The Arts Grants for Teachers program is funded by the Lafayette Parish School System and coordinated by Acadiana Center for the Arts. The purpose of this grant program is to encourage teachers to design and develop artistically creative and innovative projects involving the visual and performing arts. Applications for the 2024-2025 cycle is open through Friday, August 30, 2024 at 4:00pm. For dates, application assistance and more, click here.

The Big Fat Clothing Swap is an all gender clothing swap for sizes Large and up. The event will take place on August 10, 1-4pm at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. They are accepting donations now through July 31st. For more info on how, where, and what to donate and more, visit their official Instagram page @thebigfatclothingswap. https://www.instagram.com/thebigfatclothingswap/

On view in the Main Gallery at Acadiana Center for the Arts: Ceramics Now: Contemporary and Traditional Practices in Acadiana. From the functional and traditional forms we are most familiar with, to the purely visual and Avant-garde, this exhibition looks at the scope of ceramics being made around Acadiana today. This exhibition is on view June 8, 2024 – August 10, 2024. For more information, click here.

On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at 5:30 pm, the Zydeco Historical & Preservation Society, Inc. (ZHPS), in partnership with the Clifton Chenier Centennial Committee will host a Clifton Chenier Centennial and Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki Restoration Project Fundraiser at Arpeggio’s located at 204 N Main Street in Opelousas, Louisiana. Musical Performances by: CJ Chenier, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Anthony Dopsie, Dwayne Dopsie, RJ Smoove, Corey Ledet, Lil Jeff Boutte. House band led by Lee Allen Zeno.For more information and where to donate, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clifton-chenier-centennial-slims-y-ki-ki-restoration-project-fundraiser-tickets-947325896257

Learn about career opportunities in Lafayette and surrounding areas for justice involved and formerly incarcerated persons and their families. Employers with current career openings will exhibit. 2nd Chance Job Fair is free and open to the public! The event will be happening Wednesday, July 24, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon at the Heymann Convention Center (1373 S. College Road, Lafayette, LA).For more information and a list of employers in attendance, visit https://lafayette.org/local-jobs/2ndchance

The 44th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival will be held in airconditioned Prather Coliseum on the Northwestern State University campus in Natchitoches on Saturday, July 20. The 2024 festival theme is “The Old Songs Live Forever!” The festival’s curated showcase of Louisiana folk artists, food vendors, and crafts vendors will open at 9 am, with live entertainment scheduled for 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.For more information, visit https://www.nsula.edu/the-44th-annual-natchitoches-nsu-folk-festival/

The Community Impact Fellows (CIF) program is the newest program of the Leadership Institute of Acadiana. This topic-based solutions-oriented program will provide participants with the knowledge and skillsets they need to take an idea for community impact and transform it into an actionable project plan. This program’s purpose is to build off of the insights gained through Leadership Lafayette and like leadership programs, leading to a greater Acadiana and beyond. More information found at https://leadacadiana.org/programs/cif/

Anna Kojevnikov of the Acadiana Center of the Arts speaks with KRVS about Lafayette Consolidated Government's Arts & Culture Operations Grant. This Lafayette Consolidated Government sponsored, Acadiana Center for the Arts administered, Arts and Culture Funding Program is designed to support the operations of arts and culture organizations that will significantly enhance the arts and cultural life of the community, while promoting local artists and the arts in Lafayette Parish. For more information and where to apply, visit https://acadianacenterforthearts.org/opportunities-for-organizations/lcg-arts-culture-grant/

Dr. Gary LaFleur Jr., Director of The Center for Bayou Studies, discusses this month's upcoming Bayou Culture Collaborative Gathering happening July 19, 2024, featuring Dr. Quenton Fontenot and his Cajun Music Preservation Society. Louisiana Folklore Society offers the Bayou Culture Gatherings in order to help connect those interested in the human dimension of coastal issues through monthly gatherings to learn and share. Each gathering features a topic for discussion in addition to news, announcements, and questions. Topics range from the practical, such as how to help threatened community museums, to policy discussion, such as how to include cultural durability in the community resilience conversation, to sessions that are devoted to simply sharing cultural traditions, such as a hike to forage wolfberry along brackish marshes.For more information and where to sign up, visit https://www.louisianafolklore.org/?page_id=1215

Homegrown from Lafayette and living in NYC, Paige Barnett Kulbeth is an artist acclaimed for her innovative integration of dance, music and video technology. Her debut stage show, Holy Animals, consists of larger-than-life projections, live music and a combination of modern and classical dance. Loosely based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, the evening will unfold across the circles of Hell, the terraces of Purgatory and the celestial spheres of Heaven. The twist? These ethereal happenings will be retold through the female characters’ perspectives, transforming this classic story into a loud & proud, girl-power anthem! Showings: July 11th, 7:30pm and July 12th, 7:30pm.For more information and tickets visit https://acadianacenterforthearts.org/events/holy-animals/