[Industry PR] Southern Exposure

There’s a new tourist attraction in New Orleans that is making people’s skin crawl.

The Audubon Insectarium is a 23,000-square foot-facility located in New Orleans’ historic U.S. Custom House. The venue is the largest free-standing museum of its kind in the United States and is the first major attraction to open in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

The state-of-the-art facility uses a combination of live insects and exhibits to allow visitors to get an up-close look at some of the ecosystem’s most important members.

Museum highlights include a Japanese-inspired butterfly garden, a multi-sensory movie and much more. In addition, the Insectarium boasts 70 interactive exhibits that allow visitors to test their speed against leaf-cutter ants, crickets and cockroaches; adopt a bug’s-eye view; and taste various insects, including fried dragonflies and cricket crepes. (For recipes, visit www.pctonline.com.)

Planning for the $25 million project began in 1991 and the grand opening was held June 13.

Three industry-related sponsors support the Insectarium — BASF, Dow AgroSciences and Terminix International. The sidebars on the following pages feature news from each about the museum’s opening.

BASF Participates in Insectarium’s Opening Day Celebrations

In 2004, when the Audubon Nature Institute began looking for sponsors for its newest project, an Insectarium that would be the largest free-standing museum devoted to the 900,000-plus species of insects, officials naturally went to an industry that devotes itself to bugs.

“When Audubon approached us to sponsor the new Insectarium, the answer was a resounding yes,” said Sandi Wilson, communications manager for the Professional Pest Control Group at BASF. “At BASF we work hard to educate consumers about the positive impact of bugs, while also teaching them about how best to protect their homes against the damage insects may cause.”

Insectarium sponsors, including BASF’s Termidor Termite Defense, were treated to a VIP gala at the Insectarium on June 3. The gala gave Audubon VIPs and sponsors the opportunity to tour the facility’s interactive exhibits and make close encounters with live insects and exquisitely mounted specimens, all while enjoying bug-themed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. 

“Having major corporations involved in the Insectarium is more than a financial gift; it is an investment in and commitment to the future of New Orleans,” said Ron Forman, the Audubon Nature Institute’s president and CEO. “We hoped the VIP gala would be one way to show our appreciation to those that have supported us.”

Following the VIP gala, the Insectarium hosted a sneak preview day to give media an inside look at the facility before the grand opening on June 13.

Opening weekend festivities kicked off with a block party outside of the Insectarium. Termidor’s Timmy the Termite, balloon artists, face painters and various other bug performers were on hand to entertain the crowds before the official grand opening.

Throughout opening weekend, daily crowds packed the hallways and peered into exhibits filled with live insects. On June 14 and 15, the Audubon created a fair-like atmosphere outside the Aquarium of Americas where passers-by could listen to a band of bugs and play with Timmy dolls handed out by Termidor mascot Timmy the Termite.

Dow AgroSciences Sponsors Entomologist’s Station In Insectarium’s Field Camp Gallery

Dow AgroSciences is helping to make possible the nation’s largest museum dedicated to the insect world around us.

Occupying almost half the ground floor of the 19th Century U.S. Custom House on the edge of the city’s historic French Quarter, the Insectarium features displays of live and mounted insects and more than 70 exhibits. It also includes a theater, cooking demonstrations, an insects’ Hall of Fame and interactive displays. A half million visitors are expected to visit the museum each year, according to the Audubon Nature Institute, and the annual economic impact to New Orleans is estimated to be about $55 million.

Through funding made available through The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, Dow AgroSciences is sponsoring the Entomologist’s Station in the Insectarium’s Field Camp gallery. The Station offers a unique educational encounter featuring a scientist complete with khakis and a jungle-style pith helmet at work in the field. The scientist will give visitors the opportunity to see and touch a variety of live insects. From the museum’s Canal Street entrance, the Field Camp is one of the first exhibits that visitors can enter.

“We are pleased to be a sponsor of Audubon Insectarium,” said Dave Morris, commercial leader of the Dow AgroSciences U.S. Pest Management Business. “The museum is an important addition to both the city of New Orleans and to Audubon Nature Institute’s family of museums and parks. The Insectarium will help visitors better appreciate and understand the role insects play in our world. We are especially pleased to be able to sponsor an interactive display. The Field Camp fits into The Human Element focus of The Dow Chemical Company with regard to the potential humans bring to their interactions with the natural world.”

Morris says Dow AgroSciences also is familiar with the Insectarium site through a Formosan Subterranean Eradication Program it has performed in conjunction with the city of New Orleans. The historic U.S. Custom House is being protected against subterranean termite damage by an Authorized Operator of the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System.

Terminix Escorts Celebrated Insect to New Home

It’s pretty prestigious to be a part of New Orleans’ Audubon Insectarium, especially if you’re Harry, a Chinese praying mantis from Memphis, Tenn.
Harry, who was the final insect delivered to the Audubon Insectarium, began a 600-mile journey with a special bon voyage party in Memphis, Tenn., June 6 and 7, leaving in time for Terminix to escort him south to his new home at the soon-to-open Audubon Insectarium.

“The Insectarium (is) a one-of-a-kind facility that changes the way a lot of people view insects,” said Tom Brackett, Terminix president and chief operating officer. “We’ve been involved with the Insectarium since the very beginning, and as the presenting sponsor of the grand opening it’s an honor to take Harry on a multi-state tour before we deliver him to his new home.”

Harry’s trip, titled “Harry’s Big Adventure,” traversed four states in five days and included one-day stops in Birmingham, Ala.; Montgomery, Ala.; Mobile, Ala.; and Biloxi, Miss. Bill Sims, a Terminix employee and Hurricane Katrina evacuee, delivered Harry to the Audubon Insectarium and joined him for his tour.

Sims, a long-time resident of New Orleans, lived two blocks from the 17th Street Canal levee, which broke, allowing water to flood his neighborhood. Evacuating with only the possessions that could be carried, Sims relocated to Birmingham, Ala., where he lived for one year before returning to the Crescent City and re-establishing his family’s home.

“Bill embodies the resiliency of the people of New Orleans and the rebirth that is taking place in the city, and he’s the perfect person to have the honor of presenting the final insect,” said Brackett.

Terminix International will donate $2 million in a multi-year sponsorship to the Insectarium. Terminix was the presenting sponsor of the Insectarium’s grand opening and has naming right to the facility’s 4-D theater.