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...

Jessie Quantrille is a 24 year old artist originally from Baton Rouge who lives in Lafayette, LA. A multi disciplinary creative, Jessie is a dancer, choreographer, and graphic designer by trade. She was a competitive dancer from age of 4 to 18 and has trained in New York and Los Angeles on scholarship under some of the best instructors and professionals in the dance industry. After graduating high school, Jessie eventually ended up in Lafayette where she enrolled as an art student at UL, and started her first job as a fitness instructor at Basin Arts. While studying visual arts...

Michelle Colón, known artistically as Malentina, is a singer-songwriter, stage and film actress, producer and writer from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She completed her bachelor’s degree in interior design at Louisiana State University in 2013 and has lived in Lafayette, Louisiana ever since. Lafayette, renowned for its cultural celebration, inspired Michelle to dig into her own culture. In seeking connection with local Latin communities in her area, she found that bridging cultures was harder than she expected. This new perspective has fueled a life-changing passion to become a performing artist to highlight her culture in her region, and also to inspire...

My name is Paul Kieu, and I’m a photographer based right here in Downtown Lafayette. I’m originally from Vermilion Parish, and these days I primarily work in editorial and commercial photography. Through that work, I’m able to travel around the state to photograph a wide variety of things from obvious subjects like Mardi Gras to obscure small-town museums and single day festivals.  After spending the formative years of my career (and my early 20’s) in photojournalism, I naturally see the world through that lens, constantly curious (or nosy?) and drawing inspiration from the people and places of Louisiana. I’m constantly...

Lafayette, Louisiana native and Boulder, Colorado transplant, Helanius J. Wilkins is a choreographer, performance artist, educator, and innovator who lives in a country where, not even for a moment, is he allowed to forget he is Black. Wilkins’ creative research and projects are rooted in the interconnections of American contemporary performance, cultural history, and identities of Black men. His projects examine the raced dancing body and ways ritual can access knowledge. He uses remembering to piece together and liberate Black identity through performance. Having choreographed 60+ works, honors include Pola Nirenska Award for Contemporary Achievement in Dance (DC’s highest honor, given by...