Social Causes
As President of both the Fertel Foundation and the Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, Randy Fertel supports a number of causes dedicated to the arts, education, New Orleans, and the environment.
The Ridenhour Prizes
The Ridenhour Prizes, established by the Fertel Foundation and The Nation Institute, seek to recognize and encourage those who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society. The prizes memorialize the spirit of Ron Ridenhour, a Vietnam veteran who wrote a letter to Congress and the Pentagon in 1969 describing the horrific events at My Lai, the infamous massacre of the Vietnam War, bringing the scandal to the attention of the American public and the world. Ridenhour went on to become an investigative journalist, and his extraordinary life and career exemplified the fearless truth-telling which the eponymous prizes now recognize. Every year, prizes are given for the truthteller of the year, the book of the year, the documentary of the year, and lifetime achievement; each award carries a $10,000 stipend.
Edible Schoolyard New Orleans
Edible Schoolyard New Orleans envisions generations of New Orleans children who have healthy relationships with food, the natural world, themselves, and their community. Their aim is to ensure the long-term well being of students, families, and school communities by:
Integrating hands-on kitchen and garden classes into the school curriculum and culture
Inviting students, families, and the community to experience local food through joyful events involving chefs, farmers, and community partners
Supporting core academic learning in garden and kitchen learning environments
Maintaining beautiful school gardens that stimulate students’ curiosity and desire to learn about the natural world
Cultivating safe spaces for social and emotional development
Collaborating to provide healthy nutritious food in welcoming school cafeterias
Founded in 2006 as the first replication of chef activist Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA, Edible Schoolyard New Orleans is a signature program of FirstLine Schools, a nonprofit organization that manages five open admissions public charter schools in New Orleans.
Artist Corps New Orleans
Artist Corps New Orleans knows that an excellent education must include access to excellent music instruction.
As we work to close the achievement gap and set all students on a path to success in school and in life, we must recognize the necessity of music in the development of the whole child, and the capacity of music to strengthen cognitive and social development, build cultural literacy, instill joy and motivation, and cultivate a lifelong love of learning.
Drawing on best practices from the fields of teacher education, national service, and cultural economic development, Artist Corps New Orleans has created a groundbreaking model to ensure that all children in the city have access to comprehensive music instruction taught by inspired and effective artist educators.
Artist Corps New Orleans recruits the highest caliber musicians, engages them in service, and develops them into highly effective educators. Artist Corps New Orleans Fellows are embedded as teachers in high-need public schools, where they initiate or strengthen core music programs, build capacity and resources, and work to make music integral to the life of the school. Fellows receive intensive pedagogic training, build a reflective practice, and model civic engagement through community-based music outreach with their students and other community organizations.
New Orleans’ rich cultural traditions and spirit of innovation have made the city an incubator of excellence in both music and education. Fusing revolutionary work in each of these fields, Artist Corps New Orleans is pioneering a new model to bring music education to every child.
Improv Conference NOLA
The Improv Conference NOLA brings the New Orleans community together for interesting conversations, music, special performances, book signings, and family fun. Most events, including the Saturday day conference, are free and open to the public, thanks to our sponsors and supporters. The 800-plus participants for the inaugural 2018 conference told us there is a real hunger for continuing education in New Orleans, a city bursting with festivals but few with the goal of bringing intriguing ideas to a New Orleans audience, encouraging the lively exchange of thoughts and opinions, and stimulating open and fruitful debate. The conference includes workshops, panels, and performances exploring improvisation from multiple disciplines, experiences, and contexts.
YAYA
The mission of YAYA (Young Artists, Young Aspirations) is to empower creative young people to become successful adults. They provide educational experiences in the arts and entrepreneurship to New Orleans-area children and youth, fostering and supporting their individual ambitions. Founded in 1988 by Jana Napoli, YAYA Inc. has been educating, nurturing, and empowering creative young New Orleanians for a quarter century. Their signature program of youth development through entrepreneurship is now replicated around the U.S.
Bistro Ruth at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute
Bistro Ruth, named in honor of New Orleans restaurateur Ruth Fertel, is the student-run restaurant at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, LA.
Nestled in the heart of Louisiana’s Bayou Region, CJFCI invites aspiring chefs with an adventurous palate and an insatiable desire to work in the food and service industries to pursue a Bachelor of Science or Associate of Science degree in culinary arts.
