Home CULTURE Downtown Living: March 2017

Downtown Living: March 2017

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Events: Creative Industries Summit Featuring the Downtown NOLA Arts-Based Business Pitch

downtownlivingoct2016On March 20, the Downtown Development District, along with the Creative Alliance of New Orleans and the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation, will host the 5th annual Creative Industries Summit featuring the Downtown NOLA Arts-Based Business Pitch during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2017, the country’s premier annual business festival.

CANO’s panel, “International Leaders Report on Worldwide Creative Commerce Trends,” will offer attendees the opportunity to meet and learn strategy from leaders like Eric Morgan. Topics will include how to become a leader in the city’s initiatives and how to make New Orleans the international cultural center it has always aspired to be.

LCEF will host the second panel on “The Win/Win of Cultural Entrepreneurship — Putting Your Passions to Work.” Learn by example and hear from three businesses at three different levels of success. Ethel Williams of Cocoa & Cream Mobile Food and Catering will share her experience going from mom and phlebotomist to launching a successful food truck business. Publisher, gallery owner and entrepreneur Steve Martin will talk about creating Art+Design magazine, whose readership spans 12 countries. Finally, Domain Companies Principal Matt Schwartz will discuss the company’s unique business model, which incorporates art and culture.

The 5th annual Downtown NOLA Arts-Business Pitch is aimed at identifying and supporting entrepreneurs who have a scalable arts-based project situated in the creative, architecture, technology, digital media or film/entertainment fields that benefit Downtown NOLA. Come watch as local arts-based entrepreneurs compete for a prize package value at more than $40,000 in cash and in-kind services. The winner will be the pitch/presentation that best embodies the spirit and culture of Downtown New Orleans in a sustainable project. downtownnola.com

Meet the Arts-Based Business Pitch Finalists:

  • NOLA DNA delivers history on demand by unlocking a unique archive of 1885-1929 newspapers, providing access via locus-based media platforms. noladna.com
  • Gigsy LLC sells enterprise level photo and video service products and facilitates a paid apprenticeship for talented New Orleans youth. gigsy.co
  • OperaCréole is dedicated to preserving and performing the operatic works of people of color. operacreole.com
  • Two Girls One Shuck is a traveling oyster bar that provides catering services of fresh shucked raw and grilled oysters throughout the city. twogirlsoneshuck.com
  • Young Artist Movement is the first city-wide youth mural program, engaging youth, artists and communities in sustained public art and place making.

Shopping: M·A·C Pro Opens on Canal Street
M·A·C has opened on Canal Street joining its neighbor, upscale denim retailer, True Religion, which opened its first store in Louisiana last summer. M·A·C collaborates with leading talents from fashion, art and popular culture in order to be at the forefront of fashion trendsetting. From being sold at a department store counter in Toronto, to availability in more than 105 countries around the world, M·A·C started early on to establish itself as the “ultimate color authority.” Honoring self-expression and individuality above all else, this cult cosmetics company offers a wide range of products that “blend street savvy with glamour and panache.” Downtown New Orleans is thrilled to have M·A·C open and looks forward to more national retail brands finding their way to the Crescent City. 739B Canal St., (504) 523-7765, maccosmetics.com

Revel & Revive: Drip Affogato Bar
Do you love coffee? How about ice cream? You can drink your coffee and have your ice cream too at Drip Affogato Bar, a dessert cafe now open in the Warehouse District. Taking over the spot that briefly housed Haro Coffee & Chocolate on the corner of Carondelet and Girod streets, Drip Affogato Bar is the handiwork of friends Juley Le, Anh T. Vu and Justin Ramirez. Specializing in affogato or what they call “coffee and ice cream’s love child,” Drip goes far beyond the simple vanilla gelato and espresso shot found in Italian cafes and kicks it up a notch. Using locally roasted French Truck coffee, this dessert shop offers elaborate affogatos like The Classique with Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, pistachios and stroopwafel or a Cookie Monster with Mexican hot chocolate ice cream, cookie crumbles and chocolate syrup. 703 Carondelet St., (504) 313-1611, dripaffogatobar.com

Dining: Seaworthy at the Ace Hotel
New York’s Grand Banks oyster bar and the Ace Hotel have joined forces to create Seaworthy, the latest seafood restaurant to hit Downtown New Orleans. Featuring oysters from all coasts (East, West and the Gulf), Seaworthy is helmed by Executive Chef Kerry Heffernan and Chef de Cuisine Daniel Causgrove. Located in a Creole cottage built in 1832, the Downtown area’s latest seafood spot offers dishes like bowfin caviar from Assumption Parish, a whole chilled lobster tail with roe butter, smoked sturgeon brandade with shaved truffles and seared diver scallops in a corn-field pea succotash. Seaworthy’s cocktails are certainly worth noting, featuring everything from classics like a Sidecar or a Negroni to award-winning bar director Lauren Schell’s own creations like a Debutante with gin and house-made grenadine. 630 Carondelet St., (504) 930-3071, seaworthynola.com