The Louisiana Folklife Commission is appointed by the Governor to advise the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and other relevant state agencies on public policy to aid in the identification and preservation of traditional communities in Louisiana. To see the legislation creating the commission, see here
To see the minutes of the last meeting and the agenda of the next meeting, click here or go to the Louisiana Boards and Commissions database for more details and records.
Folklife Month
One of the key activities of the commission is Folklife Month, which recognizes the importance of the state's living traditions. For information about the current and past Folklife Month tradition bearers, click here.
Folklife Commissioners
* Legislative appointment category in parentheses. Click name for bio.
Chair
Teresa Parker, Tulane University (University)
Vice Chair
Susan Roach, Louisiana Tech University (University)
Secretary
Mona Lisa Saloy, Dillard University (University)
Executive Committee
Ray Berthelot, Office of State Parks (State Parks)
Sharon Calcote, Office of Tourism (Office of Tourism)
Rachel Ornelas, New Orleans (At Large Representative)
Joyce Miller, Louisiana State Museum
Commissioners
Anne Finney, Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve (Jean Laffite NHPP)
Jonathan Foret, Louisiana State Arts Council representative
Herman Fuselier, Opelousas (At Large Representative)
Jim Hogg, Prairieville (At Large Representative)
Josetta LeBoeuf, Division of Archaeology (Archaeology)
Karen McKinney, Division of Historic Preservation (Historic Preservation)
Meg Placke, State Library (State Librarian-ex-officio)
Kent Peacock, (Louisiana Folklife Society)
Shane Rasmussen, Northwestern State University (University)
Miranda Restovic, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LA Endowment for the Humanities-ex-officio)
Leea Russell, Louisiana Division of the Arts (Division of the Arts)
John Sharp, Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Louisiana Folklore Society)
John Silver, Intertribal Council of Louisiana (Intertribal Council--ex-officio)
Kimberly Walden, Chitimacha Tribe (At Large Representative)
vacant, (Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation)
Bios of Commissioners
Ray Berthelot is the Parks Program Manager for the Louisiana Office of State Parks and has served in this capacity for more than twenty years. In this position, he oversees educational and interpretive programming representing the natural and cultural resources preserved by the State Parks system. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member with Baton Rouge Community College where he teaches a course on Louisiana History. Originally from New Orleans, Ray previously worked in the Archives Department at Xavier University of Louisiana where he also functioned as the Co-production editor of Xavier Review Press. He holds an M.A. in History from Louisiana State University and two B.A.s, Political Science and History, from the University of New Orleans. Ray serves on the executive committee of the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
Sharon Calcote has served the tourism industry for 30 years. Sharon spearheads the Louisiana Byway Program for the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Additionally, she is a researcher, grant writer and develops tourism product - her latest project is the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. She has been nationally-recognized for pioneering new tourism product development techniques that helped the tourism industry concentrate more on stories than sites. Her focus was the "peopling of the process." She believes that when the stories of the people are told, the sites and attractions make sense. She works extensively with rural areas and conducts community assessments, strategic planning and project development. Sharon has served on several state and national boards and commissions, including the Ancient Indian Mound Trail Advisory Committee, Louisiana Folklife Commission, National Park Service Lesser Known Sites Advisory Task Force, Cane River National Heritage Area Commission, and National Association of State Development Agencies Tourism Advisory Board, among others.
vacant
Anne Finney is an historian with Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.
Jonathan Foret is responsible for the day to day operations and implementing the programs of the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center in Houma, Louisiana. He has over 15 years of nonprofit administrative, management and fundraising experience on international, national, state, regional and local levels. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Nonprofit Leadership and is a native of Chauvin, Louisiana.
Herman Fuselier is Executive Director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he has produced work featured in publications such as the New York Times and Offbeat magazine as well as on media outlets NPR, BBC, and CNN's "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown." He is author of Ghosts of Good Times, a book about southwest Louisiana's disappearing dancehalls. An Opelousas native and journalism graduate from Louisiana State University, Herman hosts the "Zydeco Stomp," a weekly radio program of zydeco, blues, and classic R&B on Lafayette's NPR affiliate station, KRVS 88.7 FM and www.krvs.org.
