Northwest Louisiana has plenty of arts options

Where else would you find Academy Award winners, Louisiana state officials and artists from around the area noshing on gourmet food and drinks while looking at paintings, storyboards, mockups of buildings and filmed scenes from movies but at artspace?

About 100 artists, art patrons and supporters, including animators and filmmakers from Shreveport’s own Moonbot Studios, were introduced to Cheryl Castille, the new executive director of the Louisiana Division of the Arts at an event at artspace in late June.

Castille came to Northwest Louisiana to meet members of the arts and cultural community on her tour of the state just weeks into her new job. Joined by Phil Boggan, assistant secretary for the Office of Cultural Development, and Deputy Assistant Kristin Sanders, the visitors reported they liked what Shreveport had to offer.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” said Cheryl Castille, speaking at the gathering of artists and supporters. “There is so much going on here. Not just in Shreveport, but in the surrounding parishes. I’m coming to develop a relationship with the region (and) to hear good things that are going on as well as the struggles.”

Castille encouraged artists to begin thinking about making money, something many artists feel reluctant to include as part of plans to live their dream.

“Artists are small business owners,” said Castille. “We have to talk about the arts as a business.”

Moonbot is one of the most successful businesses in animation, employing more than 50 people in Shreveport and having won Oscars, Emmys and Cannes Lions for film, Clios for advertising, and Webbys for their work on the Internet.

Five members of the Moonbot creative team led a discussion about creating and executing their projects, and displays upstairs and downstairs at artspace were filled with works completed and the process leading up to the finished product. Videos and mockups of movie scenes are spaced throughout the galleries including a walk-in mini-movie theater. That exhibit is free and open to the public through Aug. 13.

Lighting technical director J.D.

Gardner, animation supervisor John Durbin, artist Renee Bates, developer Kathryn Scelina and creative director Limbert Fabian discussed Moonbot’s creative processes and how films progress from idea to execution.

Numerous events showcasing animation are planned in conjunction with the Moonbot “Phases” show, including a workshop with Bruce Smith, creator of the animation for Walt Disney’s “Tarzan” and “The Princess and the Frog” on Friday, July 8. That workshop costs $20 and is expected to sell out.

Children in grades six through 12 can participate in “Stop! Motion! Animate! Session 2” each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon July 9 through Aug. 13. Preregistration is required, and the cost is $120 per child or $100 each for two or more children.

On July 14 and July 16, Arthur Simone of Austin, Texas, brings his robot, Annabelle, to artspace to interact with the audience.

The Robinson Film Center and artspace team up with new restaurant Parish Taceaux for Sunday brunch and a Moonbot Matinee July 23. The restaurant just opened adjacent to artspace and just down the street from the film center. The feature “Flight of Moonbot Films” with an introduction by Moon bot’s

Bill Joyce and Limbert Fabian will be followed by a book signing.

In July, two winners of SRAC awards will show their work at artspace. Artist and photographer Devin Rachul, winner of the SRAC Critical Mass 4 art contest, will show her quirky and inventive selfportrait photography in her exhibit titled “Vine Escutcheon.”

“The literary best of show Critical Mass 4 winner was Ashley Havird, author of “Lightningstruck,” a novel set in the rural tobacco farming region of South Carolina in the mid-1960s. It is a coming of age story about an 11-yearold girl and a lightning-struck horse that helps her understand her imperfect world as the Civil Rights Movement takes hold in the rural South,” said SRAC publicist Pat Viser. “She will display excerpts from her novel, which targets young readers through adult, alongside photos from the Library of Congress that are illustrative of the time when her novel is set.”

Both Rachul and Havird received awards of $2,000 and an ad announcing their win in a national magazine, as well as the opportunity to show their work at artspace from July 21 to Aug. 20.

Viser said SRAC helps with the disbursement of awards and grants as well as offering great spaces for work to be shown and promoted.

“SRAC oversees a state and city grant program, awarding $500,000 to artists and arts organizations in Northwest Louisiana to implement arts programming in their communities,” said Viser.

Awards and promotions help artists who would otherwise be mainly on their own in a state where the legislature is taking extreme measures to fix a crisis caused by mismanagement and declining revenues.

Phil Boggan, assistant secretary of the Office of Cultural Development, said budget cuts necessitated by the enormous deficit facing the state affect the arts, cultural events and state parks, all crucial in maintaining Louisiana’s thriving tourism industry, which brings in $19 billion each year, with more than $28 million being returned to the state through taxes.

“It’s been an interesting legislative session,” said Bogan. “The legislators do not seem to understand the value art plays in this state. When legislators are here on their home turf, that’s when you as artists need to step up and be heard.” Federal grants and contributions from philanthropist are “the only reason we’ll still have a Division of the Arts,” said Bogan.

– Kathleen Ward

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Visit www.shrevearts.org, www.artspaceshreveport.com