President/CEO, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge; co-founder, Mid City Dance Project; attorney
Formerly: Executive director at The Manship Theatre; educator
“With Mid City Dance Project teaching at-risk children dance and creativity, we had been performing for a few years. But that first issue of 225 helped people embrace our group in new ways. If you look at the photo, the commitment to fully represent all in Baton Rouge is really important. To beautifully depict everyone in that photo in a way they had not been shown ever before, it said a lot about what 225 was going to be committed to. And it’s thrilling to see the Melrose East area now get the attention and the financial backing to support a bigger vision for the neighborhood.
2005 was the year of Katrina, and here we are in 2020, the year of the pandemic. How do you celebrate when you have these forces beyond your control dictating so much of life? I think the answer is in how Baton Rouge has grown in the last 15 years, overcoming challenges, and supporting what’s good and unique to us.
The Shaw Center for the Arts opened in 2005, and that sprung from the Create Baton Rouge strategic plan of the ’90s, the same plan the Arts Council went back to for the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center opening in 2021. The Crest Stage, and all the greenspaces, the Downtown Development Districts efforts, Repentance Park, the bike trails, and the launch of 225. All this connectivity is accomplished through creativity.
One of the first performances at the Shaw Center was by Mid City Dance Project: The Fading Line, about the 1953 Baton Rouge bus boycott. In 2007, Greg Williams Jr. started New Venture Theatre, a force in our community opening the door for people of color to perform quality productions.
We’ve had many events and talented performers that started here under the radar but now have national acclaim. Women In Dance Leadership Conference moved to NYU and will now be in Chicago. It’s a vital conversation around dance, and it started in 2015 in Baton Rouge.
NOVEMBER 2005: “There’s a lot of talent, but not a lot of opportunity for these kids to be introduced to ballet. For some of them, it’s the only time they’ll ever get to perform.”—Renee Chatelain, in a story in 225’s inaugural issue about the 11th year of Mid City Dance Project
With the Arts Council’s Ebb and Flow festival, we’ve put connectivity at the center. The dream is to have recreational barges that connect LSU, downtown and Southern University by the river.
Baton Rouge is becoming less self-deprecating, but we can go farther by recognizing and elevating new talent, celebrating our people and embracing new ideas.”
This article was originally published in the November 2020 issue of 225 Magazine.
