The Slidell administration came home from the National League of Cities convention this week with a Gold Award for Municipal Excellence.

The reason was the Celebrate Slidell arts program which has increased not only arts awareness in the city, but has improved the quality of life in Slidell and improved the city’s economy.

The award, which Slidell won in the category of cities with populations under 50,000, puts the town in very high society. Also winning Gold Awards were New York, N.Y., Seattle, Wash., Savannah Ga., and St. Louis, Mo. “It’s very exciting when mentioned in the same breath as Bloomberg, (mayor of New York City),” Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said.

The other important thing about the award is that Slidell is the only Louisiana city to win the gold in the 20 years the NLC has been handing out the awards. Slidell also beat out 800 other cities of comparable size for the gold.

Morris said that putting the arts program together was a group effort, spearheaded by Kim Bergeron, director of Cultural and Public Affairs. Everything from concerts in Heritage Park to art exhibits and brown bag concerts have made Slidell, according to the NCL a city where the arts program has really improved the quality of life.

Bergeron said after Hurricane Katrina, it was the arts programs that really brought the people of Slidell together.

Morris agreed. When the first concert after the storm was held with the Bucktown All-Stars, the city did not know how the people would react.

Musical instruments had to be borrowed, mud cleared off the stage, lights brought in, but it didn’t matter.

“There were a lot of beat-up tired and angry people that ended up having a good time, and forgetting about everything for awhile,” Morris said.

“Arts were the first sign of normalcy after the storm,” Bergeron said.

What was amazing to Bergeron was how people were so enthusiastic about the arts program. Before the storm, there was interest and some donations, but after Katrina, the amount of donations doubled, where today the arts program is operating with $75,000 in grants and sponsorships.

Bergeron said private and business sponsorships were the key to the program’s success. It was the city’s businesses putting in time and money to the myriad of cultural events in Slidell that made the program bloom.

But as one sponsor, local businesswoman Mary Dubuisson said, it was the city’s leadership that really pushed things forward.

“We could never have done it without the mayor,” Dubuisson said.

Along with the trophy, the city also got $2,000. Bergeron said the money is going to be seed money for another arts program called Friends of the Arts, where those without the big resources can still donate money and time to Slidell’s burgeoning and successful arts program.