Fostering Art & Culture in Acadiana

Opportunities for Artists

Are you a practicing artist interested in showing your work at Acadiana Center for the Arts?

We’re happy to offer the opportunity to submit your exhibition proposal for consideration.

Visual artists working in any medium are encouraged to apply.

Applications are open year-round and reviewed on a quarterly basis.

Exhibition Proposal

Grant Writing Intensive

This 3-part workshop is open to artists working across all disciplines! 

Over 3 weeks, you'll gain confidence in your fundraising & proposal writing abilities and develop a solid road map to begin the process. 

A central goal of the workshop series is to understand how to incorporate fundraising & proposal writing into your artistic practice - so that it becomes an organic step in moving your projects forward

Find Out More

Culturally Responsive Teaching Through Collage

Professional Development Workshop for teachers of all grade levels
Presented by Callie Smith, PhD., Museum Educator at Hilliard Art Museum & Claire Amy, PhD., Assistant Professor of Art Education at ULL

Our identities are a collage of our life experiences. Join us to examine what it means to be culturally responsive in our teaching and learning practices.
Through art-making and discussion, we will practice (re)naming and (re)framing our understanding of ourselves with the goal of creating an inclusive learning environment.

*This workshop will take place at The Hilliard Art Museum – University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
*This workshop is FREE for AcA Teaching Artists, UL Students, & Lafayette Parish School System Teachers

Reserve Your Spot

Artist Round-Up:
Show & Tell

Join us for another Artist Round Up! This session will be an open mic for all art forms. This can be any type of presentation – bring your past work, a current project, or an artistic topic you are passionate about to share with other like-minded artists.
This is a free event hosted by AcA’s Creative Acadiana workshop series.

December 14th

Leyla McCalla

Thursday, December 14, 7:30pm
Louisiana Crossroads series, presented by First Horizon

Born out of a multi-disciplinary theater project commissioned by Duke University, which acquired the complete Radio Haiti archives in 2016, Breaking The Thermometer combines original compositions and traditional Haitian tunes with historical broadcasts and contemporary interviews to forge an immersive sonic journey through a half century of racial, social, and political unrest.

The music is captivating, fueled by rich, sophisticated melodic work and intoxicating Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and the juxtaposition of voices—English and Kreyòl, personal and political, anecdotal and journalistic—is similarly entrancing, raising the dead as it shines a light on the enduring spirit of the Haitian people.

McCalla isn’t just some detached observer here, though; she writes with great insight and introspection, examining her own journey of growth and self-discovery as she uncovers the Radio Haiti story and the inextricable ties that bind us all to it.

Get Tickets Now!

We're Having a Ball!

AcA's Annual Gala - Pelican Ball

When: Saturday, December 2, 2023 - 6:30-10pm 
Where: Acadiana Center for the Arts' James Devin Moncus Theater
Tickets: $125 per person 
Ticket Includes: food + open bar + live music by the Iguanas (New Orleans) + live art entertainment + Pelican on Parade auction
Ticket Purchase Supports: AcA's programs that bring national acts of music & dance, thrilling theater productions, and cutting-edge visual arts exhibitions to Lafayette. Your support also helps expand AcA’s community programs, which include professional development for practicing artists and Arts in Education experiences for more than 80 schools across the region, impacting 43,000 students per year.
Auction: Can't have Pelican Ball without the pelicans! This event features a live and silent auction, which is the only opportunity to receive a Pelicans on Parade for your business or home.
Presenting Sponsor: Haynie Family Foundation
Benefactor Sponsors: Elaine & Ed Abell, Tracy & Kevin Moody, Jim Rees & Jeannine Lanoux, Dr. and Mrs. William “Kip” Schumacher, Tides Medical
Patron Sponsors: Dr. Ronnie Daigle & Dr. Patricia Cran, Mrs. Ann Dobie, Tracy & Bryan Frentz, Karren & Tommy Hays, Kiki, Daphne & E.J. Krampe, Dr. Mary B. Neiheisel, Dr. Lawrence & Lindsay Simon
Pelican Ball 2023 Honorees: Vicki Chrisman, Dan Hare, Randy & Daynese Haynie, and Dr. Gerd Wuestemann

We honor these individuals, and we celebrate our thriving culture in the best way we know how: with a night full of food, music, and artful surprises amidst the core ‘flock’ of Acadiana’s cultural community.

Support AcA with a Ticket to Pelican Ball

Tickets Make Great Gifts

Series Tickets available now through December 11

AcA Members get advance access to series tickets PLUS a 15% discount!

Already a member? Check your email - ticket access is in your inbox.

Not an active member? Join or renew your membership today at any level to access early-bird series tickets at a 15% discount!

Announcing Recipients for 2 Grant Programs Distributing Almost $150k for Art Projects & Operational Support.

Acadiana Center for the Arts announced recipients for state-funded Louisiana Project Grants for Acadiana based art projects and city-funded operational grants for Lafayette parish based arts and cultural organizations. 

Lafayette Consolidated Government External Agencies Funding Program Arts & Culture 2023-2024, will fund 10 non-profit arts and cultural organizations in Lafayette Parish a total of $50,000.
The funded organizations are Louisiana Folk Roots Inc, Basin Arts, Southern Screen Festival, Heritage Parc, Louisiana Crafts Guild, Performing Arts Serving Acadiana, Chorale Acadienne, Inc., Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Children's Museum of Acadiana, Cite des Arts.

The Louisiana Project Grant (LPG) is funded by the Office of the Lt. Governor and the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism.
This program recognizes the importance of art and culture within all aspects of life in Louisiana and prioritizes projects that involve risk-taking, innovation, cross-parish partnerships and projects that account for the population of the region with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

Read the full press release here

On View in the Galleries

Martin Payton: Legacy of Form

Sept. 9, 2023 - Jan. 13, 2024
Main Gallery

Martin Payton (b.1948, New Orleans) comes from a family of accomplished New Orleanian musicians and holds at the core of his artistic practice the styles of improvisation and African Polyrhythms embedded in New Orleans Jazz.

Payton’s sculptures resemble silhouettes suggestive of traditional African forms with a minimalist, modern personality. 

Using found materials gathered at the scrap yard, Payton composes sculptures of juxtaposition and improvisation that are the artist’s visual equivalent of improvisational Jazz.

Payton’s approach to this composition involves pulling and placing alternating options until he finds the right relation between parts, once found, then setting the form in place.

Open Studio Acadiana

Nov. 11 – Dec. 16, 2023
Coca-Cola Studio

Open Studio Acadiana 2023 is an exhibition of artworks at the Acadiana Center for the Arts highlighting local artists participating in this year’s open studio tour happening throughout Acadiana on November 18th and 19th, 2023, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day.
The exhibition at AcA is only one piece of the Open Studio Tours Acadiana experience.

Ralph Schexnaydre: Translating the Sun

Nov. 11, 2023 – Jan. 13, 2024
Side Gallery

The works presented in this exhibition consist of lumen and cyanotype prints. The images were created using plant materials collected along Bayou Teche, local roadsides, and on the property of his current residence.
These common plants are cut and reassembled in which the components are transformed from our “normal” descriptions of what we know to something more celestial, more mysterious, and spiritual.

Stop By & Visit Us!

Our Café and Galleries are open
Tuesday – Saturday from 9am - 5pm.