Jim Hogg is the CEO of media firm Jim Hogg Group LLC, a culmination of his 30 year career in radio, television, and outdoor advertising. He is also a country musician and songwriter with eight albums to his name and today plays with his son, a one time Louisiana State Grand Fiddle Champion. Every Sunday morning Jim hosts the syndicated roots music radio program, "Sunday Morning in Hogg Heaven."
Josetta LeBoeuf is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Louisiana Division of Archaeology, where she develops, implements, and manages initiatives to educate the general public about Louisiana's archaeology and cultural heritage.
Karen McKinney is the Technical Grants Manager for the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation. She is an architect registered in Louisiana with a Bachelor of Architecture, Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation, and a Master of History. She has also been an Adjunct Instructor in the School of Architecture and Design at UL-Lafayette for twelve years.
Joyce Miller has served as a historian at the Louisiana State Museum since 2012. Previously, she was the editor of KnowLA, an online encyclopedia of Louisiana history and culture sponsored by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. She also served as the NEH Endowed Chair of Appalachian Studies at Berea College and as Folklife Specialist at the Kentucky Folklife Program. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland where she taught in the Department of American Studies for six years. She earned a BA in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and a MA in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi.
Teresa Parker, PhD is an interdisciplinary scholar at Tulane University where her research focuses on the history, art history, and cultural traditions of the American South. Her public folklore work includes production of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Louisiana Folklife Village and the three-year documentary initiative, The Elders Speak: The West Feliciana Parish African American Oral History Project. Her essays have appeared in UNC-Chapel Hill's Southern Cultures journal; the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities' 64 Parishes Encyclopedia and A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana; as well as numerous museum exhibition catalogues. Teresa holds a Ph.D. from Tulane University, an M.A. in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi and a B.A. in English literature from Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Teresa serves as chair of the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
Kent Peacock, PhD, is Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University.
Meg Placke is the Assistant Secretary of the Office of the State Library and State Librarian of Louisiana. Her office produces the nationally recognized and award-winning Louisiana Book Festival held annually in Baton Rouge.
Shane Rasmussen. Ph.D., received his Ph.D. in English with a major concentration in folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2007. He serves as the Director of the Louisiana Folklife Center as well as a Professor of English at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. He is the general editor of the Louisiana Folklife Journal, the co-chair of the Louisiana Studies Conference, the co-chair of the NSU Louisiana High School Contest, and the director of the annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival.
Miranda Restovic is President and Executive Director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana affiliate to the National Endowment for the Humanities. She previously served as LEH Deputy Director, as well as Director of the LEH's award-winning and nationally implemented PRIME TIME Family Reading Time program. Under her stewardship, the LEH has initiated projects including the quarterly publication 64 Parishes; the PRIME TIME Sustain reading series exploring the effects of Louisiana's changing coastline; and, in partnership with The Helis Foundation, the John Scott Center, a community space and interactive museum. Miranda holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of New Orleans and a B.A. in International Relations and Italian from Mount Holyoke College.
