A New Look For Audubon Aquarium and Woldenberg Park

The Audubon Aquarium is currently closed for at least six months but the good news is that it is getting a facelift along with Woldenberg Park. The $41 million renovation will be a great perk once it is finished.

The Aquarium has been renovated before, but this is the biggest renovation since 1990. The new attraction called the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium links the aquarium to the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium. The Entergy Giant Screen Theater will be removed and replaced with the insectarium exhibits.

The renovation will add over 17,000 feet of exhibit space. The new entrance and lobby will be an enclosed 60-foot tall glass lobby. The glass pyramid will shoot out from the building facing the Mississippi River.

The Insectarium space will have a special event space on the first floor and the second floor will include the insectarium galleries and butterfly pavilion. The new butterfly exhibit will have lower ceilings so visitors can get a better look at the butterflies.

The aquarium will get upgrades including the Mississippi River Gallery, the Amazon Rainforest Gallery and the Top of the Gulf Experience. Woldenberg Park will also get $7 million in upgrades on the entrances, landscaping and electrical system.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

A New Park Opens With Free Outdoor Concerts

St. Claude Arts Park is a new park in Arabi that was built on the lot next to the Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.  The park is a nice new outdoor venue and art market space for residents and visitors to enjoy.  The park opening was celebrated with two free concerts sponsored by the Jazz Foundation of America. 
The land that the new park is located on is owned by Meraux Foundation which also owns the land the two blocks art district is located on. The arts district includes Zeitgeist Theatre, the artist’s studio and exhibition space St. Claude Arts and the consulting, design and framing business Art Conscious. The foundation is a private family foundation that supports many initiatives in St. Bernard Parish.  These initiatives include projects in coastal restoration, economic development, arts and culture, and education.
“We want to leverage arts and culture as an economic driver. It’s organically growing into a nice destination,”  says Chris Haines, who is a member of the Meraux Foundation Board.
The St. Claude Arts space is made up of 11 studios that are affordable for artists to use.  They are currently filled with artists who are using a vast array of different mediums including painting, mixed media, photography, printmaking, woodworking, furniture refurbishing, and vintage clothing.  One of the studios is Visual Arts which displays local exhibitions.  Art will also be displayed on walls throughout the art district as the foundation has hired 10 muralists to complete this project.
As for the park, there are around 10,000 square feet of open space with lights and a covered area for bands and performances.  The building facade located at 6609 St. Claude Ave houses the restrooms, and storage space and the black back wall will be used for outdoor movies.  The park and Zeitgeist Theatre will hold the reception for PhotoNOLA which is New Orleans’ photography festival that runs December 7 – 10, 2022.  During this festival, there will also be a photography-themed art market.

New State Cultural Districts To Be In Jefferson Parish

The state has decided to locate two new state cultural districts in Gretna and Jean Lafitte.  One of the main reasons is that these are sites where two historic buildings are located that could possibly qualify for state historic tax credits.  Another bonus is that any qualifying art that will be sold at the two locations will be exempt from local sales tax. 

In order for any artwork to be exempt from local sales tax it must be an original, one of a kind visual piece, conceived by the artist and made by their hand or under their direction, and not intended for mass production.  Art can be reviewed by the Office of Cultural Development to see if it qualifies for tax exemption.
Jefferson Parish will now be the site of five state cultural districts in Louisiana.  The first will be the new South Gretna Cultural District that will cover parts of southern Gretna along the south of Gretna Boulevard including Gretna City Park and Timberlane Estates.  Everything north of the Westbank Expressway is already included in a separate state cultural district.  The new Jean Lafitte Cultural District will include a block on both sides of Jean Lafitte Boulevard from Camille Court south to Shipyard Street.
There are 124 state cultural districts now in Louisiana, including six new districts that were announced.  The other new districts were the City of Crowley African American Cultural Historical District in Crowley, Divine Nine Cultural District in Monroe, Franklin Cultural District in Franklin, Pointe-aux-Loups Cultural District in Iota.

