Highlighting a heritage: stirring the pot of money

American Visions, Feb-March, 1995 by Michael Pina

For years, Wonda Fontenot of the Wannamuse Institute of Arts, Culture and Ethnic Studies in Opelousas, La., struggled to bring live theater and after-school arts programs to the people of rural, Southwest Louisiana. She survived on small contributions and her own money, but last year she got help from an unlikely source, the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development--unlikely because a year earlier the agency's budget had been slashed and its employees mostly limited to distributing federal grant money.

Now, several months later and $4.2 million richer from a budget increase by the Louisiana Legislature, the office is actively seeking artists of color and other creative entrepreneurs who have a dream and a commitment to their communities that can be boosted with state grants.

With that thought in mind, Gerri Hobdy, the Office of Cultural Development's assistant secretary, found Fontenot and provided her with the additional funds she needed to expand her after-school programs, produce local festivals celebrating the life of rural African Americans, and generally increase awareness of her five-year-old organization.

"Our goal is to have a dramatic impact on the cultural scene in Louisiana, not only through seed money, but through technical assistance and consulting that will help these artists become more independent," says Hobdy, the first African American to hold the position of assistant secretary in the Office of Cultural Development.

Hobdy's goal seems within reach. Already, Fontenot's group is bringing enriching activities to parts of the state where cultural events had been limited to church functions. For instance, at the annual Malaki Festival in June, the community of 19,000 celebrates the rural life and culture of Louisiana's African Americans with zydeco music and dance traditions, storytelling, music from washboards and Calindas, and native foods. Fontenot even brought in a Congolese dance troupe for the festival.

The River Road African-American Museum, which interprets Louisiana's plantation and sharecropping experiences from a black perspective, is another beneficiary of Hobdy's efforts. The museum is the brainchild of Kathe Hambrick, who returned to her native Louisiana from California's corporate world and discovered that there was no testament to the life and times of the area's black residents, many of whose ancestors labored on the plantations that dotted the land.

Hambrick used a $2,000 state grant to obtain African-American artifacts from a private collector and to hire archaeologists from a nearby university to unearth slave artifacts from area plantations. She then opened her museum on the grounds of the old Tezcuco Plantation. In the museum's first six months of operation, more than 3,000 tourists visited the 1,000-square-foot facility to learn about the lives of area slaves and sharecroppers.

The Kumbuuka Dance Troupe, the Act One theater company, plus a host of storytellers, writers and festival organizers around the state are also now rising to prominence, thanks to grant money from the Office of Cultural Development.

Not content with assisting existing African-American efforts, Hobdy's office has funded a major program that has documented scores of little-known African-American sites in the state and sponsored archaeological digs of plantations, searching for weapons, cooking utensils and other slave artifacts. "It is a real spiritual experience," says Hobdy, referring to digs that she has joined. "It is like you are touching your ancestors. You are finding material that could change history books forever."

Hobdy is not alone in her attempt to enhance Louisiana's black impact. Caletha Powell, the executive director of the Greater New Orleans Black Tourism Network, is determined to "develop a brand-new agenda for African-American business development in the 21st century."

Last year her group established the National Institute for Tourism Research and Training, which offers a 16-week program that trains front-line employees for jobs in the local hospitality and travel industry and refers potential students to area colleges with travel-related degree programs.

Powell is not satisfied, however, simply with expanding African-American employment in a city whose population is two-thirds black. The network's most significant impact is in nurturing the pool of black entrepreneurs attracted to the city's multimillion dollar-tourism industry. To this end, Powell hosts an annual three-day conference and trade show showcasing New Orleans' investment opportunities. She also uses state and city economic development offices to funnel seed money to African-American travel-related businesses ranging from souvenir shops and catering services to heritage-related tour companies.

Yet Powell knows that these opportunities will wither and the new businesses will fail if the city does not hold onto its image as one of the nation's top tourist destinations. African Americans now compose 20 percent of Louisiana's visitors, but these days, if you're not moving forward with the future, you're probably losing ground. "We are gearing up now to be a real leader in the area of multicultural tourism, and we intend to make a significant impact on the way this industry does business," Powell emphatically asserts.