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...
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...
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...
Madison Graves is a performance artist and educator based out of Lafayette Parish. She has been studying and performing different styles since childhood and received her BFA in Dance from UL in 2020. Most recently, Madison performed in Paige Barnett’s A Song of Visions, a site-specific work in Washington, LA, and José Limon’s A Choreographic...
Since 2008 Kristie Mayeaux has been a working artist, academic and contemplative. She has foundations in painting with a growing interdisciplinary investigation on the intersections of the Anthropocene and Spirituality. With this work she hopes to provide insight to our interdependence with one another and the natural world, and to deepen her own connection to...
Terrance Morgan began training as a self-taught dancer doing mostly free-style (improvisation), which is when he first was introduced to the hip hop dance style of B-Boying. This led to him becoming an original member of a local dance group called Kabuki Kru. Terrance began traveling throughout the U.S. to participate in underground B-Boy Battles,...
I call myself the Freelance Cajun, Seemed like a good ear-catching name that serves as an umbrella title for some of the things that I do. My passions lie in music, photography, and sharing food from southwest Louisiana. I have a deep connection and sense of place in south Louisiana through its music, culture, and...
I’ve always loved to move. Being a kinesthetic learner, I’ve always relied on movement to help me improve both mentally and physically. I definitely did the ballet-tap-jazz thing when I was younger but it wasn’t really until high school that I learned how to channel my emotions through dance. This made dancing almost hypnotic for...
Emily Spikes is a painter born, raised, and working in Lafayette, Louisiana. Her work is influenced primarily by the sights, sounds, and traditions of Louisiana culture. Her biggest goal with her work is to remind the viewer that even the most simple elements of our culture are filled with beauty and intrigue. She spends most days creating...
I fell in love with dance at the young age of three years old. What started off as rolling around on the floor and making up dances for my friends and family turned into a lifelong passion. I studied dance extensively through my adolescence and high school. After a short hiatus from dance a few months...
