Chief of Chiefs Tootie Montana teaches Laura Westbrook how to make secondline baskets

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Laura Westbrook is a folklorist and interpretive planner. Her diverse experiences converge in her position as Regional Folklorist for southeastern Louisiana. After graduating from Loyola University, she taught K-8 at one of the last one-room schools in Appalachia (West Virginia). She also assisted with the Augusta Heritage Festival during the "Cajun revival," which saw masters such as Dewey Balfa sparking renewed international interest and appreciation for the music and culture of Louisiana.

After relocating she became Director of the Pendleton County Public Library System, where she coordinated film festivals, concert series, and art openings. In 1994 she began graduate school at the University of Louisiana, from which she received her doctorate in English and folklore and was the Board of Regents Fellow. That same year she became Cultural Programs Coordinator and Louisiana Marketplace Coordinator for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, a post she held for several years. In 1998 she coordinated the first annual folklife festival component of the popular Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette and the first two Sweet Home Folklife Festivals in Kentwood, Louisiana. These events were largely based on fieldwork she conducted as Project Coordinator/Cultural Tourism Consultant with the National Parks System and the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Prior to graduation, she was elected President of the Louisiana Folklore Society, the youngest member and only student so honored. Current extracurricular activities focus primarily on environmental conservation; she serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Laura Renee Westbrook

As Louisiana Regional Folklorist, she assists groups and individuals to develop documentation projects and to create films, festivals, exhibits, concerts, tourism plans, educational programs and workshops, and projects that combine cultural and environmental conservation. Her region includes Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and St. Tammany Parishes. Contact Dr. Westbrook at: nolafolk@uno.edu.

Mailing Address:

Dr. Laura Westbrook
Louisiana Regional Folklife Program
University of New Orleans
History Department, Education Building 151
New Orleans, LA 70148

Email: nolafolk@uno.edu

Phone: (504) 280-6611

Fax: (504) 280-6883