NEW ORLEANS, LA.- The board of directors announced today the dates for Prospect.2, the second iteration of the New Orleans biennial, which is also the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the United States and, following the success of Prospect.1 in 2008, one of the most important arts events on the international calendar. Produced by U.S. Biennial, Prospect.2 will launch on Saturday, November 13, 2010 and run through Sunday, February 13, 2011, presenting more than 60 artists in individual and group exhibitions, which will spread throughout the city. Dan Cameron, who founded Prospect New Orleans, is once again curating the programs, while Barbara Motley, a local arts and culture leader, joined the team as the new Executive Director and will work with Cameron to achieve the ambitious goals set for the biennial in 2010 and subsequent years.

“ We are extremely pleased to announce our plans for Prospect.2,” said Mike Siegel, President of the Board of U.S. Biennial. “Creating a contemporary art biennial in New Orleans was an incredible challenge but the results went beyond our expectations on all accounts and we look forward to working with the local community to create yet another world-class event. We are also pleased to welcome Barbara Motley as our Executive Director who will be instrumental in bringing Prospect New Orleans to the next level and Dan’s vision for New Orleans to reality”.

Prospect.2 will present the work of local, national, and international artists from more than 20 countries and from diverse cultural, generational and artistic backgrounds. Each artist in the exhibition will be provided with a dedicated space or venue located in sites throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area. Many of the world’s most promising and/or recognized artists will be invited to develop major new projects to be premiered in New Orleans during the biennial. The full list of artists and venues will be announced in the spring of 2010.

“ New Orleans is a city that was always destined to have an important role in the international cultural dialogue,” said Dan Cameron. “It proved it with its unique role in U.S. history, it proved it with the creation of Jazzfest, and it is proving it again with the support it has provided this biennial. Prospect.1 was in many ways an experiment and we are entering its second iteration with much more certainty about our capacity to produce the event. But the same principle that presided over the founding of Prospect New Orleans remains, and will continue to remain, connecting people with art on the most fundamental level”.

Prospect.2 follows the successful run of Prospect.1 from November 2008 through January 2009. Having achieved extraordinary critical acclaim and enormous coverage from the media, both nationally and internationally, the inaugural edition of the biennial attracted 42,000 visitors and generated over $23 million in economic activity. An estimated 22,000 attendees came from outside New Orleans, spending over $13 million on hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment. In its inaugural year, Prospect.1 New Orleans featured 24 exhibition venues, occupied a combined 200,000 square feet of space, and was spread widely over miles of the city’s eclectic and historic neighborhoods. Prospect.2 is anticipated to attract twice the number of visitors and have an even greater economic and cultural impact.

Over 3,000 teachers and students participated in Prospect.1, which grounds its programs on the principle that art engenders social progress. Prospect.2 will continue its emphasis on education programs, expanding its outreach within the local school system through enhanced teacher training, field trips and student exhibitions.

New Orleans was the first U.S city to host a recurring international art exhibition, beginning in 1887 with the Exhibition of the Art Association of New Orleans. In this tradition, Prospect New Orleans features art originating from New Orleans and Louisiana within an international context and provides the Louisiana public with new art conceived and developed for the city. Prospect.2 will continue to initiate a new category of cultural tourism on a scale normally seen during Mardi Gras and the city’s celebrated JazzFest. This influx of international tourists will be an enormous boost for the local economy, including hotels, restaurants, shopkeepers, gallery owners, and artists themselves. As in the words of Cameron: “New Orleans was long an urban wonderland where creative spirits by the thousands came to live and work, and it is quickly becoming a place where art lovers from around the world can indulge in the city’s natural and cultural beauty while enjoying some of the most important cutting-edge art being made today.”