Acceptance Speech, December 9, 2025
Bonsoir à toutes et tous. Avant toute chose, merci à toi, cher Joe, pour cette introduction. Je suis ravi de m’inscrire dans ton sillage et d’être à mon tour roi du Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc cette année.
My name is Scott Tilton, though you may call me Charles for the weeks to come, a new identity I’m more than happy to assume today. But please: no need to call me votre majesté – we wouldn’t want Rex to get jealous after all.
First and foremost, I would like to thank the royal court of Joan of Arc. To the fearless captains, Antoinette and Amanda, merci beaucoup for your trust. I feel like I held good to my promise and kept things under wrap. To Linda, thank you for accompanying me on this journey and explaining the ropes to me. Heavy is the head that wears the crown but it’s a lot lighter thanks to you. And to Queen Yolanda and Jeanne, I cannot express my gratitude enough in reigning alongside you both. Even if for one night, the honor of this recognition will stay with me throughout my life.
I’d like to take everyone back in time – not to 1431 (too soon?), but to around 2010, when I was already a little French Quarter rat, still in high school. I was hanging out by Jackson Square and was mesmerized as I noticed the Krewe of Jeanne d’Arc proudly parading – on a stallion no less – with banners in French. As I used my budding French to make out the milestones of Joan’s courageous life, I started feeling a great sense of pride and belonging. I grew up in a family that steadfastly held on to the vestiges of French in Louisiana. I remember at family dinners talking about my great uncle, Homer Dupuy, who welcomed General De Gaulle to New Orleans in 1960 and helped bring the Joan of Arc statue to the city. As a teenager still in my formative years, I was blown away that people within my own city still saw the need to celebrate this heritage – particularly after hurricane Katrina had affected us all so much. So, to me, it was so much more than just another walking Krewe, it was a demonstration, a validation that French was still part of our identity – and on full display for everyone to see.
A decade and a half later (yeah, I know), I’m thrilled to see how much the parade has grown, becoming the first Krewe to kick off Mardi Gras – finally making everyone realize that Mardi Gras is indeed a French word. And it was all the more meaningful to me because I left New Orleans for 10 years – first to Charlottesville, my study abroad, and then to Paris, my second home. But every single year, I’d come home for the holidays, and I would see how much bigger and exciting the parade had become, which continued to fuel my love of my culture and my language – though I was thousands of miles away. As y’all were thriving, I felt like I was growing my own commitment to this city and this heritage. At this time, I met my husband Rudy Bazenet, now turned fellow French Quarter rat, and we had this wild and wacky idea to have Louisiana join the Francophonie. And since we didn’t know it was impossible, we did it – to quote the great Mark Twain, who himself was so inspired by the symbolism of Jeanne d’Arc. And since impossible n’est pas français, something Jeanne herself could have said, we decided to test our luck and to create our own foundation to promote Louisiana’s heritage cultures. And it’s been such an amazing journey. Just like parading the streets of New Orleans, it comes with many challenges but it’s so worth it, and I’m so glad that the Krewe of Joan of Arc decided to recognize this work today.
So here, we are. December 9, 2024. So much has changed since I was a mesmerized teenager admiring the Krewe that I am now proud to be a part of. I can’t believe it’s almost been 15 years since that day, but I’m so grateful for the work we have all accomplished collectively to promote French in Louisiana – because our cultures deserve to be shared. And when we work together as Louisianans, we make the impossible happen. Last week alone, Rudy and I had the immense opportunity to fly to NYC and Washington D.C. to present our project documenting Louisiana music at the United Nations and at the Library of Congress – and this could not have been accomplished without the support of the six wonderful musicians we have been working with, including former King Louis Michot! And guess what: when we speak in French – and about French – here in Louisiana, people listen. For over 300 years, Louisiana’s past and present have been written in French – and now the time has come to write our future – and people around the world are eager to know more. So, just like Jeanne, let’s show them and let’s find the courage within ourselves to carry the torch as far as we can. French may be diminished here in our great city of La Nouvelle-Orléans, but it has not fallen – and it never will, because we are here to stay.
Je vous souhaite à toutes et tous une excellente soirée et j’ai hâte de vous retrouver le 6 janvier prochain au cœur de mon quartier de cœur : le Quartier français. Merci et vive le Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc !
Bio:
Scott Tilton is a lifelong advocate for Louisiana’s unique French and Creole-speaking cultures. He is inspired by his family’s own history, including his great uncle, Homer Dupuy, who accompanied General De Gaulle during his visit to New Orleans and helped bring the Joan of Arc Statue to New Orleans; and his father, Gregory Tilton, who inspired him to learn French. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a B.A., Scott went to France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, where he received his Master’s degree in international relations. Scott lived in Paris for six years before returning to Louisiana. He worked as a consultant at EY France on projects for the European Union, the UN, and the French government. Along with his husband, Rudy Bazenet, Scott had the opportunity to launch and spearhead the initiative that saw Louisiana join the International Organization of the Francophonie in 2018, the first time a U.S. state joined an international organization. Since 2020, he has served as the Executive Director of the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures (Nous), co-founding the organization and helping build it into a leading Francophone cultural institution in North America. He is also a Commissioner on the Vieux Carré Commission – a regulatory body charged to protect, preserve, and maintain the distinct architectural, historic character, of the French Quarter – and a Board member of the neighborhood advocacy group the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents, & Associates (VCPORA).
Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc awards the role of King Charles VII each year to a community leader who embodies New Orleans’ French connection