BATON ROUGE, La (press release) – Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Division of the Arts are proud to announce the launch of a new platform designed to bridge a gap between artists, cultural communities, and consumers. It is called “Culturalyst” and can be found at culturalyst.com.
Culturalyst is a software company, based in New Orleans, serving artists, providing a free SEO-optimized portfolio website, customizable searches of funding, residencies, gig opportunities, connections to arts support organizations, and more. The Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, Division of the Arts, and Lieutenant Governor Nungesser are excited to work with Culturalyst to make Louisiana the first state in the country to set up a shared digital infrastructure to elevate and support the people and organizations who create and sustain Louisiana’s incomparable culture.
“When it comes to arts and culture that Feed Your Soul, Louisiana is second to none. Our diverse culture and amazing artists are a huge draw for people when they visit our state. We encourage artists from across Louisiana to utilize this new digital opportunity. It’s a platform to share their work and reach new people not just in Louisiana, but across the country and the world, to show them the value of what it means to be a Louisiana artist,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.
The pandemic exposed a breakdown in accessible support networks for artists and arts organizations. Across Louisiana, regional and local arts councils stepped up in a huge way to support our state’s artists. However, without a centralized one-stop-shop for information, it was difficult to inform artists and arts organizations about resources, opportunities, and relief. Rather than having each individual cultural city manage siloed digital directories, an expensive and ever-evolving undertaking, Culturalyst provides a shared digital infrastructure that gives each cultural city digital tools to support artists and organizations, while also providing new insight through cultural data that can inform funding and programmatic decisions for the Regional Arts Councils and state cultural offices.
Culturalyst databases are set up for each of the nine Regional Arts Councils in Louisiana. Artists from around the state have started populating these databases with their information and works. If you know a Louisiana-based artist who could benefit from this online tool, you are encouraged to share Culturalyst with them to make their work easier to discover.
The nine Regional databases in Louisiana include:
- Acadiana
- Baton Rouge
- Bayou Region
- Central Louisiana
- New Orleans
- Northeast Louisiana
- Northwest Louisiana
- Southwest Louisiana
- Northshore
Culturalyst was born out of a recognition that while economically and socially valuable, local cultural economies lack transparency, are not easy to navigate for the cultural consumer, and don’t equitably serve the people who create culture – local artists and musicians.
For more information, or to sign up as an artist, visit culturalyst.com.