Susan Roach, Ph.D., serves as Director of the School of Literature and Language at Louisiana Tech University and holds the Mildred Saunders Adams Endowed Professorship. With a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas, she was folklorist for the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program at Louisiana Tech University from 1998-2009, and continues fieldwork on north Louisiana folklife. She has curated museum exhibitions and state and national festivals and served as an editor and author for Delta Pieces: Northeast Louisiana Folklife and The Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project. Other publications include museum catalogs—Gifts from the Hills: North Central Louisiana Folk Traditions and On My Way: The Arts of Sarah Albritton—and essays in Public Folklore, Women's Culture, and the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Susan serves as vice chair of the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
Leea Russell is the Executive Director for the Louisiana Division of the Arts. A Baton Rouge native, she brings extensive experience in arts administration and education, including a decade as an arts educator in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, Chief Programs Officer for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, and most recently as Director of Arts Education and Accessibility for the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Her administrative work has included grant management, community development, and cross-sector collaboration to enhance arts learning and engagement for all ages. She receuved her Bachelor of Science in Theatre and Dance Performance from Northwestern State University and a Arts Management Certificate from University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D., current Louisiana Poet Laureate, is an award-winning author & folklorist, educator, and scholar of Creole culture in articles, documentaries, and poems about Black New Orleans before and after Katrina. Currently, Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Professor and of English at Dillard University, Dr. Saloy documents Creole culture in sidewalk songs, jump-rope rhymes, and clap-hand games to discuss the importance of play. She writes on the significance of the Black Beat poets—especially Bob Kaufman, on the African American Toasting Tradition, Black talk, and on keeping Creole to today. Her first book, Red Beans & Ricely Yours, won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. Her collection of poems, Second Line Home, captures New Orleans speech, family dynamics, celebrates New Orleans, the unique culture the world loves. Saloy's screenplay for the documentary Easter Rock premiered in Paris, the Ethnograph Film Festival and at the national Black museum. She's lectured on Black Creole Culture at Poets House-NYC; the Smithsonian; Purdue University; the University of Washington; and Woodland Patterns Book Center. Her documentary, Bleu Orleans, is on Black Creole Culture. She is an editorial reviewer for Meridians: Feminism, race, transnationalism. Most recent publication of verse: "New Orleans, a Neighborhood Nation." I am New Orleans, anthology. Kalamu ya Salaam, editor. University of New Orleans Press, 2021. Mona Lisa Saloy writes for those who don't or can't tell Black Creole cultural stories. www.monalisasaloy.com Tweet to @redbeansista.
John "Pudd" Sharp is the Assistant Director for Research at the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Treasurer of the Louisiana Folklore Society. His research focuses on the history, cultural traditions, and coastal issues of Louisiana. His work includes documentary film "Water on Road: The Disappearing Community of Isle de Jean Charles" and statewide documentary project "Louisiana Dance Halls." Pudd holds an M.S. in Communication from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Auburn University. Pudd serves on the executive committee of the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
Rachel Ornelas Rachel Ornelas is the Cultural Heritage Coordinator for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. She programs and curates the Louisiana Folklife Village, Native American Village, Grandstand exhibit gallery and serves as Co-Chair of their Sustainability Department. She has worked with many large-scale events including the Country 500 Music Festival, Bayou Country Superfest, Essence Festival, Lost Lands, Austin's Pecan Street Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival and SXSW. She has consulted on Louisiana culture for the Americana Music Triangle, as well as the 2013 Americana Music Association's Louisiana showcase. She also consulted for cultural culinary shows "Seasoned with Spirit" and "Tacos across Texas." In 2016, she worked on the design and production of the recreation and art market areas for Festival Productions-AEG's inaugural camping and music festival,Country 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. She continued overseeing the recreation and art areas for five years. Rachel also served on the board of directors for the Crafts Guild of Louisiana for the last three years. A Fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Leadership Institute, she led campaigns of social activism through art, working with the Latino art community by organizing collective Latino art exhibits in New Orleans. Continuing her passion for working in Latino arts, she now serves on national grant panels for Latino arts grant funding. Currently, she is a member of Krewe de Mayahuel, New Orleans' only Mexican Mardi Gras Krewe, which was inspired and created to promote and incorporate Mexican culture in New Orleans.
John Silver is director of the Intertribal Council of Louisiana and serves on the United Houma Nation tribal council. He is from the community of Dulac.
Kimberly Walden serves at the Tribal Historic Preservation Office for the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana in Charenton, Louisiana. She also directs the tribe's Cultural Department. With Rosetta Stone, they have been reviving their language and teaching it to tribal youth. She has a Masters of Education.
