Fostering Art & Culture in Acadiana

How to Win a Grammy with Reid Wick | Creative Acadiana
Monday, January 29, 5:30pm

Learn about what it takes to make it in the Grammy ranks, from steps to take to becoming a member to submitting your music for consideration.

Reid Wick has served music communities across the South for many years. He is the Recording Academy’s New Orleans-based Membership; Industry Relations representative, where his responsibilities include membership, advocacy, creating professional development and networking programs across a five-state region.

Reserve Your Spot

Tax Planning for Creatives | Creative Acadiana
Thursday, February 8, 5:30pm

With tax time just around the corner, Seth Norris will help creatives prepare for filing your 2023 taxes, with or without the help of a paid preparer. He will provide an overview of tax issues affecting artists, including income and expense tracking, deductions and entity types.

This workshop is appropriate for individual artists working in all disciplines and at any point in their careers looking for advice and information to help in preparing their 2023 taxes.

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Low ticket alert!

50 Years of BeauSoleil
Thursday, February 1 & Friday, February 2, 7:30pm
Louisiana Crossroads series, presented by First Horizon

BeauSoleil, avec Michael Doucet, marks the fiftieth year of its remarkable career with two star-studded concerts!

Each performance features an array of guest artists who have performed with BeauSoleil during the course of the band’s five decades of making music, plus a few new faces.
Guest artists include Tommy Alesi, Bill Bennett, Annick Colbert , Steve Conn, David Doucet, Matthew Doucet, Chad Huval, Tif Lamson, Sonny Landreth, Dickie Landry, Gary Newman, Mitch Reed, Don Vappie, & Chad Viator.

Tickets are going fast!

BeauSoleil has won numerous awards including two Grammys and fourteen nominations, has played at Super Bowl XXXI, the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, and on multiple episodes of “Prairie Home Companion”. 

Their music has been in movie and TV soundtracks including for “The Big Easy”, “Belizaire the Cajun”, “Treme”, and most recently “I Don’t Feel at Home in the World Anymore”.

This performance was made possible in part by support from NOLA Jazz & Heritage Foundation.

Grants for Artists

$$ Grant Alert $$
Submissions for ArtSpark grants are NOW OPEN!

ArtSpark is a competitive grant program supporting individual artists in Acadiana.

These grants offer assistance to emerging, mid-career, and mature artists for specific, short-term projects with a component of community outreach and a focus on the artists’ and/or communities economic development with the support of Opportunity Machine.

New this year - information, guidelines, and application are now available in Spanish! Check it out: https://acadianacenterforthearts.org/opportunities-for-artists/artspark/

Funding for this program is made possible by Lafayette Economic Development Authority and National Endowment for the Arts, and is administered by the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

OFFICE HOURS: 

Join us! A member of our grants administration team, as well as previously successful applicants, will be available to advise you on your projects and application process during these region-wide office hours:

Monday, January 29, 3:00pm – 5:00pm, A&E Gallery, 335 West St Peter Street, New Iberia, Iberia Parish 

Wednesday, January 31, 10:00am – 11:30am, Grand Opera House of the South, 505 N Parkerson Ave, Crowley, Acadia Parish

Thursday, February 1, 10:00am – 11:30am, Lamp Lighter Coffeehouse and Bistro, 731 Main Street, Franklin, St. Mary Parish

Friday, February 2, 6:00pm – 7:30pm, Parc Village, 2323 Moss St, Lafayette

Monday, February 5, 5:15pm – 6:30pm, Abbeville Cultural Center, 200 N Magdalen Square #4645, Abbeville, LA, Vermilion Parish

Tuesday February 6, 3:00pm – 5:00pm, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette

Thursday February 8, 10:00am – 12:00pm, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette

Sweeping reforms to FEMA's Disaster Assistance Program to help creative entrepreneurs

On January 19, 2024 FEMA announced sweeping reforms to its Disaster Assistance Program to help survivors recover faster.  These reforms incorporate two changes that CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) has been strongly advocating for over a decade.

Here is a one page fact sheet on the FEMA reforms.

On View in the Galleries

Side Gallery: Ralph Schexnaydre: Translating the Sun
Coca-Cola Studio: 50 Years of BeauSoleil: Memorabilia & Archives
Mallia Galleria: Ben Koch
AcA Café: The Louisianais.e

Ralph Schexnaydre: Translating the Sun
On view in the Side Gallery

Ralph J. Schexnaydre Jr.'s work consist of lumen and cyanotype prints. The images are created using plant materials collected along Bayou Teche, local roadsides, and on the property of his current residence.
These common plants are cut and reassembled in which the components are transformed from our “normal” descriptions of what we know to something more celestial, more mysterious, and spiritual.

50 Years of BeauSoleil: Memorabilia & Archives
On view in the Coca-Cola Studio
Saturday, January 13 through Saturday, February 10, 2024

This exhibit celebrates half a century of the beloved BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet with various forms of memoribilia & archives.
Decades of touring, many albums and awards have solidified BeauSoleil as legendary local band.

During the span of this exhibit, BeauSoleil will also put on a fantastic two-night performance!

Ben Koch
On view in the Mallia Galleria
Saturday, January 13 through Saturday, February 10, 2024

This exhibit features paintings on found glass windows, papier maché sculpture & drawings all from this eclectic local artist.

The Louisianais.e
On view in the AcA Café
now through Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Louisianais.e is an exhibition organized by the Nous Foundation that imagines a future periodical in 2050.

Designed in the style of The New Yorker, these covers feature original artworks created by a diverse array of artists from all around Louisiana. Each cover creatively interprets the future of French and Creole cultures in Louisian, 25 years from now.

Professional Development for Teachers

February 20, 4:30pm

Professional Development Workshop for teachers of grades 3–12
Presented by Darrell Bourque, PhD., Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

See! Think! Wonder! In this workshop, participants will view paintings in the AcA’s Main Gallery exhibit, “In Medias Res: How One Story Becomes Another Story,” and turn oral stories into written text.

We will investigate how images can be used in the classroom for students to develop a plot, narrative and character dialogue in creative writing. 

Register here!

All Tickets on Sale Now!

Click Here to view the Performances.

Stop By & Visit Us!

Our Café and Galleries are open
Tuesday - Saturday: 9am - 5pm