LE LAB!

NEXT CALL: MAY-JULY 2027

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS.
DE NOUVEAUX SOMMETS.

Le Lab is a cultural incubator supporting Louisiana's Creole, Cajun, and Indigenous heritage cultures, as well as minority language cultures across the U.S.

Laureates receive professional workshops, monthly mentorship, and a tailored fundraising and communications strategy to bring their projects to life.

Since 2021, Le Lab laureates have raised $350,000, secured Guggenheim and Mellon grants, presented at the Library of Congress, and launched nonprofits and startups of their own.

CLASS OF 2027!

Meet our current laureates

Claire-Marie Brisson
French Preceptor, Harvard

EJ Johnson
Filmmaker

  • Elroy “EJ” Johnson IV is a social media content creator, documentarian, filmmaker, and educator focused on Black history and culture, with a special emphasis on Louisiana. Based in New Orleans, he leads Black history and Black Creole culture tours, sharing the rich heritage with visitors and locals alike. His award-winning documentaries explore social issues affecting Black communities, drawing on deep family roots in Louisiana has helped shape his storytelling. In 2024, he was named to the New Orleans Film Society’s Emerging Voices Cohort, for rising filmmakers in Southeast Louisiana. He is currently focused on telling vertical short films on Black and Black Creole historical figures and building out a retreat based experience to help visitors connect more deeply with Black Louisiana’s history and heritage.

  • Collard Green Retreats will be a cultural travel experience connecting descendants of the Black & Black Creole Louisiana diaspora, educators, and lifelong learners to the histories, languages, and living culture of Black Louisiana. Travelers will join a small cohort for guided visits to historic sites throughout Greater New Orleans, exploring topics like domestic slavery and the formation of Black and Black Creole culture in the region through cuisine, music, and language and how it continues to shape everyday life today, helping to turning online learning into an in-person connection to place, heritage, and language.

Rachel Gulotta-Hosli
Employment Lawyer

  • Rachel Gulotta-Hosli grew up in New Iberia, LA. Her great grandmothers, like so many Cajuns in their generation, were discouraged from speaking, let alone passing on, their native language. A fascination with her great grandmothers’ stories led to a broader interest in her community’s French heritage and culture. That passion turned into a Davidson College major and time abroad. She is now an employment lawyer in New Orleans and enjoys the city’s many French-based opportunities. As a new mom, she is fueled by a desire to pass on our beautiful Louisiana French language and traditions to the next generation. 

  •  There are board books in almost every language that cover a baby’s first words, early phrases, and common areas of interest. But there is no such book for Louisiana French learners and speakers. This project will create an illustrated board book to introduce young learners to those words and phrases unique to Louisiana French. It will fill a gap in early-learning resources by offering families a practical, appealing tool for their homes. The project may also explore an audio-enabled format featuring native Louisiana French speakers, helping to preserve pronunciation, accent, and emphasis while supporting a new generation of young speakers. 

Adelai Lynch
Filmmaker & Folklorist

  • Born in Cajun Country (albeit with no accent to show for it), Adelai Lynch is a filmmaker and folklorist whose work focuses on the participation in and translation of Louisiana's cultural heritage. Holding degrees in French, Filmmaking, and Folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as a Master's in Film Production from the University of New Orleans, Adelai's documentary work explores subjects integral to Louisiana culture, including dance, festivals, and language. Her work has been featured throughout the Francosphere by organizations such as TV5MONDE and Vermilionville Heritage Park.

    Guided by the philosophy that "participation is preservation," Adelai's folkloric work extends beyond documentation. Her work includes teaching Puppetry and Folklore at McGehee Girls School, five years as a tour guide, and the development of New Orleans' first vegan food tour. Her current work explores Louisiana puppetry as a tool for storytelling, language preservation, and cultural participation.

  • The Puppets of the Swamp/Les Marionnettes du Marais is an experimental documentary and educational project exploring Louisiana’s folk puppetry traditions and their role in storytelling, language preservation, and cultural education. The documentary will introduce audiences to the people, stories, and traditions behind Louisiana puppetry, while an accompanying bilingual K–6 curriculum will transform that research into hands-on cultural learning. Students will encounter Louisiana folk tales, build puppets, learn vocabulary, and engage directly with Louisiana French and folk traditions. Designed for classrooms and community organizations, the project seeks not only to document Louisiana puppetry, but to place its tools back into the hands of a new generation.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Applications for Le Lab are currently closed.

Our next call for applications will be published in May 2027.

The program is open to applicants residing anywhere in the United States, including all territories. Projects with a tangible deliverable (book, album, exhibit, performance, etc.) and early-stage nonprofits and startups are especially encouraged to apply.

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