Moving Forward Archive

A vote by the St. Landry Parish Council has paved the way for a French immersion program centered in Arnaudville that will open new and widespread vistas, connecting the parish’s French culture with francophone communities around the world.
The center will be the only one of its kind in the United States.
The council voted to dissolve the board of the St. Luke’s Hospital in Arnaudville, allowing the old hospital that has been closed since 1990 to be used as the center for a program that reaches deep into south Louisiana’s French roots and culture. Arnaudville, a town of about 1,000 people, sits on the St. Landry-St, Martin parish line and the St. Martin Parish Council has already cast the necessary vote.

“This has been a long time coming and it’s a wonderful thing,” according to Mavis Fruge, one of the early advocates of the program. “I’m telling you, I’m happy for our little town, for our parish. It’s going to be a wonderful thing for our state. This is such a wonderful project. You’ll see, you’ll see.”

Arnaudville remains a community where Louisiana French remains a living language. It is possible for visitors to eat in local restaurants, shop in local stores or go to the post office and never speak a word of English.

Charles Larroque, executive director for the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), said the opportunity presented by the program represents a recognition of the value of Louisiana’s French heritage not only as an important part of family and community life, but in economic terms.

“What this campus is offering is [the opportunity] for us to apply our heritage [of] Louisiana French to the economy for economic opportunity.”

The Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation has prepared a business plan for the 25.000-square-foot immersion center. It indicates the facility will be profitable by its third year of operation, and has the added advantage of “putting an unused public asset back into commerce.”

The vision, as stated in the plan, is for the Louisiana French immersion campus in Arnaudville to be the “premier destination in the U.S. for French language immersion and cultural enrichment.” It is proposed to provide “an intimate setting” in which “students, educators, business persons, visitors, and others will learn and speak the French language indigenous to the area … while connecting with the people and the environment.”

The planning primarily grant was funded by the National Endowment for the arts, which, according to spokesman Jason Schupbacht, “has long recognized the cultural vitality that exists in rural areas like Arnaudville.” He said the facility “will be a cultural asset unlike any other in the U.S.”

According to the LCEF, “There is no other French immersion center of this kind in the United States, and many people go as far as Nova Scotia for a similar experience. Universities from throughout the U.S. are 

already bringing students [to Arnaudville], and they take up temporary residence in private homes and nearby hotels. A 25,000-square-foot hospital, with two wings of rooms and baths will be a welcome asset to visitors, while also offering meeting and conference spaces.”
Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette have all agreed to make use of the campus when it becomes a reality.
Bill Rodier, Executive Director for St Landry Economic Development, noted; “As economic developers, we continue to grow a greater appreciation and understanding for the economic value of our cultural economy and cultural placemaking. Having a center focused around components of the cultural economy, as well as French Immersion, has the potential to become a core placemaking asset not only for St Landry and St Martin Parishes, but for greater Acadiana.”