Gentilly Festival Will Be Held At Pontchartrain Park

The Gentilly Festival is a three-day event full of music, art and food with  three stages located in Pontchartrain Park.   The festival is a free event that will run on Friday from 6pm – 9pm and on Saturday and Sunday from noon – 8pm.  The festival will be located at the playground at Press and Prentiss Drives.

This fall-filled New Orleans festival will also raise funds to support first responders and nonprofits that serve the Gentilly community.  “It’s going to be really exciting. We’re keeping our flavor, our flair of the community. We’re trying to unify and reunite the neighbors post-pandemic,” says chair and organizer of the festival Gretchen Bradford.

This year there will be over 25 food vendors and an eclectic range of entertainment.  There will be restaurants, caterers and food vendors from the area serving up their dishes at this year’s festival.  Many local caterers that are starting a business will introduce themselves through the festival. There will also  be veteran Gentilly food fest vendors that will also provide delicious assortments.  “We’ve got a little Latin, a little hip hop, brass, funk……….We got a little bit of that New Orleans bounce. We can touch many different audiences,” says Bradford.

The festival is a great event for the whole family.  This year there will be a Kids’ Village which will include pony rides, an entertainment stage, pottery making, face painting and more crafts.  For the adults, there will be tons of local organizations which will provide services and tell about what they have to offer for Gentilly residents, and for an additional charge a VIP Champagne Experience.

The Gentilly Festival is not just for locals, as the festival also attracts tourists and those who used to live in Gentilly and are back to visit for the event.  The festival will kick off with “Jazz Under the Stars” with live music and DJ’s.  Performers include Brian Quezergue Quartet, Indys Blu, Quiana Lynell and DJ Juane Jordan.

This is a fun time for Gentilly and all of New Orleans.  “We promote happiness,” says Bradford.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

The Battle of the Bike Lane

The bike lanes along Newton Street between Elmira and Behrman in Algiers are the battleground for many cyclists and residents. Several months ago District C Council member Freddie King wanted the city to reevaluate their position on the protected bike lanes in Algier due to neighborhood disagreements regarding the lanes.

Since the situation was brought to the city’s attention, minimum changes have occurred. The city has removed dozens of the flex posts and the ones that remain have been shifted closer to the bike lane. They said this should help with parking on the street and alleviate residents’ concerns that the flex posts could obstruct emergency vehicles from getting by.

Residents are still up in arms about the protected lanes while cycling advocates are afraid of what might happen if the lanes are removed. King suggested the city remove over 2 miles of protected bike lanes located on MacArthur Boulevard and Newton Street. If this passes and goes through, this will be a downfall for the citywide bike plan created by Mayor LaToya Contrell.

West bank residents voted for King over Kristin Gisleson Palmer when he said he would advocate the removal of the paths. Residents wanted to be heard and felt that the city did not survey enough residents regarding the installation of the bike lanes in Algiers. The city has defended its actions but does admit that it did not do enough outreach to the residents of Algiers.

“We did have a number of meetings in Algiers. Obviously we needed to have more,” said Sarah Porteuos, a city infrastructure spokesperson.

As of now, the cyclists’ lanes on MacArthur and Newton include plastic posts guarding the separate lanes and parking spaces closer to the main travel lane than the curb. Automobiles will be the second line of defense for cyclists. Those who are for the lanes say that the protected lanes not only increase the safety of cyclists but motorists as well.

Research has shown that cyclists’ lanes reduce accidents for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Around the city, around 30 of the 75 planned miles already have cyclists’ lanes installed. According to city officials, there were 327 crashes involving cyclists between 2014 and 2018 on MacArthur Blvd before the cyclist’s lanes were installed.

“Please do not remove protected bike lanes, said Corinna Chaney, a resident who wrote to the City Council. ” This critical infrastructure is saving lives, drivers included. We should be slowing down traffic not tearing up what little safety we have here.”

Click Here For the Source of the Information.