Chicago
had cows. Cincinnati will have pigs. In New Orleans, it will be fish.
Borrowing from the example of Chicago¹s 1998 ³Cows on Parade² project ‹
an outdoor display of 350 decorated fiberglass cows that beefed up that
city¹s economy by an estimated $200 million ‹ two local nonprofit groups
have launched the Festival of Fins
The Arts Council of New Orleans, in partnership with the Young
Leadership Council of New Orleans, is selling fish sponsorships to local
businesses, organizations and individuals. Come June, 200 brightly painted
fiberglass fish, measuring five feet long and standing 4 1/2 feet high on
concrete bases, will dot downtown sidewalks, neutral grounds and other
sites. The fish will remain through October, after which they will either
be returned to their patrons or sold at charity auctions.
Local artists will be invited to design the fish and receive $1,000 for
each finny creature they decorate.
³It¹s not only about accessible public art, but about cash registers
ringing,² says John Hopper, executive director of the Young Leadership
Council of New Orleans and the idea¹s author.
Based on Chicago¹s numbers, the council guesses that 2.1 million people
may see the fish. The group estimates that the exhibit will prompt 420,000
people to make a special trip to the city.
Why choose fish to represent New Orleans? ³It needed to be an animal,²
says Hopper. ³Kids like animals. Kids aren¹t going to say, ŒLet¹s go
downtown to see the old facades of shotgun houses.¹²
Fish make sense for several reasons, he says, including the fact that
Louisiana is well-known for its choice fishing. Also, New Orleans is home
to a popular aquarium, and fish is one of the state¹s most popular menu
items.
Besides, other alternatives posed too big a challenge to artists. The
pelican, as well as more regional mascots such as crawfish, would have
been nightmarish to construct and laborious to paint, says Hopper.
Alligators look cartoonish when they are standing and are too easy to trip
over when they are crawling, he says.
The large generic fish molds should give artists ample surface area to
paint and room to be creative, and Louisiana artists appear to be
welcoming the challenge. More than 100 designs have already been
submitted. Among the more creative are:
€ a fish wearing a full-body trumpet, with the bell of the horn
sticking out of the mouth
€ a fish called Fillet of Sole, decorated with scores of footprints
€ a parking violator fish, complete with tickets in its mouth and the
boot on its lower fin.
The Festival of Fins couldn¹t have come at a better time for the
Aquarium of the Americas, says Melissa Lee, who coordinates publicity for
the aquarium. This year the aquarium celebrates its 10th anniversary, and
what better promotional tool than fish?
Audubon Institute was one of the first sponsors of the project, quickly
purchasing five fish ‹ which sell at prices ranging from $3,000 to $7,500,
depending on the amount patrons want to contribute to the project.
As of the end of January, the YLC had sold 81 fish to sponsors.
Sponsors will collaborate with local artists to design the fish, have a
say in the placement of the fish and see their names on a plaque at the
base of their fish. ³It¹s like a five-month billboard that hundreds of
thousands of people will see,² says Hopper.
Sponsors can¹t put their fish just anywhere. Kim Carbo, director of the
New Orleans Film Commission, a branch of the Mayor¹s Office of Tourism,
Arts and Entertainment, will oversee placement of the 200 visiting fish.
Carbo has had experience mobilizing city services for private sector
projects, such as movies. ³Sometimes something as simple as the width of a
sidewalk may make putting a fish there impossible,² she says.
The Young Leadership Council adopted an aggressive schedule for
completing the project, says Hopper, because organizers wanted to kick off
the event after Jazz Fest and end it before Thanksgiving. The first fish
will make their appearance over Memorial Day weekend. The rest of the
school will appear in June.
Based on Chicago¹s numbers for the Cows on Parade project, the Young
Leadership Council estimates that the Festival of Fins has the potential
to inject tens of millions of dollars into the local economy. The event¹s
sponsors also stand to gain with charity auctions of the fish when the
festival ends in October.
In their rush to meet a late May deadline, Festival of Fins organizers
still won¹t beat Cincinnati¹s Big Pig Gig. Large fiberglass pigs will
stampede through Southern Ohio¹s self-proclaimed ³Porkopolis² May 14. The
project¹s sponsor, Cincinnati Artworks, has sold pigs to more than 300
patrons and received more than 900 submissions for designs, says Project
Coordinator Meghan Jefferson. ³The response has been overwhelmingly
enthusiastic, and the city¹s been really great so far,² says Jefferson.
The Young Leadership Council will host a fair at Le Meridian Hotel on
Feb. 22 to showcase artists and their designs and match them with
potential sponsors. Hopper says artists will be able to pick up their fish
³in the buff² by March 10.€
