By Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune

“Spearheaded by a pair of Mayor Ray Nagin’s close allies, the Center for Entertainment and the Creative Industry, dubbed CECI, would reinvent the Municipal Auditorium, still shuttered since Hurricane Katrina, as a structure that combines traditional stages with digital production facilities, a merchandise distribution center, a culinary school, a jazz museum and offices for nonprofit and commercial start-ups in entertainment-related fields.”