Bistro Ruth allows advanced culinary students to create and execute a menu, greet and service customers, and perfect their skills in a restaurant setting. Students are exposed to all facets of a restaurant: the front of the house with setting and servicing tables, interacting with customers and providing an atmosphere for a memorable meal. In the back of the house, students serve in a variety of positions, anywhere from dishwasher to executive chef. Bistro Ruth also gives the community the chance to interact with and enjoy meals prepared by some of the most sought-after aspiring chefs around.
Dutch Dialogues
South Louisiana, like the Netherlands, must adapt to the threats inherent to living in a subsiding delta. The Dutch Dialogues workshops brought together Dutch engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, city planners and soils/hydrology experts together with their Louisiana counterparts to explore if, where and how Dutch approaches to water management, landscape architecture, flood protection and urban design were relevant to New Orleans as it recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Workshop participants also developed solutions and designed approaches that could make New Orleans more flood-proof, sustainable, resilient, and attractive from both urban design and economic perspectives. The resulting concepts and designs have been the topic of further study at Washington University in Saint Louis, University of Toronto, Tulane University, University of Virginia, University of New Orleans, Delft Technical University (The Netherlands) and Wageningen University (The Netherlands).
Ruth Fertel Edible Garden at the Louisiana Children’s Museum
The Louisiana Children’s Museum Early Learning Village campaign relocated the museum from its downtown location to a beautiful 8.5 acre site in New Orleans City Park in 2019. One of the ways the museum has taken advantage of this extraordinary outdoor setting is to tell the story of the sources and uses of food — the path from the gardens and waters to the market and table, where we come together as a community to nourish our bodies and feed our souls. In addition to a set of interactive exhibits indoors called “Follow that Food,” the museum’s Edible Garden, sponsored by the Ruth U. Fertel Foundation, supplies a first-hand experience for children to plant, cultivate and harvest foods that will be used in the teaching kitchen and served in the museum’s cafe. The personal connections children will form, whether as a weekly gardener or a one-time visitor, will help shape attitudes and behaviors about choices and uses of food consumption.
A Closer Walk NOLA
Music has always been integral to daily life in New Orleans, and its landmarks can blend into its neighborhoods. The history of the city’s music, and its outsized influence in popular music everywhere, can be traced to creole cottages, parlors, churches, and street corners as well as concert halls and auditoriums. Some are still active; others have been transformed or demolished. A Closer Walk highlights and contextualizes these sites, to advocate for their future, to celebrate their memory, and to honor the men and women who have shared their music with us.
A Closer Walk is an online guide to New Orleans’ authentic music history. Visitors can discover more than a century of the city’s greatest musical treasures by finding historic sites, taking a tour, or customizing their experience — filtering by time period, neighborhood, and music genre — to follow in the footsteps of legendary artists or dig deep into videos, songs, archival photos, and curated links to other resources on the web.
Documentary Films
Randy Fertel has served as Executive Producer on the following documentaries exploring New Orleans rich legacy and culture
Tootie’s Last Suit
South Louisiana, like the Netherlands, must adapt to the threats inherent to living in a subsiding delta. The Dutch Dialogues workshops brought together Dutch engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, city planners and soils/hydrology experts together with their Louisiana counterparts to explore if, where and how Dutch approaches to water management, landscape architecture, flood protection and urban design were relevant to New Orleans as it recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Workshop participants also developed solutions and designed approaches that could make New Orleans more flood-proof, sustainable, resilient, and attractive from both urban design and economic perspectives. The resulting concepts and designs have been the topic of further study at Washington University in Saint Louis, University of Toronto, Tulane University, University of Virginia, University of New Orleans, Delft Technical University (The Netherlands) and Wageningen University (The Netherlands).
Katrina’s Children
Katrina’s Children is a feature-length documentary about nineteen children from different neighborhoods of New Orleans. Told entirely from the children’s point of view, the film explores the impact of Hurricane Katrina on their lives. The viewer enters their world through their stories, their play and their art, with several of their drawings animated, magically bringing to life their interior universe. Aching with sadness, yet grounded in hope, Katrina’s Children is ultimately a celebration of children’s extraordinary resilience and a tribute to New Orleans’ unique and indomitable spirit.