It was a joy to go back to New Orleans on my "Arts in Crisis" tour and to meet the many dedicated arts professionals who work there. I have been a steady visitor to this beautiful city since a few months after Hurricane Katrina. We at the Kennedy Center adopted the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra immediately after the hurricane and devoted our efforts to saving this wonderful arts organization.

Over the past four and a half years, I have developed my New Orleans family of arts managers and musicians and board members. The progress the symphony has made since those first parlous days is amazing.

I credit this success to a patient, mature group of musicians who truly feel ownership of the orchestra and to a trio of complimentary leaders: the dedicated chairman, Hugh Long, the energetic young maestro, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and, especially, its executive director, Babs Mollere.

Babs is one of the most amazing arts managers I have ever encountered on all my travels across the nation and the globe.

We met at a difficult time but in a humorous way. Immediately after Katrina, we decided to offer our turnaround assistance to a struggling arts organization affected by the hurricane. The LPO seemed a logical candidate since its theater had been destroyed and its subscribers and donors were scattered across the nation as were its musicians, staff and board. I traced Babs to her temporary office in Baton Rouge, called her, and offered my help. Her response was a succinct: "I don't know who you are."

Since then, we have gotten to know each other very well. I have watched Babs handle extraordinary challenges that most arts managers never experience. After Katrina, there was nothing: no housing, no theater, no audience, no subscription series, no donors. Nothing. Walking in downtown New Orleans after the hurricane was like entering a city where a neutron bomb had been detonated. There were no people. When checking into a hotel one was given a towel, a bottle of water and a warning that there was virtually no staff on the premises.

From this emptiness, Babs has systematically built a performance season in a variety of venues, created a staff, developed a donor base and recreated a subscriber base, virtually from scratch. She has done it with humor, hard work and a vision for what the LPO can and should be.

The orchestra has given a series of major performances (Yo-Yo Ma was a guest soloist this season), created an education program that now reaches every parish in the state of Louisiana, established a regional touring program most orchestras would envy, and commissioned new works that speak to the diverse community the LPO serves. In particular, the LPO has celebrated the jazz heritage of its city in numerous collaborations.

And, by the way, the LPO has not had a deficit the past several seasons, a testimony to Babs, the board, the musicians and the community they all serve.

It is a joy to observe, to support and to engage with these amazing people.