co-producer Molly Peterson is a public radio reporter, producer and editor who relocated to Louisiana in November 2005 with the mission of improving local public radio production by telling more accurate stories as only residents can. While living in Mid-City, she has filed, produced and edited stories about Louisiana for numerous public radio outlets, and served as a contributing producer for the syndicated radio program American Routes with Nick Spitzer. Previously, she worked at NPR's Day to Day in Culver City, CA, NPR's Morning Edition and Weekend All Things Considered in Washington, and as a reporter for KQED-FM in San Francisco where she won awards for environmental and news reporting. Peterson produced the NPR-distributed award-winning documentary "I Need to Belong: Citizenship in a Post-9/11 America."

co-producer Eve Troeh is an independent public radio reporter, producer and editor who has lived in New Orleans since 2000, when she first began work editing and producing the syndicated radio program American Routes with Nick Spitzer. Troeh is the recipient of a Katrina Media Fellowship from the Open Society Institute to cover housing, culture and criminal justice issues in the second year after the disaster. Since the storm, she has been a regular contributor to NPR’s news programs system-wide, as well as Voice of America, Weekend America and PRI’s The World among others. She is also the co-founder of Street Talk, an ongoing series covering issues of cultural rebuilding on New Orleans community radio station WWOZ.

host Lance Nichols, a New Orleans native, has appeared in numerous national television shows, films, and theater productions over a long and varied career. In addition to performing, Nichols is an accomplished acting and dialogue coach. He's a two-time NAACP Theatre Award Nominee, a Dramalogue Award Winner and the recipient of an L.A. Weekly Award. Recent work includes the feature films The Mysterious Case of Benjamin Button and A Good Man is Hard to Find. Nichols currently divides his time between Los Angeles and his home on New Orleans' West Bank.

technical director Jason Rhein is the technical producer for the New Orleans based program American Routes, where he is the chief engineer and digital editor. A graduate of the University of New Orleans in Communications and Film, Rhein is also a songwriter and a member of the New Orleans band Rotary Downs.

consultant Matt Sakakeeny has extensive expertise in recording and mixing sound, as well as a deep and rich knowledge of Louisiana cultural and musical traditions. Holder of an M.A. in Music from Tulane for his work on New Orleans rhythm and blues, Sakakeeny is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Columbia University. Sakakeeny was formerly co-producer for American Routes, and still serves as a Senior Contributing Producer. Previously, he was at Smithsonian Productions where he was production engineer for the multiple award-winning series Folk Masters and Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was. A 1994 graduate of Peabody School of Music and Johns Hopkins combined program in music and electrical engineering, Matt has extensive experience with recording live classical, jazz, and popular music as well as studio work in Europe and America. For FINDING SOLID GROUND, Sakakeeny produced a segment on brass band musical culture in New Orleans.

editorial consultant Zack Godshall lives and works in South Louisiana, where he makes fiction and documentary films. After earning an M.F.A. in film directing from UCLA, Zack immediately began work on the award-winning feature film "Low and Behold," an Official Selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Blending fiction and non-fiction in post-Katrina New Orleans, "Low and Behold" marks the beginning in a string of films that Godshall plans to make in Louisiana, films that convey the spirit of the places and the people that have long inspired his imagination. Godshall consulted with FINDING SOLID GROUND producers on south Louisiana communities and issues.

production assistant Jacob Brancasi has lived and worked in New Orleans since August 2006. A graduate in Urban Studies from Vassar College, his research and fieldwork on affect and urban space, both at Vassar and at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, proved useful to his production and editorial responsibilities for Finding Solid Ground. He is also cofounder of Listen Up New Orleans! – a youth audio project.

multi-instrumentalist & composer Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is a master harmonica player, accomplished accordionist, and a jam-up drummer who plays a mix of blues, Zydeco, Caribbean, and New Orleans style music. Sunpie also works as a naturalist and tour guide at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, imparting his vast knowledge of Louisiana's swamps and wetlands to French Quarter visitors. He contributed original compositions for the program.

trumpeter & bandleader Jamelle Williams & His Slick Six Center for the Creative Arts, earned a degree in music education from Loyola University and his Masters at the University of New Orleans. He has taught extensively in a variety of different projects, from elementary school children to college students including in the New Orleans public school system.

roots cajun musicians Lost Bayou Ramblers formed in Pilette, Louisiana, where Louis Michot and his brother Andre, were immersed in roots Cajun music from birth. With durmmer Chris Courville, bassist Alan LeFleur and Cavan Carruth's rhythm guitar, the band began to play their "deep swamp beat" around Acadiana and eventually all over the United States.

grantmaker THE LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES is the Louisiana affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The LEH is a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that receives funds from the NEH, the State of Louisiana, and corporate and individual donors.

grantmaker THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ AND HERITAGE FOUNDATION aims to promote, preserve, perpetuate and encourage the music, arts, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities. FINDING SOLID GROUND is funded by the foundation's Community Partnership Grant program.

sponsoring organization THE UNO FOUNDATION and WWNO 89.9 FM is the premier public radio station serving New Orleans and surrounding communities. The mission of WWNO and its repeater station KTLN is to serve the public interest by providing listeners in the New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana areas an audience-focused source of quality classical music, jazz, National Public Radio news, and other cultural and informational programming and to participate actively in the cultural and civic life of the communities the stations serve.