AC23 - Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge

Original Air Date: 10/8/2023 - Internationally renowned watercolor artist Judi Betts has been painting since she was a little girl. In celebration of her 60-year career, a retrospective of her work is on exhibit at the LSU Museum of Art and Manship Gallery through the end of the year. For this week’s AC23 podcast, she takes a trip down memory lane with host Pam Bordelon, sharing stories from aroun...

Original Air Date: 10/1/23 - ACGBR President/CEO Renée Chatelain and fellow dancer Kaitlyn Odell talk about Dance For All, a multi-tiered program created to widen dance opportunities to those with disabilities and/or limited access to the art form and supported by a grant from the Pennington Family Foundation. Specifically, they talk about the current six-week AdaptativeDance course that begins th...

Original Air Date: 9/24/23 - Kevin Couhig is a storyteller, retired businessman, and a recovering politician. Since retiring, he's made writing his focus, putting the same energy into storytelling as he did to building ventures. He visits with host Pam Bordelon about becoming an author; his first novel, A Man for Others; and the book he is writing now, tentatively titled If One of Them is Dead. 

Original Air Date: 9/10/23 - We do not sing because we are happy. We are happy because we sing.~William James. No truer words have ever been spoken, unless you consider the anonymous quote, A happy child is a child that sings. Those sentiments are part of the driving force behind Christian Vigé, founder and director of the Greater Baton Rouge Children's Choir. He sits down with host Pam Bordelon t...

Original Air Date: 9/17/23 - Scott Sullivan-an independent film writer, producer and director as well as founder of the independent film production company Sulliscope Films. He talks with host Pam Bordelon about his recent project with East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore on the independent film–Chances, which delves into ways to address the trauma of gang and gun violence plaguing our...

Original Air Date: 8/27/23 - On Aug. 15 Mayor Sharon Weston Broome introduced Dr. Taylor Scott as Baton Rouge’s new Poet Laureate. Find out more about this talented poet and lyricist as she sits down with host Pam Bordelon for this week’s AC23 podcast.

Original Air Date: 8/20/23 - 225 Theatre Collective is staging its most ambitious production to date this month –  Shawshank Redemption . Join host Pam Bordelon as she visits with director and founder Stephanie Bartage and actor Rick LeCompte, who brings to life the iconic character Brooksie. The play runs Aug. 25-27 at the LSU School of Music & Dramatic Arts. 

Original Air Date: 8/13/23 - Currently hanging in the Shell Gallery at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center is the annual Members+ Exhibition, showcasing works by member artists, plus a few we just found too irresistible to pass up. This Sunday, host Pam Bordelon talks with curator Lundyn Herring and participating artists Matt Beshears and David Kors for a behind-the-scenes peek leading up to th...

Original Air Date: 8/6/23 - Host Pam Bordelon chats with Mark Tullos, the new executive director of the LSU Museum of Art. The Baton Rouge native returned home after a seven-year absence with his wife to lead the university’s flagship museum, and he’s got some big plans. He shares what they are, as well as how he got into the museum field and more.

Original Air Date: 7/30/23 - On June 29, the Baton Rouge Symphony introduced Adam Johnson as its new music director. Tune in this week for his first in-depth interview with host Pam Bordelon and get the scoop on BRSO's new maestro. And, help welcome him to Baton Rouge during a slew of Meet the Maestro events Aug. 5-9

Original Air Date: 7/23/23 - This week, host Pam Bordelon sits down with Leonard Augustus, who's being inducted into the Theatre Baton Rouge Hall of Fame later this month. They talk about how he got started on his journey as an actor and dancer, and why he gives back so generously to his community - like participating in Dancing for Big Buddy since its inception 15 years ago. 

Original Air Date: 7/16/23 - Dancer and choreographer Roxi Victorian is a mother of three and, like all moms, she worries about her children’s safety. She channeled those concerns to create Mama’s Gun: The Choreography of Mothering While Black . She shares the story of her journey with host Pam Bordelon in this week’s edition of AC23.

Original Air Date: 7/9/23 - For 20 years, Family Dinner Improv Comedy Troupe has been making folks laugh. You can often catch them at the Manship, keeping you in stitches as they engage the Hartley-Vey audience in their improvisational antics or poking fun at some of our favorite movies during one of their spoof nights in the main theatre, which they do this Friday night with She’s All That . Host...

