as they unveil the new issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas and hear from NEH Interim Chairman Jon Parish Peede at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, at the New Orleans Jazz Museum (400 Esplanade). The event is free and open to the public.

Jon Parish Peede is Acting Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His previous positions include publisher of the Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR) at the University of Virginia, literature grants director at the National Endowment for the Arts, counselor to NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, director of the NEA Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience program, director of the NEA Big Read program, director of communications at Millsaps College, founding editor of Millsaps Magazine, and editor at Mercer University Press with a focus on the humanities. He has written speeches for a U.S. president, a first lady, and a librarian of Congress.

From 2007 to 2011, Peede oversaw the NEA’s funding of literary organizations and fellowships to creative writers and translators. For seven years, he led writing workshops for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Bahrain, England, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, the Persian Gulf, and on domestic bases.

Under his leadership, VQR increased its annual online reach by 400,000 readers and expanded its paid readership to 51 countries. He acquired work from seven Pulitzer Prize winners and edited interviews with two Nobel laureates.

About the winter issue:
Our cover story, written by Alexandra Giancarlo with photos from Jeremiah Ariaz, takes us to the trail rides of southwest Louisiana, where Creole residents maintain a long standing, evolving horseriding tradition. Monica Barra talks with Plaquemines Parish residents planning for coastal land loss through the LA SAFE initiative. Katy Reckdahl remembers filmmaker Royce Osborn, Jon Wirt unearths Jayne Mansfield’s tragic last days in Louisiana, and Melissa Daggett tells the history of séance circles hosted by black Creoles in nineteenth century New Orleans.

Poetry by new Louisiana Poet Laureate Jack Bedell, columns by Richard Campanella, Alison Fensterstock, Rien Fertel, Ben Sandmel, and more stories by Jack Belsom, Mark Cave, Hali Dardar, Chris Jay, and Mary Rickard, plus special sections from The Historic New Orleans Collection, Louisiana State Museum, Ogden Museum of Art, CODFOIL, and Shreveport Regional Arts Council.