POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

(1) Bayou Culture Collaborative Program Organizer

(2) Digital Media Manager

The Bayou Culture Collaborative

The Bayou Culture Collaborative (BCC) is a successful initiative launched by the Louisiana Folklore Society, coordinated through the Louisiana Division of the Arts, to support local programming efforts in Coastal Louisiana. Because this work has been so popular among community members, civic groups, nonprofits, and individual artists, LFS seeks to evolve this effort into a larger cultural and heritage-based network.  We are hiring a BCC Program Organizer who will reach out to a wide range of people interested in the intersection of cultural documentation/preservation with climate issues, climate migration, social and environmental justice concerns on the Coast, offering support and connections and organizing monthly gatherings as opportunities to hear from others, gain new ideas, and link with complementary efforts. We seek to provide a general service in creating networking around social and environmental justice, the human dimensions of environmental and climate change, and other coastal issues, like natural disasters.  We envision a wide network, coordinating efforts and sharing information with the scientific and environmental research communities. To increase outreach, we are also hiring a Digital Media Manager who will use social media platforms to amplify efforts to document and preserve Coastal culture. Both positions will work as independent contractors.

Job descriptions

NOTE: Because of the limited number of hours each contract position will work per week, it is possible that one person would be able to apply for both jobs. 

(1) BCC Program Organizer

The Louisiana Folklore Society is a Program Organizer for the Bayou Culture Collaborative. We are looking for a team leader, someone who understands some of the challenges facing Coastal culture and can meet with a wide variety of organizations and individuals across Louisiana’s Coast in order to develop a deep and strong cultural and heritage-based network that includes community members, academics and students, civic groups, governmental agency representatives, tradition bearers, and cultural representatives. This position could be called a network weaver. Major obligations include

• Meeting with groups — community members, academics and students, civic groups, governmental agency representatives,  tradition bearers, cultural representatives, and others —  to collect information about Coastal needs and abilities; expand current outreach to the southwestern Louisiana Coast; create relationships that will facilitate partnerships with organizations and universities in the region, with particular interest in empowering underrepresented people to showcase artistic excellence and to capitalize on community abilities, Among the underrepresented are Indigenous peoples like the United Houma Nation, the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, and the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, whose ancestral lands have been devastated by the climate crisis; as well as Latino, Laotian and Vietnamese, and African-American communities.
• Hosting 11 monthly gatherings, initially online,  for Coastal groups — nonprofits, civic organizations, local businesses, academic institutions, individual artists and culture bearers — providing a space to exchange information and collaborate, specifically working to provide places and formats that are more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to a wide range of Coastal populations.

• Using the monthly gatherings more generally to underscore the wealth of existing cultural projects, including tradition bearers, events, documentation, and collections; help groups promote events and link to potential partners; provide a place where ideas about documentation, preservation, and presentation can be shared; and offer a platform to raise awareness about threats to coastal culture. The gatherings can also provide a showcase for underrepresented Coastal artistic excellence and community abilities, like transmitting sustainable aquaculture practices, traditional foodways, or speaking heritage languages (such as Louisiana French, Louisiana Creole, Koasati, and others) and new population languages (such as Vietnamese and Spanish).

• Attending other groups’ meetings, such as the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program’s cultural advisory board, to build and deepen relationships and offer cooperative programming;

• Organizing a session at the annual spring LFS meeting to highlight the efforts of a Coastal group or shine a spotlight on a particular Coastal cultural need. (Additional work hours provided for organizing this session.)

• Expanding memberships, both organizational and individual, to provide ongoing support, opportunities for collaboration, and advocacy, as well as amplifying BCC efforts and accomplishments Explore funding opportunities to extend the position and its work; and

• Providing regular summaries on urgent needs and shifting priorities in Coastal communities for use by LFS, the Louisiana Folklife Program, and other agencies or groups beyond the region.

• Assisting in the search for long-term funding for both the BCC and the larger effort to build LFS’s capacity to provide cultural networking opportunities statewide

Qualifications

• Requirement for familiarity with the Louisiana Coast and a general understanding of the region’s arts, culture, and traditional communities. (Fieldwork experience preferred.)
• Experience with organizing in a community setting.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills. Must be able to work in a collaborative setting. An ability to reach out to underrepresented groups is a plus.
• Expertise in folklore, ethnography, cultural anthropology, public history, community documentation, community studies or similar field. Master’s or doctorate degree preferred; however, applicants with substantial community organizing and documentation experience are also encouraged to apply.

This person would be an independent contractor, and as such will provide their own equipment and transportation. However, mileage will be reimbursed, and Nicholls State University will provide access to Zoom. This is a leadership position. The Program Organizer will report to a BCC Oversight Committee regularly, and that Committee will outline general goals. However, the Program Organizer will be expected to act as team leader — developing ideas for gatherings, suggesting groups to contact, and working independently to complete project goals.

Salary

This is currently funded as a 12-month independent contract, with the hope of evolving into a permanent position. The contract is $42,000 for one year. The organizer will be able to bill for up to 100 hours per month (25 hours per week) for the first 8 months, and then 55 hours a month (10-15 hours per week) for the remaining 4 months. Plus the organizer will be paid an additional $1,200 (30 hours) to plan for the spring LFS meeting. The rate is $40 per hour.  Contract period — Nov. 1, 2021 – Oct 31, 2022.

LFS is currently working to secure additional hours for the last four months of the contract and to extend the contract. The goal is to make this a permanent staff position.

To apply

Applications are due by Oct 24. Please email a cover letter and resume, with two references, to Shana Walton at Nicholls State University, shana.walton@nicholls.edu. LFS expects to interview in late October and set a start date of early November 2021.

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(2) Digital Outreach Manager

This position is for a Digital Outreach Manager responsible for developing a membership information system for LFS and building an online presence for BCC programs, particularly the efforts of the new BCC Program Organizer, as well as efforts by organizations, academics, and individuals across the coast to document, preserve, or present Coastal culture.

Tasks

— Establish social media presence for LFS on multiple platforms

— Gather information from LFS, LDOA, and the BCC Program Organizer about on-going and upcoming Coastal group activities and projects

— Write content and create the graphics for the social media posts

— Promote efforts of the BCC Program Organizer , LFS, and Coastal groups through multiple platforms, with at least one post per week

— Suggest outreach possibilities and topics

— Establish a membership database for LFS

— Meet monthly with BCC Oversight Committee

— Write mid-year and end-of-year reports

Qualifications

Ideally, this person will have experience with writing effective content for social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Successful applicants should be strong writers. In addition, they should be able to work collaboratively to develop ideas and timelines but also be able to work independently to complete the projects themselves. They should have a general understanding of how to compile a membership database using appropriate software. This position will be paid as an independent contractor, which means the contractor will supply all of the equipment used.

The total contract is $11,500 for 10 months, November 1, 2021 – Aug 31, 2022. For the first 8 months, the person can bill up to 50 hours per month. The last 2 months are a contract for 30 hours per month. The rate is $25 per hour.

To apply

Applications are due by Oct 24. Please email a cover letter and resume, with two references, to Shana Walton at Nicholls State University, shana.walton@nicholls.edu. Hiring for this position is contingent upon funding. If funding is secured as expected, LFS will interview in late October and set a start date of early November 2021.