Ms. Allison Barron Brandon is the Founder of Wonderland Performing Arts & serves as the company’s President. Allison grew up in Lafayette, LA as a dance enthusiast. She studied ballet, tap, & jazz during her childhood and went on to enjoy and study the genres of modern dance, show choir, and musical theatre as a teenager & adult. She has a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans & a Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts: Theatre from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.She’s been privileged to attend workshops with the American Theatre Wing & The International...

A two time United States Artists nominee in dance and Creative Capital award winner, as a teenager, Millicent Johnnie hosted a local social justice TV show met by protests from the KKK; she traces her professional determination and commitment to social issues in Black culture to this early opposition. Former choreographer for Walt Disney Creative Entertainment’s Frozen; receiving awards for “BEST DIRECTOR” and “BEST MUSICAL” for her direction and choreography of RENT produced by Ferndale Theater, Johnnie also directed and choreographed West Side Story in South Africa for the historic Howard Theater. Performing in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic...

Syd Horn is a multidisciplinary artist from Lafayette, Louisiana. She produces independent films, abstract paintings, and original music for Honest Art, a production agency she shares with documentary photographer, Olivia Perillo. Their films have been received internationally. Her creative work draws upon cultural and political analyses, self-investigation, grief, love, anddeath. Who makes up your art circle? Olivia Perillo is my ride or die collaborator. I work with her every day. We started a productioncompany in 2019 called Honest Art. Our relationship has grown astronomically throughout ourtime working together, revealing the enormous growth potential possible on both personal andintrapersonal levels—when working...

Greta Gerstner started off her photography career in college at Nicholls State University where she got her degree in Fine Arts with a focus in Photography. She has been working as a freelance photographer since 2012, focusing primarily on creative photography and collaboration with other artists. Greta also became an event coordinator in 2016 after helping produce non-profit events for four years. Her primary subject matter to photograph is dance and movement. Who makes up your art circle? To be honest my art circle is a little sparse right now but my work that I have created recently is all thanks to...

My name is Benjamin Adam Koch. I’m 32 years old. I’m a gay male Cajun living in Lafayette, Louisiana. I’m a multi- disciplined visual artist and art educator for Lafayette Public School System. I was born and raised in Crowley, Louisiana. I grew up in a private, Catholic school environment. When I was 12, I realized I had Jewish ancestry and family. My belief in religion evolved into something more individualized rather than institutionalized. At 15, I came out of the closet. Another reason I paved my own spiritual path and journey. I became very interested in the world, especially...

A native of Eunice, Louisiana artist Vivian Broussard holds a degree in Art Education from USL (UL-Laf). Currently working in acrylics, her work is inspired by a love of nature and symbolism. The mind’s eye is the genesis of imagery. Vivian intuitively layers color and constructs forms inspired from observations of the world around her. She describes her art as an “attempt to emulate an interior experience, a feeling I get from observation of land around me or from contemplating Spirit.” Aside from self inspired pieces, Vivian has painted at the request of local charities and commissions. She has also...

Stuart Welch is a compulsive hobbyist and tinkerer from Lafayette. He spends his weekdays doing law and his nights and weekends doing anything else. For the past few years that “anything else” has included making a lot of music and visual art, usually in weeks-long bursts of activity and often at a breakneck pace. Most of his non-collaborative work takes the form of short and scrappy music videos or animations in the vein of sketches, often focusing on learning techniques or playing with ideas that can be useful for larger projects and collaborations. In his own work, at least, he’s...

Lex R. Thomas (b. 1996) is a queer, non-binary artist with a focus on figurativework, and who currently works and lives in Lafayette, Louisiana. Raised in the ruraloutskirts of small-town Kaplan, Louisiana, Lex grew up surrounded by the natural world and all its creative energy.Lex moved to Lafayette at age 19 (2015) to reinvent their identity, as both aperson and an artist, by searching for meaning while studying music and art at theUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette. Ongoing issues with chronic pain and mental health spurred them to transition from the traditional structure of higher education to one of self-care...

I don’t have any formal training to “be an artist”, but I didn’t need any to spend my childhood creating collages, paintings, drawings, collecting cool rocks and making things in my room. As a child growing up I was basically a boy scout, I took a lot of inspiration from hiking and camping and the vintage fieldguides that once graced my fingertips. As a young adult, I took a lot of inspiration from working on farms, foraging, planting, harvesting, caring for the animals. And eventually I took all that inspiration and my absolute love for learning and followed them to...

Lauren “Lola” Hémard is a multi-craft artist, educator, and naturalist from New Orleans. Patterns in nature and energetic connections have been the main guiding curiosities behind her art-making. Ben Usie is a musician, songwriter, and performance artists who performs as Bruisey Peets. Usie leaned into visual arts as mental health therapy during the pandemic lockdown, thanks largely to the influence and encouragement of Lauren Hémard. Usie explores the blending of sci-fi, fantasy and existential capitalist dread with a dose of clownish whimsy.  Lauren and Ben practice turn-by-turn collaborations and encourage everyone to create art.  Who makes up your art circle?...