Community gardens are places where neighbors can gather and cultivate plants and vegetables. Phanat Xanamane saw community gardens as a catalyst to revitalize the Westend neighborhood of New Iberia. Today, Envision Da Berry continues their work through the community garden, fresh market, neighborhood park revitalization, and champions grassroots community efforts. Join us as Phanat Xanamane explores the last ten years of community activism that started with a community garden.

Program is free to attend, registration is encouraged. This program will be livestreamed via Zoom for those that are unable to attend.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Phanat Xanamane is an interdisciplinary urban designer residing in New Iberia, Louisiana since 2010, where he initiates community revitalization projects. He co-founded a not-for-profit, Envision da Berry that has already built a combination of fresh produce market, as well as community gardens, and has hosted multiple public art festivals and community planning events successfully reframing an area in decline as part of a vibrant tourist economy with cultural, culinary and historical significance. An important part of the success has been a performance, entertainment and social media campaign. As an openly gay Asian refugee, he has led an organization that has broken down the many racial and social barriers to provide a counter-localism for the future of the small town American South.