This year at Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) 28th National Conference in New Orleans Louisiana, ILLUME is engaging in a campaign we are calling #CountMeIn. We are honoring the host city and our AESP community by supporting NOLA’s local art scene and encouraging AESP participants to join us. ILLUME is making a donation to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music on behalf of AESP and we invite AESP attendees to join us. Read more about this amazing organization and how to donate below.
We believe it is especially important for scientific communities– such as those represented at AESP– to support the arts at a time when national funding is dwindling. The integration between science and art has been growing steadily for the past few years. Specifically, there has been increasing interest in the energy industry to incorporate compelling storytelling, visual communication, and gaming strategies as well as leveraging social, psychological, and cultural factors to connect with customers and bring about social change.
Not only do the arts enhance the communication of science, but they also strengthen the quality of the research itself. As Dr. Johanna Kieniewiscz argues in her article entitled Why Scientists Should Care About Art, the arts propel new and unique ways of thinking. Kieniewiscz’s supposition is supported by neuroscience, as there is gathering empirical data that practicing art, music, and dance enhances cognitive functioning, thus improving performance in attention-heavy disciplines such as math and science.
Join us in ending the debate of math and science vs. the arts, and support organizations like the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music that provides an enriching experience for the New Orleans community while fostering the legacy of its arts and culture. Join ILLUME and say, #CountMeIn.
Donation envelopes have been placed in the registration bag of each AESP National attendee, and a drop box has been conveniently placed at the registration desk for those who wish to contribute to this worthy cause. If you are not attending AESP in New Orleans and wish to contribute to the organization you can donate online here and enter AESP or #CountMeIn in the comment section.
About the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music
“In the heart of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, amid the brightly colored homes of the Musician’s Village, stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. The proud centerpiece of its community, the Ellis Marsalis Center provides a safe and positive environment for some of our city’s most vulnerable and underserved residents to develop musically, academically, professionally, and socially. The Center also delivers strategic assistance and tools to Village musicians that can enhance their professional growth and offers opportunities for musicians throughout the City of New Orleans to perform and record. The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music deeply values its connection to the surrounding community and endeavors to be an ongoing source of information and cultural inspiration to residents of the Ninth Ward in particular, and to the broader New Orleans community as a whole.”
