The Arts Newsletter

50 Years, 50 Faces
Round two of our ad campaign in The Advocate ran last Sunday, honoring 50 people who’ve made their mark in the arts – music, dance, theatre, art, literature, leadership and financial support. It’s recognition of our rich cultural heritage as the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge gears up to celebrate its 50th anniversary. See if you recognize any of these folks – a cheat sheet is at the end of the newsletter - and make plans now to join us for the GROOVIEST party of the year Jan. 12.
MPAC gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Carry Saurage Community Arts Center and includes Live Music, Art & Design, Food, Vintage Libations and more! Click below for tickets and help us make an MPAC on the arts throughout our 11-parish region.

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Gettin' jazzy with Germaine

Students from Southern Lab were treated to an up-close-and-personal yesterday at Southern University's Music Building auditorium with New Orleans’ own Germaine Bazzel. The 90-years-young jazz singer and teacher gave them a powerful message she's shared with her students through the years - "Yes you can!" She had the students, as well as the adults in the audience, up dancing and singing along with her rendition of Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing (click to check it out). Later that night, she brought down the house in her performance for the Arts Council's Jazz Listening Room at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center. Backing her up for evening were pianist Larry Seiberth, Harry Anderson on bass, Herman Jackson on drums and Roderick Paulin on sax.

Arts Fest
It was two days of original works of art in all genres and toe-tapping music as the Arts Council teamed up with Perkins Rowe for the return of Arts Fest last weekend. Yes, Mother Nature threw us a curveball by dropping temps by about 30 degrees but our vendors and performers soldiered on for those who came a callin’. Among them was the Padilla family, seen here with Keith 'Cartoon Man' Douglas, who did the debut caricature of little Heidi. And, a special shout out to our student volunteers from Parkview Baptist School!

Symphony Week 

A string quartet from the Baton Rouge Symphony took over the Shell Gallery here at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center in a free, pop-up concert last week as part of its Symphony Week series. It was the perfect way to spend a lunch hour! Click here for your own mini concert

Pennington Great Performers
Speaking of the Baton Rouge Symphony, the guest artist for its 20th anniversary Irene & C.B. Pennington Foundation Great Performers in Concert series has been announced. Three-time GRAMMY® award-winning and international renowned violinist Hilary Hahn will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 with the orchestra under the baton of maestro emeritus Timothy Muffitt March 25 at the River Center Theatre.
Hahn is a prolific recording artist whose 21 feature albums on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and Sony have all opened in the Top 10 of the Billboard charts. She is the subject of two documentaries by filmmaker Benedict Mirow: Hilary Hahn – A Portrait, filmed in 2004, and Hilary Hahn – Evolution of an Artist, which chronicles the subsequent 16 years of her career. She was recently named Musical America’s 2023 Artist of the Year and will receive the award Dec. 4 during its annual awards ceremony.

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Scotland Saturdays
This North Baton Rouge nonprofit, dedicated to reinforcing harmony of the arts and community prosperity by creating places where everyone is invited to patronize local business, see the arts and music scene, and socialize, is one of 50 communities across the country tapped to receive a Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Award. The $90,000 three-year matching grant will fund the first Levitt AMP Baton Rouge Music Series, 10 free, outdoor concerts that will inject new life into this historically Black neighborhood, amplifying community pride and bringing our diverse populations together to celebrate music and culture.

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Sip & Spin
Our Sip & Spin: Pottery Wheel Throwing Class is a HUGE hit! So much so, that classes with instructor Quaja Bell have been scheduled through this time next year. The evening is a perfect Date- or Friends-Night-Out, with Quaja guiding attendees through methods of centering and shaping clay on the potter's wheel in a fun, relaxed environment. Classes are Thursday nights from 6:30 – 8:30 at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center, 233 Saint Ferdinand St., with the next session starting Dec. 7.
Classes are filling up fast, so click below and sign up soon! Cost is $100 and includes seats for two people, required tools and two drink tickets per person. Must be 21 or older to consume alcohol. ID required for verification.

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Call to Artists

The Louisiana Partnership for the Arts (LPA) has issued a call for Louisiana artists to submit design proposals for a Louisiana Specialty Prestige License Plate benefiting the arts. The winning designer receives a monetary award of $1,000 and will also be invited to join the LPA at the unveiling of the new plate at 2023’s Arts Day at the Capitol.
The deadline for submission is Jan. 15, through the portal artforlouisiana.com. This commission is open statewide to working artists 18 and over. 

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Creative Spirit Fund
How has an arts teacher championed your new creative spirit at school? That’s the question Americans for the Arts is asking as it partners with lifestyle brand Free People to empower public school arts educators to fund the next generation of diverse creators. In all, the Creative Spirit Fund will distribute 10 awards of $4,000 each to public school educators across the United States in great need of support in teaching art, music, dance, theater, and creative writing and other artistic disciplines. Students, parents and teachers are encouraged to submit a short essay (300 words or less) nominating a teacher at their school who is a champion of diversity and creativity within their local community, and who can use a little extra funding to purchase supplies and equipment that nurture the creativity of their students. Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Dec 2.

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Films @ The Manship

A sinking ship and New York’s music scene in the early 2000s form the plot line of two films showing at the Manship Theatre in the coming days. The first is Triangle of Sadness, directed by Ruben Östlund and starring Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson and Charlbi Dean as the fashion model and celebrity couple who survive the sinking of the boat on a cruise for the super-rich. Show times are Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 2 p.m.
A screening of Meet Me in the Bathroom is Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, and based on the book by Lizzie Goodman, it’s an immersive journey with a new generation which kick-started a musical rebirth for the Big Apple that reverberated around the world.
Tickets are $9.50 each.

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Tour the Brookhill
In an amazing gift to the community, the Baton Rouge engineering firm Forte & Tablada has created a virtual tour of the century-old Brookhill Ferry shipwreck. Recently discovered due to the Mississippi’s record-low levels, the circa 1800 ferry carried people and livestock between the Capital City and Port Allen. In an effort to give everyone an up-close-and-personal experience while hoping to prevent vandalism of the ferry, Forte & Tablada worked with the Louisiana Division of Archaeology to take a series of photographs and laser scans using its high-resolution surveying equipment to create a 3-D model of the ship you can visit online - all at no charge to the state. The webpage also contains information and engineering measurements, as well as allowing users to download photos and laser scan data of the shipwreck.

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