NEW ORLEANS—The States may soon have its own major international biennial, as Prospect.1 New Orleans, is scheduled to open in late October 2008 and run through January 2009. Curator Dan Cameron says Prospect.1, modeled in the tradition of major festivals such as the Venice Biennale and the Sao Paolo Biennial, will "bring the U.S. into the network of global art in a non-commercial way."

Cameron, who previously curated biennials in Taipei (2006) and Istanbul (2003), established Prospect.1 under the auspices of U.S. Biennial Inc. soon after accepting a position as Director of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans (CAC). He has invited more than 75 local, national and international artists to create works for the event, which is slated to take place at CAC, the New Orleans Museum of Art and The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, as well as spaces around the city. "The idea is to discover the city geographically as you explore the art visually," explains Cameron.

While he has secured crucial support from the city’s convention and visitors bureau and the New Orleans Downtown Development District, he’s looking outside the city for the majority of financial assistance with numerous requests to private individuals, corporations and foundations. Collector Toby Lewis, on the board of the New Museum in New York where Cameron was a curator from 1995 to 2005, and her former husband, Peter Lewis, already have contributed significant funds. And, while the festival itself will be free, tourism dollars from the biennial will certainly be a welcome addition to the city—a fact Cameron readily admits. "The festival also is a creative way to ask the art world to help in the rebuilding of the city."