Speakers
Monday
September 21
12:30-1:30 PM
Virtual Mississippi River Flyover
Alisha Renfro, Helen Rose Patterson
Take your own personal flight over the Mississippi River, starting from the headwaters at Lakes Itasca of Minnesota to the birdsfoot delta in Louisiana. Join Restore the Mississippi River Delta and learn about how the River shaped the country and humans’ attempts to tame its mighty, muddy waters.
Tuesday
September 22
12:30-1:30 PM
Mississippi River Past, Present, and Future
David Muth and Steve Cochran
Long before European settlement of the Mississippi River corridor, humans tried to manage the river and control flooding. These actions have allowed communities such as New Orleans to flourish along the river but have also led to the coastal land loss crisis that now threatens our future. David Muth, Director of the Gulf Restoration Program for National Wildlife Federation, will share the history of human intervention in the Mississippi River’s flow and the impact it has had on our communities and culture in Louisiana. Steve Cochran, Director of the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Program with the Environmental Defense Fund, will offer insights into the Mississippi River Delta of the future.
Wednesday
September 23
12:30-1:30 PM
People Driven Resilience 2.0
So many organizations are committed to making New Orleans and Louisiana a more sustainable community. Join us for a follow up on our 2019 panel featuring: Liz Shepard Founder and CEO of Life City, Jessica Dandridge Executive Director of the Water Collaborative, Julia Kumari Drapkin CEO and Founder of ISeeChange, Catherin Wheeler Outreach Coordinator for SOUL, and Alisha Renfro Staff Scientist for Restore the Mississippi River Delta and National Wildlife Federation.
Thursday
September 24
12:30-1:30 PM
Riverfront Faces
Keith and Chandra Calhoun, Kevin McCaffrey
Born to a father who was a unionized dock worker in New Orleans in the 50s and 60s, documentary photographer and social activist Keith Calhoun began his art career exploring what he knew: the African American dock workers on the Mississippi River. His photographs became one of a series of disappearing labor forces projects he would continue to photograph with his wife, Chandra McCormick, over forty years. Their social activist career arc led more recently to documenting the prison industrial complex as a little viewed part of the African American experience of Louisiana. They will show the river related dock workers photographs both physically at The Mint and in an online exhibition for River Fest. Keith says his latest research led him to connect Civil Rights organizing in New Orleans in the sixties to those docks and workers. They will report on this and discuss their work live in a Webinar program in the River Fest 2020 online flow of events.
Friday
September 25
12:30-1:30 PM
Rivers as Roads: A Poverty Point Story Map
Val Feathers, Chip McGimsey, Diana Greenlee
The Poverty Point World Heritage Site is a remarkable 3400-year-old archaeological site in Northeast Louisiana. In addition to its monumental earthworks, the site is known for a dizzying array of artifacts made of materials that were not locally available. Indeed, tons of stone were transported over great distances by way of the Mississippi River system to this amazing locale to make into tools and ornaments. This story map provides 3D models of artifacts linked to their source locations throughout the Midwestern and Southeastern U.S., with information about the materials, the artifacts, and how archaeologists know where they came from.
Saturday
September 26
3:00 PM
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM BOG GARDEN & NATIVE RIVERBANK PLANTS
Nell Howard
Master Gardener Nell Howard discusses the New Orleans Jazz Museum's bog garden of local riverbank plant species, and the importance of maintaining native plant species populations in the Greater New Orleans area.