Vision/Verse to Open Saturday

Hecate by Heather Ryan Kelley

It's back! Vision/Verse returns for a fourth year to unite the literary and visual arts in a one-of-a-kind exhibition. Ten artists and ten poets are selected each fall, and what follows is a six month journey in examining the role and impact of inspiration on art.


Join us on Saturday, June 2nd, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the exhibit's opening reception at Art Associates Gallery at Central School. A reading of the poetry will be held in the Benjamin W. Mount Auditorium at Central School at 7 p.m. An after party will be held at the Porch Coffee House & Cafe at 8:30 p.m., and it will feature music by Paul Gonsoulin and Angie Manning who were inspired by pieces from the exhibit.

Tin Man by Karen Wink

Each artist chose one of the submitted poems as inspiration for a new piece of art; simultaneously, each poet chose one of the submitted pieces of art as the focus for a new poem. Each of the participants creates a new poem or piece of visual art for the exhibit, and at the end of the process, Yellow Flag Press creates broadsides of each poem, and the poetry and artwork are hung side by side at Art Associates Gallery.


Poets include Maya Beerbower, William Lusk Coppage, David Havird, Hillary Joubert, Clare L. Martin, Patrice Melnick, Stella Nesanovich, Philana Omorotionmwan, M. Rather, Jr., Kevin Thomason

Pollination by John Martel

Artists include Martin Castillo, Jessica Gayle, Heather Ryan Kelley, John Martel, Skyler Pham, Lee Richard, Valerie Smith, Blake Soto, Karen Wink, Sue Zimmermann

Art Associates Gallery is located at Central School Arts & Humanities Center at 809 Kirby Street in Lake Charles. For more information on Vision/Verse, call 337-304-1798.

Workshops at Gallery By the Lake

Gallery by the Lake and Associated Louisiana Artists are sponsoring Life, Figure, and Landscape Drawing with Gerry Wubben at the Creative Arts Center on Thursday evenings June 7 through July 12. Please contact the gallery at 337 436-1008 to sign up or for more information. Space is limited.

Lois Derise offers an oil painting class on Tuesday afternoons or evenings. Contact Lois at 337 477-0659 for more information.

Sue Zimmerman is offering a watercolor painting class on Tuesday mornings from 9:30-11:30. Please contact Sue at 337 478-3850 for more information.

You can also check out our website at Fine Arts America/Gallery by the Lake to keep up with all of our current activities.

Sunday Concert with Chester Daigle and Laura Dunn David

Tina Wing to Offer Summer Music and Voice Lessons

Tina Wing, located within Central School Arts & Humanities Center, will offer a series of music and voice classes this summer for a variety of ages. Tina has performed music for over 25 years, and she was self-taught before being classically trained and performing in award-winning choirs. She studied vocal education, jazz, and guitar at McNeese and has been teaching guitar since 1986.


Tina's summer music lessons include:


Fun with Music: June 4th - June 8th, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., for ages 5-8.


Future Pop Singers: June 4th - 7th, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m., for ages 9-13.


Hand Drum Classes: July 9th - July 12th, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m., for ages 8-12.


Students need not provide their own instruments for these classes. Call (337) 527-3509 or email songbirdish@aol.com for details. For more information on Tina Wing, visit www.tinawing.com.

Become a Member of LCA!

Your help is needed to ensure the arts have a future in Louisiana. Louisiana Citizens for the Arts is a statewide nonprofit organization devoted to acting as the voice for the arts in Baton Rouge, and it is comprised of each region's arts council and arts leaders.

The majority of LCA's activities revolve around advocacy which include attending Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., tracking the State's cultural agenda, promoting arts education, advocating for increased arts funding, and maintaining strong relationships with legislative floor leaders. Their work is essential in giving the arts a presence during legislative sessions, and the membership fees they receive cover the cost of our arts lobbyist, Kevin Hayes, who works one-on-one with senators and representatives.

Last year, Kevin was able to secure an additional $500,000 for our Decentralized Arts Funding grant program at the 11th hour. We must do our part to make sure we have enough money to keep Kevin, and you can help us achieve this by renewing or becoming a member of LCA today for as little as $25.

Each dollar counts, and without a strong lobbyist, it will be easy for the arts to lose their voice in Baton Rouge. Visit www.louisianacitizensforthearts.org to join today!

