MARDI GRAS 

With the Carnival season underway, there’s plenty of news to celebrate.  

  • New Orleans & Company is partnering with the city of New Orleans, Grounds Krewe and Can Manufacturer’s Institute (CMI) with support from other non-profits dedicated to resilience and sustainability to expand upon previous Carnival recycling efforts with the new Recycle Dat! Initiative. The goal is to increase awareness of the recycling of aluminum cans and beads at hub locations along the St. Charles Avenue parade route as well as other locations around the city.  To learn more about the Recycle Dat! initiative visit ready.nola.gov/mardi-gras/recycling/.
  • During the first weekend of Mardi Gras parades, we collected a remarkable:  
    • 700 pounds of glass
    • 505 pounds of aluminum, which roughly equates to 17,000 cans
    • 2,200 pounds of beads and throws! 
  • The Nieux Society announced the first ever Mardi Gras NFT on January 6. The 5,000 verified, unique pieces of art were created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is the largest community led AI generated art collection created to date. For more information on the Mardi Gras NFT and the Nieux Society visit www.nieux.xyz. 
  • If you can’t attend parades this year, be sure to tune into to Mardi Gras for All Y’all, a virtual celebration of Carnival with music, parades, entertainment and more. The livestream is available on mardigrasforall.com. Mardi Gras Day 2023 is February 21. 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 

  • For Black History Month, The New Orleans African American Museum is presenting Fridays Portraits & Photographers. Each Friday in February, the museum will have a Black woman photographer take photos of visitors in honor of Florestine Collins and First Frame: The Preludial Exhibition to SEEING BLACK.   
  • The activation will be from 12-4 pm every Friday throughout February and is a $5 charge on top of admission to the museum. 

LEADERSHIP CHANGES 

  • Louisiana Children’s Museum announced a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tifferney M. White. White is considered a nationally recognized leader in the children’s museum field. She previously served as Chief Learning Officer of Discovery Place.  
  • At Discovery Place, she developed the strategy and vision of learning experiences across the Discovery Place museums, the STEM Education Studio, outreach opportunities, and most recently overseeing the two children’s museums. 
  • The Convention Center recently announced a new Innovation Team to focus on developing creative approaches to optimize, streamline, and transform convention center operations to assist the venue in delivering its mission to advance innovation.  
  • In addition to the Innovation Team, the Convention Center recently added a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) to their team, becoming the first convention center in the country to do so. CDO Rocsean Spencer will work in supporting the organization’s policies and directives that mitigate bias, increase equitable outcomes, and foster respect and inclusion, and ensure that the communications and People Services programs reflect the organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals. 

AWARDS/HONORS    

  • New Orleans & Company, in partnership with Dentsu Creative, was awarded a Gold Addy for Best of Show - Mosaic at the 2023 American Advertising Awards for its Plus One Campaign. The award speaks to the diversity and inclusion of the campaign including the people and its storytelling. 
  • In addition to the Gold Addy for Best of Show – Mosaic, Plus One was awarded two Silver Addys, for Online, Video and Sound – Internet Commercial for any length and up to two minutes. The campaign also gained national recognition earlier last year. In December 2022, Plus One was named one of the 30 Best Ads of 2022 by AdWeek and the only destination to be featured on the list.
    • Plus One, a campaign built around the culture bearers of New Orleans, tells the story of our place and our creativity through our people. The dinner party featured talented chefs, musicians, artists, activists, civil rights icons, and members of vibrant and tight-knit New Orleans communities. New Orleans & Company released a Virtual Reality (VR) component to the campaign and is believed to be the first time a destination marketing organization has used VR. The VR experience allows people to view New Orleans through the eyes of the culture bearers. The Plus One VR experience is available on YouTube. 
  • New Orleans & Company’s Convention Sales Team is often recognized by trade magazines and its readers as well as meeting planners for their outstanding work showcasing the city and scheduling meetings and big events. In 2022, the Sales Team won six awards including a Prevue Visionary Award, C&IT Award of Excellence, Meetings Today “Best Of”, AC&F 15th Annual “Distinctive Achievement” Award, Smart Stars 2022 and the 2022 ConventionSouth Readers’ Choice Award. 
  • New Orleans has been recognized as one of the best food destinations in the 2023 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best series. New Orleans was named as the number one Best Food  Destination - United States as well as finishing within the top ten in the world. 
  • New Orleans was celebrated and honored with two awards at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” won Best Music Video, Long Form and “Stompin’ Ground” by Aaron Neville with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band which was featured in the “Take Me to the River22” documentary won Best American Roots Performance.
  • AFAR Magazine named New Orleans one of the 10 best places in the world to travel in April, because of Jazz Fest. New Orleans was one of only two U.S. cities recommended, along with international destinations Rome, Jordan, Spain, Iceland, Zambia, Bhutan, Australia and French Polynesia. 
  • New Orleans & Company earned the prestigious gold statuette for Best Culinary Destination – U.S.; Silver statuette in Best City Destination – Domestic; and bronze statuette in Best Tourism Board – US at the 8th annual Travvy Awards. New Orleans was also awarded the “Most Desirable City” – Rest of World - by Wanderlust Magazine at the Wanderlust Travel Awards in the United Kingdom.
  • For more information about the awards click here. 

