Based in Lafayette, musician-songwriter Johanna Divine has written three original albums and co-wrote the celebrated musical Dream of the Marionettes, selected for the 2010 NYC International Fringe Festival. She has shared the stage with Louisiana greats David Egan, Sonny Landreth and Tommy McClain and had the privilege of working with international stars Joan Baez, Luther Dickinson and 12-time Grammy Award winning producer Jay Newland. In addition to her work as an artist, Johanna is general manager of The Current, Lafayette’s only nonprofit news organization, and serves as a board member for Basin Arts. She is a national W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow and was included in the 2021 Class of Leadership Louisiana. Johanna holds a Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies from Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Community Development from Prescott College.
Who makes up your art circle?
I’m lucky to get to work and play alongside many of my heroes — world class writers, musicians and performers here in Lafayette, New Orleans, Tennessee, NYC and overseas. Some of my favorite co-conspirators are Andre Michot, Christy Leichty, Daniel Coolik, Luther Dickinson and Sylvère “Sly” Johnson. All great artists with completely different talents and styles.
How do you expand your art circle?
Lafayette is the ever-expanding art circle! I work in an amazing organization and get to be around creative people doing cool stuff all day. I also love to visit new places. Travel, to me, is the best source of inspiration. I recently helped write some of the music for the original musical “Ms. Warbucks” that will be at the Acadiana Center for the Arts June 6-8, 2024. If you are reading this, you most likely know someone either in the play, in the band, or someone who wrote, built, painted or worked on it in some way. Original works like Ms. Warbucks help expand everyone’s art circle, including mine (and, hopefully, yours!).
What value do you see in having a creative community?
I came to Lafayette to work on creative projects and stuck around because of the creative community here. There is an incredible group of writers, musicians, dancers, visual and performing artists here and it inspires me to be around so many talented folks. There’s immense value in the surprise collaboration that happens here. More often than not, I’ll start a project with one idea in mind and by the time it’s finished it has evolved into something much richer because of the collaboration that inevitably happens in the process. That’s the best part of living and working with a bunch of creatives.
How does your artistic approach contribute to your community?
Over time I’ve learned to focus more on possibility than limitation, more on collaboration than resistance. Beyond any individual artistic endeavor I might undertake, I hope this approach contributes to some greater good here in Lafayette. That might look like a silly song in a local musical that makes people laugh, or the steady growth of a newsroom that helps inform and engage local citizens. In both cases, I’m happy to play a small part in a collective effort.
Our weekly Art Circle series profiles artists throughout the community and is sponsored in part by Lafayette Visitor Enterprise Fund managed by Lafayette Travel