Original Air Date: 7/2/23 - For the month of July, Baton Rouge Gallery is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Baton Rouge Swim-In, when more than three dozen Black activists approached the segregated City Park Pool to protest Jim Crow-era policies that prevented them from enjoying a pool their tax dollars helped construct. Prevented by law enforcement from entering the pool, the resulting co...

Original Air Date: 6/25/23 - Mike Esneault, ACGBR’s Director of Music Education & Advancement, takes over the recording studio for this week’s AC23 for a jam session with award-winning Creole banjo-guitar player and vocalist Don Vappie. Listen in as the duo plays a little music and chats about NewOrleans, jazz and the Creole culture.

Original Air Date: 06/18/23 - Host Pam Bordelon gets up close and personal with Grammy and Emmy award-winning composer Mike Esneault, the newest member of the Arts Council staff. They talk about his music career, years teaching in the EBR Schools System, receiving the 2023 Alvin Batiste Hall of Distinction Award and about his upcoming contributions to AC23. This is one podcast you don’t want to mi...

Original Air Date: 06/11/23 - Byron Washington had a dream–to revitalize his Scotlandville neighborhood, and the idea for a vendors market was born. Then he teamed up with buddy DexterJackson and kicked things up a notch. Scotland Saturday is the result of love and dedication on the part if these two who have curated a 13-week concert/market for this north Baton Rouge community.

Original Air Date: 6/4/23 - Michael Crespo Fellowship Award recipient Rob Carpenter joins host Pam Bordelon for this week’s AC23 podcast. This Mississippi native, who served as a professor of painting and drawing at Nicholls State University from 1991–2012, shares how he got his start as an artist in the Mississippi Delta and ended up in South Louisiana. The award was established by Cary Saurage a...

Original Air Date: 5/28/23 - Ben Peabody is an artist, art teacher, former politician and recovering addict. He explores his journey to sobriety via his art and now uses those works to help others on their journey. He talks with host Pam Bordelon about his one-man show, End the Stigma of Addiction through Art & Education, which hangs for another 10 days at theWest Baton Rouge Museum

Original Air Date: 5/21/23 - Maxine Crump was the first Black woman to live in a dorm at LSU, the first Black woman DJ on Baton Rouge radio and the first Black reporter on Baton Rouge TV, so it’s not surprising that she’s the driving force behind Dialogues on Race Louisiana. She visits with AC23 host Pam Bordelon to talk about her journey from the days of Jim Crow to the issues we face today.

Original Air Date: 5/14/23 - With 60 staring her in the face, Baton Rouge marketing executive Melinda Walsh, a longtime “amateur” runner, set herself a goal - run a half marathon. She shares her inspiring, often hilarious and always honest journey with host Pam Bordelon as they talk about Melinda’s just-released book, Outrunning Age: Meeting Midlife with Courage, Compassions & a Few Bruises .

Original Air Date: 5/7/23 - New Orleans bass player Peter Harris closes out our Jazz Listening Room series for 2022-23 with an intimate performance in the Virginia & John Noland Black Box Studio at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center. While he was busy with performances at New Orleans Jazz Fest, he took a few minutes to visit with host Pam Bordelon for a deeper dive into how he went from a kid...

Original Air Date: 4/30/23 - Of Moving Colors Artistic Director Garland Goodwin Wilson joins AC23 host Pam Bordelon to talk about its upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello as well as OMC’s Dance for Parkinson’s program and the presentation of its Legacy Award to former LSU Women’s Gymnastics Coach D-D Breaux. And, as OMC celebrates its 35th anniversary, what does the future look like for Ba...

Original Air Date: 4/9/23 - Baton Rouge Poet Laureate Jonathan Mayers spent several weeks working with middle schoolers at Helix Legal Academy introducing them to Kouri Vini, the Louisiana French Creole language, and helping them learn to express themselves through poetry. Hear about their experiences and prepare to be touched as Tierney Payne and Caden Rogers recite some of the poems they wrote.

Original Air Date: 3/19/23 - Blues Fest, one of the nation’s fastest growing blues festivals of its kind, and Sunday in the Park, a series of five Sunday afternoon outdoor concerts, are two of Baton Rouge’s favorite spring events. Kim Neustrom, Executive Director of the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation, and Arts Council Vice President Jonathan Grimes join host Pam Bordelon to talk about this year’s im...