Bringing your ideas to life. Le Lab is a cultural accelerator program supporting Louisiana’s heritage cultures — with a focus on Creole, Cajun, and Indigenous cultures — and minority language cultures across the United States. As part of Le Lab, our laureates participate in professional workshops and monthly meetings with a mentor to develop a tailored fundraising and communication strategy to help them kickstart their project and bring it to fruition.

Since the launch of the program in 2021, our Le Lab laureates have raised $250,000 to fund their projects. Many of them went on to create their own startup or nonprofit organization.

PROGRAM

• The program starts in early September and ends in late May.

• Laureates will be assigned a mentor (with professional experience relevant to their field) and will meet with them once a month (9 meetings).

• Laureates will be invited to participate in 3 professional workshops in September, January, and April with special guest speakers (themes: fundraising, communications, strategy).

APPLY

• Applications for Le Lab, Class of 2027, will open on January 28, 2026. Applicants will be asked to submit a resume and letter of intent (one page) for the preselection phase. Applicants will be notified of the preselection of their project in March 2026 and will be invited to submit a full application. Successful applications will be notified in May 2026. Meet Le Lab, Class of 2026, to learn more about the projects we support.

• Only applicants residing in the United States (all 50 states and territories) will be considered. Projects resulting in the production of a deliverable (book, short film, album, exhibit, etc.) as well as the creation of early-stage start-ups and nonprofits are encouraged.