By Chris Shearman

news@americanpress.com

Completely enveloped in the economy, tourism and cultural preservation of the Acadiana parishes is the Acadian Center for the Arts, or “AcA.” Serving the eight-parish region comprised of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion parishes, the AcA holds its duty to the local artist equally as serious as it does to Acadiana’s citizens. Helping get a young artist out of his private notebooks at home and into a state-of-the-art space where friends, family and patrons can see his art is rewarding to everyone on all sides.

Located at 101 West Vermillion St. in downtown Lafayette, AcA serves as both promise and preservation. Along the walls and in the rooms are sketches and drawings, photographs and abstract images, and a varied array of local art with purpose. AcA’s official mission, “fostering art and culture in Acadiana,” aims to leave no artistic medium behind. Dance, theater, film, music, photography, poetry, art, abstract, fine crafts and writing are all included.

In the beginning, AcA was solely an arts council, but, over time, as the Lafayette community grew, the organization’s mission evolved. With power in numbers, the AcA understood it had the ability to work with other local and non-profit organizations to further the outreach and intensify the mission. Acknowledging the socio-economic issues in the eight parishes, AcA increased their efforts to get art and means to produce art into the lower socio-economic households.

Providing art supplies to public school classrooms or tickets to disadvantaged populations are just a couple examples of the organization’s simple acts of outreach. All AcA galleries are free and open to the public. Each presenting season the AcA distributes more than 150 free tickets to its shows via the “Silent Seats” program. With this program, AcA works with social service agencies and the public school system to provide arts experiences to people otherwise unlikely to attend.

“We aim to improve the quality of life in our region for all people, and we take that mission very seriously,” AcA Executive Director Sam Oliver said. “By bringing people together for shows like Lake Street Dive, we help our audience share experiences together that uplift, unit, and inspire them.”

ACA is staffed by driven people with an entrepreneurial spirit and an arts and culture mindset. For the Lake Street Dive show, an up-and-coming band playing to a sold-out crowd, more than 20 ACA staff members and volunteers were seen working the room and dedicated/talking mission with patrons. Investment from memberships, sponsorships, and the work of their volunteers keep the ACA boat afloat.

“There is a lot of moving parts, even for a sold-out show like Lake Street Dive,” AcA Marketing Director Evan Daniels expressed. “We need to make sure all our patrons/members are comfortable. If we can give any artist a good experience when they are here, then their art is much more likely to sustain.”

Another specific action program is through a partnership with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, or LEDA. LEDA and AcA oversee ArtSpark, a grant program supporting artists of all experience levels. LEDA grants $60,000 through the ArtSpark program, which allows distribution of funding to matured artists who are in the middle of their career.

Each artist can apply for up to $5,000 to complete one of their artistic visions with the necessary budget. This budgetary boost is often what is lacking and can be the injection that takes the artist to their next level.

The ArtSpark program helps books get completed and published, gets short films into production, helps music albums get professionally recorded, and helps put locally made high grade jewelry on the wrists and necks of Acadiana locals.

“By investing in artists, performers, and makers of all types, we hope to foster a much larger creative community that makes the Acadiana region stand out as a place with a distinct and living culture,” Oliver said.