This post is a bit wordy, but this is an article that I wrote for New Orleans Magazine almost five years ago that I was supposed to submit to them. It was written from the perspective of a promoter, as that is primarily what my company did prior to Katrina. Katrina came before I got the chance to submit the article.
It is amazing how much my world and New Orleans has changed in those five years. I am also shocked to see how much of this has actually happened (a lot) through the collective efforts of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people. I also find it eerie that LRG’s vision is still today exactly the same as mine was five years ago. I have not edited the below whatsoever:
Why I Choose to Throw Parties in New Orleans and How Your Having a Cocktail Helps Us (or The City)
I have been working with the gracious editors of this publication to develop a monthly entertainment column/piece about New Orleans. You can understand my sense of nervousness, then, when I realized that if this piece went well I would be held in the same publishing capacity as my friend and onetime mentor, Fletcher Mackel (whom you will find in this magazine getting his rear end handed to him by Rich Lenz).
My company, The Renaissance Initiative, is a nightlife development and consulting firm that works with fashion and entertainment clients to attract, retain, and continually expand their customer bases through creative positioning and branding strategies. At least that is the official description you will see on our website. In reality, we throw parties. In my opinion, we throw fantastic parties.
Both on and off the record (the job of a promoter is, after all, to trump their events as being the best), I will tell you that many of the city’s movers and shakers attend our events. These are many of the young professionals in the entertainment, fashion, real estate, and entrepreneurial sectors who are developing New Orleans’ into an entirely new type of city. A city whose creative flair, artistic and architectural relevance, and relatively low cost of living make it a perfect place for burgeoning companies in creative industries.
And just how do we play into all of this? Well, we just want everyone to have a cocktail and a good time. Our goal in this is twofold. The first is that we just want to get all of these people in the same room, if for only an hour, just to see what type of synergies are created. With so many dynamic people in one setting, the possibilities for the creation of new (need word!!) could be endless. Also, relationships among this set creates a support and resources network that allow burgeoning entrepreneurs in different industries to help one another. The collective rises together.
The second goal is to create a sense of community and metropolitan lifestyle for the many talented people that pass through New Orleans, both those at the universities and those who view New Orleans as simply a rung on the corporate ladder as they climb to the top. I feel that if we give these people entertainment options similar to those in some of the country’s larger cities, we can create a renewed sense of urban living and community among those twenty and thirty-somethings who desire a more refined array of entertainment options. I also feel that this will help to create a social fabric that will grant would-be passers-through a sense of community that will give New Orleans a “stickiness” factor. If we can make the city sticky, then those transfer opportunities don’t look as attractive, New Orleans seems the perfect place to start that business. The end result is that more talented people stay in New Orleans. More talented people who will help us to fix the city’s troubled school and political systems. Talented people to create job opportunities for talented graduates from area universities. There is no limit to the possibilities.
So, go ahead. Have that cocktail. Start a conversation with the person sitting next to you. It could be good for the economy.”
