Art has no season, but if it did, spring would be it for Northwest Louisiana

“Someone came to us at SRAC (Shreveport Regional Arts Council) and asked if there were any time of the year that was a focal point where we really put all we had into showing off Northwest Louisiana art,” said Pat Viser, director of SRAC public relations. “That’s where the idea for April Culture Crush came from.”

Beginning April 1, SRAC is bringing art event after art event to patrons, collectors, critics, artists and performers to create a frenzy of cultural activity – a critical mass of appreciation, engagement, applause and acknowledgement.

“SRAC’s ongoing mission is to nurture the artistic and creative well-being of the citizens of Shreveport and to develop, produce, promote, advocate for, educate and maximize access to the arts for all in Northwest Louisiana,” SRAC Executive Director Pam Atchison said.

For more than 40 years, SRAC has been working to create a complete eco-system for the development of the arts starting with hands-on art activities for the preschooler and advancing to encouraging art lovers to become collectors of local NWLA Roster Artists, who must be vetted by national critics.

“April Culture Crush will shine the light on both being a great artist and becoming an avid art collector,” Atchison said.

To begin, SRAC “sent out an artist call” to Northwest Louisiana Artist Directory.

“We asked if any artists were interested in applying to have a studio at artspace for that time period,” Viser said. “We also asked if anyone was interested in working with Lesli Marshall, a well-known mixed media artist from Dallas, or participating in Critical Mass 5 – that’s open to anyone who’s been a Northwest Louisiana Registered Artist for a year and submits one piece.”

Twelve persons were chosen to create murals that will kick off April Culture Crush during The Big Scene debut from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Saturday, April 1. Marshall worked with the chosen 12 to develop murals to mount on buildings throughout the nine blocks of the Shreveport Common neighborhood.

The second event of April Culture Crush is Critical Mass 5, the arts highlight of the year for regional performing, literary and visual artists.

“This annual event encourages Northwest Louisiana artists – always more than 100 of them – to perform or submit their work for critique by nationally recognized critics and compete for a chance at $2,000 and the title of ‘Best of Show,’” Viser said. “This year, there are 106 artists.”

Divided into two events, Critical Mass 5 Performing Arts Showcase will take place from 6 until 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at Central Artstation.

The Visual and Literary Competition will be from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at artspace.

This year seven area artists will also set up temporary studios at artspace, where they will showcase how they work during Critical Mass 5.

Lisandra T. Di Liberto Brown, Eric Francis, Sarah Joy Lewis, James Marks, Sherry Tamburo, Robert Trudeau and Kathryn Usher will create, work, demonstrate and sell their art to the public from April 6 until May 13.

Another goal of April Culture Crush is to encourage individuals to become art collectors.

“These are true patrons of the visual and performing artists of Northwest Louisiana who commit to collect local art and support the artists by attending performances, exhibitions and other art events throughout the year,” Viser said. “The program SRAC has designed for collectors asks them to make a three-year commitment to buy one piece from a collectible artist each year but, more importantly, to become true patrons of a NWLA artist by attending the artist’s exhibitions and inviting friends.”

SRAC is adding 26 new collectible NWLA artists to its existing list of almost 40 in 2017. The collectible artists are deemed worthy of collecting after a rigorous evaluation by visiting national art critics who are some of the most respected in their fields. They include Robert Pincus, Ph.D., former critic for the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Tribune; David Kipen, former literary director for the National Endowment of the Arts where he directed “The Big Read”; and Mark Lowry, a founder of TheaterJones.com and a frequent contributor to the Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.

A “Meet and Greet” for critics, collectors and selected collectible artists will take place from 5 until 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, at Central Artstation. It will be followed by a discussion with a critics’ panel from 7 until 8 p.m. From 5 until 8 p.m. Friday, April 7, Ruston and Minden artists will host Artist Studio Tours, while Shreveport and Bossier artists take the baton from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday, April 8, and from noon until 3 p.m. Sunday, April 9.

“During these tours, you can meet and visit with the working artists of NWLA to see how they create, what they exhibit and hear what motivates and inspires them,” Viser said.

Tours are open to the public. For a map of the Artists’ Studio locations or to sign up for trolley tours, contact the Shreveport Regional Arts Council at 673-6500.

“If you are interested in becoming a collector of a NWLA collectible artist, the Artist Studio Tours are your best opportunity to meet those artists whose work national critics, including me, have determined worthy of collecting,” said Robert Pincus, Ph.D. “People collect art for various reasons, but often one’s collection is a way of representing the inner self to the world. A collection might also represent a sense of social responsibility – the belief in the power of art to shape our world and to help us view it through another lens. Of course, it could also just be that the collector feels a kinship with the world of artists, curators and galleries and wants continued access.”

A tour of art collectors’ homes will be held Sunday, April 2. It will be open to those who are NWLA artists, collectors or who commit to become a collector. SRAC will provide trolley tours to area homes and businesses of local collectors.

The grand finale to April Culture Crush is Celebrate Education & ArtBreak Festival, where many young artists throughout the 10-parish NWLA region first experience art and become attached to creating it.

Beginning Monday, April 24, and running through Sunday, April 30, SRAC will host the 33rd Annual ArtBreak Festival, the largest annual student arts festival in the South, at the Shreveport Convention Center featuring more than 100 Caddo and Bossier Parish and private schools, more than 50 hands-on art learning activities, more than 100 school and community performances, more than 3,000 student works of art and almost $22,000 in cash awards.

This year ArtBreak welcomes the allnew Film Prize Junior competition – a high-energy little brother of the awardwinning Louisiana Film Prize. High school students will present a three- to 10-minute film and compete for a $5,000 media grant for the winning student’s school, $1,000 for the sponsor and an additional $1,000 for the school to celebrate the cinematic achievement of the student filmmakers.

“The Shreveport Regional Arts Council has garnered a national reputation for continually building on their successes for providing artists and arts organizations the programs and services needed to thrive in Northwest Louisiana,” said Henry Price, Caddo Parish arts administrator. “I don’t know any other organization that would take on the ambitious challenge of staging nine huge art events in one month, but SRAC has that kind of daunting commitment to stimulate the cultural economy in Northwest Louisiana. They do it over and over again, and always do it well.”

– Bonnie Culverhouse