Teaching Artist Workshop

The Louisiana Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation (ICI) initiative presents a one-day training for individual artists interested in learning how to work in the classroom. The training will take place at the 2012 ICI Institute and will train artists to work in schools and the surrounding community for after school, enrichment, and residency programs. 

• Where: The LSU School of Music Building on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge (once registered, participants will receive a map with directions).
• When: Saturday, June 23rd, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Cost: The registration fee is $15 which includes all materials and lunch.

Workshops Include:

• Crafting an Effective Lesson Plan
• Educational Psychology 101: Childhood Development and Learning
• Networking Lunch: Artist Meet & Greet
• Classroom Management for Teaching Artists
• Artist-in-Residence: Teaching Art in the Classroom

How to Register:

• To register, go to www.eventbrite.com/event/3568596769.
• Be sure to submit active contact information for the summer.
• Registration payments can be made online through Eventbrite.
• Registration must be completed by June 15th, 2012.

ICI is a program of the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, and is administered by KID smART, an arts education nonprofit in New Orleans. For further information, contact KID smART at 504-410-1990 or email ICI@kidsmart.org.

Contact your Legislators TODAY!

Contact your legislators today to save the arts in Louisiana! Here's how!

The time is NOW to contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and ask them to vote for an increase in arts funding. You need to do it NOW because this is our LAST chance to have funding restored. The timing could not be better for us because of Wednesday's highly successful Advocacy Day in the Capitol! To those of you who were able to participate, thank you! For those of you who were unable to make the trip to Baton Rouge, here's your chance to shout out for the arts! We need you to contact Senate Finance twice: once today and again on Saturday morning.

The Lieutenant Governor will be testifying today in the Senate Finance Committee with Public Testimony being taken on Saturday. Louisiana Citizens for the Arts will have representatives testifying about the need to increase funding for the arts in House Bill 1, the Budget. We need your help to get the message out to the legislators on the committee.

;Here's how to do it:

1. First, click here to reach our ACTION ALERT page.
2. Under the first alert -- which reads "Louisiana: Urge Members of Senate Finance Committee to vote FOR an INCREASE in Arts Funding!" -- click the "Take Action" button.
3. On the next page, you'll see the action alert, and as you scroll down, you will see the message to the members of the Senate Finance Committee. School down to the sender information. If you have never sent a CapWiz message, you will need to provide the information requested. Once that's done, hit "send message."
4. Use the "Tell-A-Friend" feature at the bottom of the next page to get your fellow arts advocates involved.
5. That's it! You're done! Remember, with your help we were able to have the arts funding reinstated last year. We need everyone's help again this year to do it again!

What's happening now?
Both the Decentralized Arts Funding and the Statewide Arts Grants programs have been targeted with crippling cuts. In the current bill, all that's remaining for DAF is $1 million and only $959,000 remains for SAG, which represents a 60% reduction in funding levels from fiscal year 2009. Louisiana Citizens for the Arts is requesting that the Legislature restore both grant programs to the 2009 funding level by adding $1 million to each program in the Division of the Arts budget. It is extremely important that you contact the members of Senate Finance to show your support.

Louisiana Citizens for the Arts is urging the full restoration of $1 million of funding to the DAF program to remain funded at the $2 million level. The DAF program supports organizations in each parish on a per capita basis and creates cultural projects with an economic return of $11 per $1 spent in your communities.

Louisiana Citizens of the Arts is urging the full restoration of $1 million of funding to the Statewide Arts Grant program to remain funded at the level of $1.95 million. The Statewide Arts Grants program provides stabilization, capacity building and arts in education grants to our major arts organizations and local arts agencies, with a $28 return per $1 spent in your communities.

How are you affected?
If these cuts come to pass, they will cripple the cultural economic engine and tourism industry of Louisiana. These cuts affect artists, teachers, non-profit organizations, festivals,  libraries, museums, and theatres alike. No community will remain untouched, and the economic loss will rank second only to the loss in social profit, community, and quality of life.

Culture is Louisiana's finest natural resource. We need to nurture and protect it for it to flourish. Now is the time for you to have a voice!

Click here to send a message NOW asking the Senate Finance Committee members to support our request for the increase in funding.

Thank you for your support!