Riley McCallum is a queer, interdisciplinary performance artist originally from rural Texas. He has a broad background of movement experiences, ranging from martial arts, musical theatre, and color guard to concert and street dance forms. In the final year of earning his BFA in Performing Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he was the artist in residence at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. At this time, he began exploring the integration of dance, technology, and immersive theatre. While earning his MFA at TWU in the dance program, starting in 2019, he furthered his research into immersive theatre...

Alyson Hetzel is a filmmaker, photographer, and dancer originally from Crowley, La. They obtained a BFA in Digital Filmmaking at Loyola University in New Orleans, where they also danced with Ellevate Dance Company, The Radical Buffoons, and in several local artists’ music videos. While at Loyola, they directed several short narratives and documentaries, specifically Mudbugs, which will be shown at the 33rd New Orleans Film Festival in November. Through images, one moving and one still, and dance, they enjoy creating intimate, personal and meaningful stories in collaboration with other incredible humans.  Who makes up your art circle? My art circle...

Sam Wróbel specializes in the Polish papercutting folk art of wycinanki. Born and raised near Chicago, Illinois, Sam learned to make wycinanki as a child from folk artist Doris Sikorsky. As an adult, Sam worked as an in-store sign artist for Trader Joes, and eventually left Chicago to travel. Sam encountered Lafayette and fell in love with the community and culture. Sam moved to Lafayette in 2017, and started Sparrow Papercraft in 2018 to share their wycinanki folk art with the world. With just paper and scissors (and sometimes the traditional tool, sheep shears), Sam creates intricate designs, often full of...

Lily is from Tallahassee, Florida, where she quickly fell in love with dance at a young age. She’s trained in multiple forms of dance, such as ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, musical theatre, hip hop, and tap. Lily moved to Lafayette in 2017 to major in Dance and Performing Arts at the University of Louisiana, at Lafayette, where she began her serious dance training and professional career. Along with several performances at the university, some of Lily’s most notable works include Gina Aswell’s “Every Place We Ever Lived” and a community performance of Ronald K. Brown’s “Walking Out the Dark”. After...

Lian Cheramie is an army brat originally from Lafayette, Louisiana. Lian received her BFA in Performing Arts at ULL, and she has been involved with Acting Up (in Acadiana) since it began in 2003. As a theatre artist, she enjoys Shakespeare, creating original works, and movement based work. She draws her ideas for her personal work from our Louisiana culture and language. In 2013, Lian collaborated with Sarah Mikayla Brown to create the original two-woman show Cajun Face. From 2013-2016, Lian and Sarah toured the show around the Acadiana area, as well as the New Orleans Fringe and the Chicago...

Sasha Massey was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana She’s also a ULL School of Musicgrad in vocal performance. Her earliest influences were jazz, motown soul, classical andmusical theater. Sasha is a lyric soprano with amazing improvisation and coloratura capabilitywith dramatic flare. As a child she could pick up accents, speaking and singing styles like achameleon. Shawn Roy, Director of Opera Studies, combined techniques and characterizationto fully develop her voice and stage presence. Under Roy she was able harness deep emotional connection in performance of any genre of music. Sasha is Cantor at St. John’s Cathedral, a position she has...

Growing up in Lafayette Louisiana, I was fortunate to be in an area defined by the AtchafalayaBasin, the prairies, the coastal marsh, the Gulf of Mexico, and other small gems scattered about the region. This environment was the stimulus of my beginning to understand how to see. My architect grandfather, Fred Nehrbass, provided me with “How to Draw…” books along with pencils and paper. The mixture of this diverse geographic location and basic drawing skills formed a foundation for my art that is still being built upon today. I participated in summer art instruction during middle school years and continued...

Alex Vidos is from and currently resides in Lafayette, Louisiana where she has been creating art for the last 10 years. Her paintings are inspired by the people, places, and music around her. She builds abstracted landscapes of different cultures where she’s lived from the marshes of Louisiana, the deserts of Mexico, and the tropical islands of the Philippines. With each piece, there is a connection to a song or album or artist. Anywhere from John Prine to Otis Redding to Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash. By connecting the colors of nature and the inspired sounds, Alex attempts to bring light to the room by creating an electric feel with...

Ajah Cox is a 24 year old dance instructor, choreographer, and artist from Abbeville,Louisiana. Ajah quickly fell in love with dance at six years old and it has been part ofher ever since. Ajah began her serious training at The Ballet Studio where she trainedballet and modern. As Ajah grew more and more passionate about dance, she begantraining in various styles of dance and also attending dance conventions such as TheStreetz, West Coast Dance Explosion, and Tremaine where she received manyscholarships. After graduating high school, Ajah began teaching at local dance studiosin the Abbeville/Lafayette area and was part of the...

Marla Kristicevich is a contemporary artist and environmental sculptor living and working in Lafayette, La.  Kristicevich uses natural objects, materials, and textures within her eco-installations that play on nostalgia and sense of place. She approaches her intuitive art-making process with an ephemeral philosophy when creating her work. Kristicevich is interested in the visual impact and creative imprint she can leave with the viewer. The process of collecting natural materials, the geographical location and the impermanence of these materials are very important and play an integral part in her work. Kristie Cornell is a self-taught photographer in Lafayette, Louisiana. Trained as...