Banners at McNeese is continuing to expand access to art and culture to the residents of Southwest Louisiana.

Established in 1992, Banners was created under the administration of former President of McNeese Robert Hebert to cohesively organize arts events on campus to ensure community accessibility, said Banners Director Brook Hanemann.

For a couple of months each spring, Banners coordinates a Cultural Season that contains masterclasses, workshops, cultural projects, and community partnerships, in addition to theatre and art productions. Since its inception, Banners has not only created space for local talent to thrive, but brought acts from around the world to Southwest Louisiana, allowing locals to garner expansive artistic experiences.

“It just started internally to make sure that different departments on campus weren’t overlapping, then it became what it is now. … a host to national and international performers and a platform for local performers.”

This year’s season kicked off at the beginning of this month, and includes 8 ticketed programs alongside a variety of free events.

She explained that the presence of Banners fills a “gaping hole” in Southwest Louisiana. While the area is not lacking in talent, it is missing the “necessary infrastructure” to support and elevate local creatives. The expansion that Banners has seen resulted from that lapse in opportunities.

Randy Partin, assistant director, said that in a digital world, “eye-opening” in-person events are becoming more and more paramount.

“When you do a live performance, it’s a single take. You do it verbatim… It’s like seeing a movie being shot live.”

“Any person that comes into a show is going to be coming in with their own history, needs, dreams, pains, heartaches. Each one of those audience members has the opportunity to take something different from the performance itself when they come to see it live,” Hanemann said.

She said that theatre is an ideal opportunity to work collaboratively to create something great, and this is an opportunity available to creatives and non-creatives alike; Analytical individuals can direct or edit scripts and visually artistic people paint sets and create costumes.

“In this age where we are bound by screens, it is even more vital to get them in the room to work collectively to create something. … You don’t have to have aspirations to be a famous actor for this work to be immensely beneficial to you.”

Being involved in live theatre has benefits for everyone, not just actors, she explained. She said she has worked with teachers, law enforcement officers and lawyers on stage. In addition to gaining teamwork experience, acting hones communication skills in a significant way by allowing participants to rely on their voice, expression and gestures to portray emotion.

Partin noted that local youth groups like Calcasieu Theatrical Arts and Christian Youth Theatre have been “exploding” with student enrollment, indicating a desire for artistic outlets among students. Exposure to theatre is important because it is uniquely equipped to help young people develop by “emboldening them and giving them confidence,” he said.

The arts also support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education. The advancement of STEM is vital for our industrial-driven region, he said, and without arts education, STEM fields simply don’t evolve.

Throughout the year, Banners provides free educational outreach programming. Recently, theatre students from public schools and homeschools participated in an Improv 101 workshop with “Greg Triggs” from “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical.”

“There’s no other organization in this five parish region that year-round creates opportunities for outreach and performances,” Hanemann said.

Banners regularly partners with local theatre groups, organizations and municipal entities to bolster arts programming locally. Banners recently partnered with ACTS to put on a finale performance of “Anything Goes” in Bulber Auditorium. With this collaboration, the show was exposed to a whole new audience and the actors were able to perform for a much larger audience.

Partin said that they also collaborate with the Calcasieu Parish library system, Calcasieu Parish School Board and Calcasieu Parish Police Jury in regards to securing venues and providing performers.

Banners offers memberships and sponsorships, which are a main funnel of financial support.

“One of the challenges of this region is that there are so many talented folks, and so many people that love the arts, and yet we are not quite to the stage where large productions can survive on audience turnout alone.”

The packages, as well as the 2024 Cultural Season calendar, are available for viewing online at banners.org.