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Mitch Landrieu walked into the meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee flanked by an artist, a musician, a master chef and a bevy of economic development enthusiasts. While certainly an uncanny bunch to be cavorting around the State Capitol together, the group has one thing common during the ongoing regular session—a set of far-reaching tax breaks designed to address what the lieutenant governor refers to as the “cultural economy.”

The Legislature doesn’t exactly have a solid tradition of supporting arts and entertainment, except in recent years with the birth of tax credits for film and television, but the current fiscal picture is brighter than ever. With a record $3 billion surplus on the books—thanks to recovery spending and high oil prices—the wealth is starting to be spread around. Landrieu’s legislative package consists of three parts that are expected to pass, and possibly even be expanded. It includes a program with local oversight to create cultural product districts and rehabilitate historic structures, tax credits for a wide variety of artists to live and work in Louisiana and incentives to encourage food research and culinary arts.

In several ways, the cultural economy package mirrors what many in Baton Rouge have been striving for the past decade, especially downtown, which has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts. A special committee will meet later this month to discuss a proposed arts and entertainment district, possibly anchored by Third Street, and Landrieu’s proposed tax breaks likely will be on the agenda, according to Jeff Fluhr of the Downtown Development District. “We’re going to be looking at a draft ordinance and exploring the boundaries of such a district, and we’ll be interested in any and all incentives for businesses and artists,” he says.

The cultural product district outlined in HB 359 by Rep. Taylor Townsend, D-Natchitoches, who is sponsoring the entire package, could overlap what is planned for downtown, or serve to supplement it. If ultimately passed by the Legislature, local governments could designate such districts starting next year for the “purpose of revitalizing a community by creating a hub of cultural activity, including affordable artist housing and work space.”

If the state Board of Commerce and Industry approves eligible businesses, they could receive state and local sales-and-use tax exemptions for works of art sold in the district. “This will allow local interests to expand beyond the typical downtown development district,” says Angele Davis, secretary of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. “I don’t know why Baton Rouge hasn’t jumped all over this yet, but I’m sure they will.”

The legislation also expands the amount of tax credits available for rehabilitating historic structures within such a district. The state currently has set aside $1 million in credits to be used annually on historic buildings, but Townsend’s bill would bump it up to $10 million, meaning as many as 400 structures could receive assistance each year, compared to only 40 today. Davis says many areas of the state are planning to focus the credits on blighted areas, while others are building upon previous successes. That’s probably the game plan for Baton Rouge, Fluhr says. Developers involved with the Kress, Welsh and Levy Building, as well as the Hotel King, already are exploring such incentives. “We’ve had such a huge success already with these kinds of programs, and it can only get better with new opportunities,” he says.

The second measure in the cultural economy package, HB 495, would create income tax exclusions for artists’ work in varying amounts. The first $50,000 would be excluded entirely, while the next $50,000 would receive a 50% break. The following $400,000 would be eligible for 25% and works exceeding $500,000 would get a 10% exclusion. And it’s a wide net—“artistic work” is defined as both contemporary and traditional in disciplines such as visual arts, craft, music, theater, dance, fashion design, literature and media.

Linda Dautreuil, curator of the Brunner Gallery at the Shaw Center for the Arts, says the exclusion would allow the state to not only sustain many of its artisans needing help at home, but it would also put Louisiana in a position to cultivate new talent to continue competing on a global scale. “Immediately following the storms, many artists in South Louisiana started looking to relocate and realized that other states have these incentives and they left,” she says. “We are in danger of losing our cultural base, and this could help bring people back.”

The final piece of the package is probably the most delicious, as it addresses state income tax credits for culinary arts and food-science infrastructure projects. Under HB 568, if the total base investment is greater than $15,000, but less than $150,000, each investor would receive a tax credit of 10%. If it’s greater than $150,000 and less than $1 million, the credit would be 15%. For anything topping $1 million, the credit would jump to 20%.

Chef John Folse, who has been a Louisiana culinary mainstay for more than 25 years on radio and TV, called the incentive a “no-brainer,” since part of the state’s tourism appeal is directly related to food. In recent years he has built up his $50 million food empire, bolstered largely by a massive food processing plant in

Donaldsonville that employs 200 people creating cheeses, meats and other manufactured eats. His company produces everything from chili for Walt Disney World to a brown-sugar glaze for TGI Friday’s restaurants.

He’s planning an $8 million expansion and as many as 100 new hires next year. “Had tax credits been available been to me, you can imagine where we would have been,” Folse says. “I would have reinvested the money and designed a $9 million expansion and hired more Louisiana people.

Landrieu says it’s easy to generate excitement over food and entertainment, but many people shy away from dumping millions into growing the sectors, mainly because they’re nontraditional markets for the state. But he says he’s trying to change that, and the Legislature appears to be falling in line. “You have to do the same

thing for the cultural economy, from a tax policy perspective, as we do for other industries to help them grow,” Landrieu says. “We can longer treat them differently.”