Caught Up Conversations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2025
Victoria Bradford Styrbicki
victoria@ahouseunbuilt.com
337-794-8222
Come together in conversation as we imagine a way forward for Coastal Louisiana.
Lake Charles, LA—What if we listened to understand, not to form an argument? What if we mapped Louisiana’s coast, its losses and its gains, through the voices of its people? On May 30 at 12 Noon you can get “caught up” in the answers to those questions and much more as you participate in this community listening project. Join us at the newly renovated Cameron Main Library for an engaging conversation with Clair Marceaux, Dr. Erik Johnson, and Captain Ray Mallet* on how we build resilience into our communities along the working coast. Don’t miss this powerful dialogue between three community stakeholders, the former Cameron Port Director, a bird researcher with Audubon Delta, and a multigenerational Cameron Fisherman, as they explore the future of our community and coastline and the stories we need to tell.
We want to hear your stories too. Your voice is crucial in this journey forward. If you’ve experienced the beauty of the Gulf South, or if you’ve seen the changes happening firsthand, we’d love you to join us and share your story. The event will be documented and archived for future use in the Caught Up project and exhibition, which runs May 22-August 9 at the Historic City Hall Arts and Culture Center in Downtown Lake Charles. We hope to see you there!
May 30, 12 Noon at the Cameron Main Library! 512 Marshall Street, Cameron, LA
More information at ahouseunbuilt.com/caughtup — Come give voice to the real impacts of coastal change.
‘Caught Up’ is part of A House Unbuilt’s ongoing water and land stewardship initiative. Through the work of watershed districts, conservation management, citizen advocacy, and creativity we can raise awareness about the community’s role in maintaining the health of our coastal zones and how we pursue that at higher levels of municipal and state government. To that end, ‘Caught Up’ will amplify the hidden stories living in our coastal community, exploring the many sides of this life with an industry culture, a fragile ecosystem, and tumultuous climate events that yield a unique brand of people who wear survival as a badge of honor.
About the Speakers:
Clair Hebert Marceaux is a native of Cameron Parish. A graduate of South Cameron High School and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Clair has served in several roles professionally that have allowed her time to include coastal protection and restoration advocacy, a personal passion. She has led teams at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury’s Department of Planning and Development. Entergy Louisiana, the Cameron Parish Police Jury’s Department of Economic Development, the Cameron Parish Port Harbor & Terminal District, Alliance Transportation Group and Bechtel Energy.
Erik Johnson, PhD joined the National Audubon Society in April 2011 as a Conservation Biologist for the Mississippi Flyway and Gulf Coast Initiative and currently serves as the Director of Conservation Science for Audubon Delta, a regional office that includes Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Before coming to Audubon, Erik’s studied at Louisiana State University researching the effects of Amazonian forest loss on bird communities, and also the effects of fire management on pine savanna birds in the southeastern U.S. Erik has been active in Louisiana’s birding community for over 20 years and serves as Louisiana’s Christmas Bird Count regional editor, a member of Louisiana’s Bird Records Committee, and Director of the Louisiana Bird Observatory. Erik lives in Sunset, Louisiana with his wife, 2 dogs, a cat, and a horse.
Ray Mallet and his wife, Stephney Mallet are multigenerational Cameron fisherfolk and members of Fishermen Involved in Sustaining our Heritage (FISH). According to Ray, shrimp fishermen in Cameron are a dying breed, and the impact from recent LNG development has severely crippled the fisheries industry through its dense boat traffic and noise pollution. He and other fishermen, the ones who haven’t given up yet, are having to travel far distances to fish in other waters where they can still garner a catch. Ray is not giving up. Shrimping is a way of life. *Ray’s participation is contingent on shrimping season. The shrimp come first!
A House Unbuilt and its Art & Water Space
A House Unbuilt works at the intersection of arts, policy and engagement along the Mississippi River Watershed. As a collaborative organization, we work with others to move people into action around the issues of art, water, and ecology through creativity. Learn more about A House Unbuilt at www.ahouseunbuilt.com.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bradford Family Foundation, Stream Family Limited Partnership, New Horizon Foundation, For a Better Bayou, a Tourism Marketing Grant from Visit Lake Charles/SWLA Convention and Visitors Bureau and a grant from the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury both facilitated by the Arts Council of SWLA, the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, The Art Factory, Reed Mendelson, Bob and Christina Bradford, McElroy, Quirk, & Birch, L&T Health Systems, Beth Eason, Patty Toenies, Nina Gibbs, Chuck Bellon, Carol LeBeau, Ann Langford, Elite Concierge Travel, Tracy Curole, Anne and Paul Guillory, Janet Andrus, Courtney and Robert Dampf, Jane and D. C. Flynt, Ruth Alliband, Dustin Granger, Jane Ebeling, Bill Nelson, Sally Foret, and others.