In an office scattered with papers and to-do lists, Jubilee, a two-month celebration of the visual and performance arts themed “Healing Through HeArts and Humanities,” comes to life. “I think Jubilee is a celebration of culture and humanities and we want to replicate that with the visual arts and the performing arts as well as educational issues that instill us with new thoughts,” Angela Hammerli, coordinator of Jubilee, said.
Hammerli said she did not want Jubilee to be only about the arts but also about educational issues.
“I think creativity is coupled with education,” Hammerli said. “I think that if a person is creative, they connect with the possibility to learn more.”
Hammerli said most complaints she receives are about the length of the festival.
“Some of the people like to be part of us and we like for them to be part of us, and those people cannot fit into one month of events,” Hammerli said.
Hammerli said the availability of people and places plays a big part in planning Jubilee and if those events were cut because it did not fit into a tight time frame, the festival would not be Jubilee.
“We bring in about 250 people, not just from Louisiana, but probably from about a four or five state area, and we cannot conflict with other programs because then we would not draw those people,” Hammerli said.
Jubilee is all about connecting Nicholls with people from the community and with future students, Hammerli said.
“We want to reach out to our surrounding community. Nicholls would not be Nicholls without all that Houma and Terrebonne Parish bring to us,” Hammerli said.
She said Jubilee has something for everyone, and the events could inspire students and faculty to try something new and experience new things.
“Hopefully, the performances will inspire the students and faculty and I hope they will enjoy the act of experiencing something new,” Hammerli said.
Jubilee continues with the Nicholls Symphonic Band performance today at 7:30 p.m. in Talbot Theater. Chef George Kaslow, acting dean of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, will present a cooking presentation called “Fiesta Latina” tomorrow at 1 p.m. in 408 Gouaux Hall.
Jubilee also features the second annual Cajun/Zydeco Festival Dinner and Dance Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Cotillion Ballroom of Bollinger Memorial Student Union.
Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in Talbot Theater, the Latin American Fiesta concert will feature an all-Latin American program.
Hammerli said Jubilee does not just highlight international people, but highlights current and past students and faculty.
“At the Big Band Dance, I met a man who graduated decades ago. He was in a band ensemble at Nicholls probably in the early ’50s and came back to play music at Nicholls. That means what he did here, decades ago, was meaningful to their future,” Hammerli said.
Jubilee also highlights a list of guest speakers such as Ernest Liner, author of “The Culinary Herpetologist;” Claire Moore, professor of biochemistry, genetics and molecular microbiology at Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University in Boston; and William H. Chapman Nyaho, professor at Colby College in Maine.
Hammerli said Jubilee is also going to spotlight faculty members.
“In research week, which takes place during the week of March, we are not only highlighting our Nicholls faculty members, but we are also going to have competitions for the students,” Hammerli said.
Research Week starts on Monday with the presentation from the College of Arts and Sciences from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Ellender Room of the Ellender Memorial Library. Presentations include “The Evangeline League’s Latin Quotient” presented by Paul Leslie, professor of history and social sciences and “Comparing the Hysteria of Salem Witch Trials to Two 20th Century Events: the ‘War of the Worlds’ Broadcast and Resulting Hysteria and the Hysteria Surrounding McCarthyism in the 1950s” presented by Lloyd Chaisson, professor of mass communication.
On Wednesday, Research Week continues with presentations from the College of Business Administration at 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in 208 Powell. Lectures include “Using Efficient Market Hypothesis in the Gambling Industry to Find Evidence of the Effectiveness of Amphetamine Drug Testing Policies in Major League Baseball” presented by Chad Turner, assistant professor of finance and economics and “Consumption and the Child Tax Credit” presented by Norbert Michel, assistant professor of finance and economics.
The College of Nursing and Allied Health will present poster and oral presentations for Reseach Week Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the Betsey Cheramie Ayo Hall Auditorium.
Poster presentations include “College Students’ Attitudes Toward Infant Feeding” by Brigett Scott, assistant professor of allied health services and “The Engaged Mind: The Benefits of Wireless Student Response Systems in the Classroom” by Michelle Dufrene and Adrienne Bethancourt, assistant professor of allied health, and Bridgette Dufrene, disability services administrative assistant.
Oral lectures for the College of Nursing and Allied Health feature “Reflections of Katrina: A Qualitative Analysis of Student Logs and Impressions” by Bethancourt and “A Literature Review of Recent Advances in Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Cervical Cancer” presented by Bridget Guidry and Denise Pellegrin, assistant professors of nursing.
Also on Thursday, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in 125 Polk, the College of Education will present “Improving Student Literacy” by Leslie Jones-Hamilton, associate professor of teacher education, and Fran Crochet, assistant professor of teacher education. A lecture by James Barr titled “Brief History and Status of Charter Schools in Louisiana” will also be presented.
The closing ceremony for Research Week will commence on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Ellender Room.
The Nicholls Faculty Invitational Art Exhibition, March 26 to April 20, in the Lula Ameen Art Gallery in 200 Talbot Hall spotlights works from Nicholls faculty.
According to Hammerli, the funding for Jubilee is “multi-faceted.”
The university provides money for some artists and lecturers while grants are used for additional funding, Hammerli said.
The Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program provides funds for the Folklife Festival and the Cajun/Zydeco Festival, Hammerli said.
Hammerli said a fundraiser was coordinated at the beginning of the year to provide some funding as well.
Some of the funding for Jubilee comes from the Student Government Association and the Student Programming Association.
SPA President Leah Talbot said SPA provided funding for scholarships for the Research Week competition and also provided funding to get the visiting pianist, William H. Chapman Nyaho.
SGA has provided funding for Jubilee this year as well, according to SGA President Olinda Ricard. SGA is funding the Writer’s Conference and is also sponsoring tickets to students for the Cajun/Zydeco Festival Dinner and Dance, Ricard said.