ATTRACTIONS 

  • The Audubon Nature Institute announced it will complete its renovation of the Audubon Aquarium of Americas and Insectarium and reopen in June 2023. This project is the biggest renovation of the Aquarium since it opened on Canal Street in 1990. In 2020, Audubon announced it would be moving Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium from the U.S. Custom House on Canal Street to the Aquarium campus on the river, building a combined experience that re-envisions Audubon’s downtown guest experience and educational programming. The new renovation will include approximately 17,000 square feet of new exhibit space constructed inside the existing walls of the Aquarium as well as 2,500 square feet of the existing Aquarium breezeway space that will be enclosed to create a shared public lobby.    
  • Disney will open New Orleans themed projects both in the parks and on the big screen. A New Orleans vibe will take over the recreated “Haunted Mansion,” a New Orleans-set supernatural comedy. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based off the New Orleans-set movie “The Princess and the Frog”, will take the place of Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. 

HOTELS NEWS 

  • According to the Robb Report, “The Four Seasons New Orleans revealed plans for its Dinner with Impressionists offering that pairs acclaimed artworks with upscale cuisine. Local antiques store M.S. Rau, which sells everything from an Elizabeth Taylor-owned brooch to a $1.9 million chess set, partnered up with the luxe hotel to host you at its nearby gallery for a seven-course dinner prepared by executive sous chef Kelley Schmidt. Masterpieces by famous Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissaro will surround you as you indulge. And to pair with the stunning artwork, you’ll even be able to try on rare and extravagant jewels from names such as Harry Winston as part of a tableside presentation.” 
  • Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, which opened in May of 2021 and home to the acclaimed Peacock Room, announced the new property expansion will be finished in January 2023. The expansion included a new restaurant, King, 33 new guestrooms and suites as well as over 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space. King, designed by MARKZEFF, will feature a traditional French brasserie with a Mediterranean spin.  
  • The Whitney Hotel, now registered as a National Historic Landmark, is set to reopen in early 2023 following a renovation of the entire building as well as the addition of a restaurant, bar and flower shop.   
  • The Rubenstein family, known for their legendary men’s clothing store Rubensteins on the corner of Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue, announced they are turning the upstairs of the building into a 40-room boutique hotel called the Rubenstein Hotel. The hotel is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year with an opening in February 2023.  
  • Per their press release, Brechtel Hospitality announced expansion plans currently underway for its Poydras Street Property brands including Copper Vine Winepub and Vintage Rock Club. 
  • Copper Vine’s expansion will evolve the brand into Copper Vine Winepub & Inn, a ‘restaurant-first’ take on a traditional bed-and-breakfast with 11 rooms and increased restaurant floorplan for expanded dining and private events. Vintage Rock Club will double in size with the addition of a second dance floor, bar and video wall to enhance the private events and guest experience. Brechtel is also building a 6,000 sq/ft indoor/outdoor rooftop venue with full kitchen and private elevator entrance on Rampart Street. Renovations are expected to be complete by the end of 2023. 

NEW FLIGHTS 

  • Breeze Airways announced new direct services from Pittsburgh and Raleigh-Durham to New Orleans started in February.  
  • Breeze recently announced seasonal one stop services to and from Hartford, Connecticut and Los Angeles, California from May-September 5. 

UPCOMING EVENTS  

  • French Quarter Festival, celebrating its 40th anniversary, announced their lineup headlined by Irma Thomas, Ani DiFranco, Tank & the Bangas, Louisiana’s LeRoux, the Soul Rebels featuring Big Freedia and several hundred thousand revelers. 
  • The free festival will take place April 13-16. 
  • New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival announced its star-studded lineup including Dead & Company, Ed Sheeren, Lizzo and Mumford & Sons. The full music lineup can be viewed here. 2023 Festival weekend dates are April 28 – 30 and May 4 – 7. Tickets are on sale now, click here.
  • Hogs for the Cause, taking place March 31- April 1, announced its musical lineup headlined by St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Tickets to the festival are available here.
  • 2023 Festival Calendar Highlights are available here.   

To learn more about what is happening in New Orleans’ tourism industry, please read the latest issue of  Tourism Matters or visit neworleans.com.