ACA head Wuestemann talks Acadiana culture

For Dr. Gerd Wuestemann, executive director for the Acadiana Center for the Arts, the arts are just about all he’s ever known.

“I’ve lived in the arts all my life,” he told the Rotary Club of Crowley at the group’s Tuesday meeting.

Wuestemann provided the program for the Rotary Club’s meeting and spoke about the Acadiana Center for the Arts (ACA), providing an overview of ACA and its facility.

Wuestemann explained that ACA is the combination of the arts, education, a business and the community.

ACA began in 1975 as the Acadiana Arts Council, but has now grown into an entity fostering art and culture in the area.

Thus, when ACA looked to create its new facility, which was completed in 2011, it wanted to make sure the facility would help the Council complete its mission through the community, education, the arts and more.

In regards to community development, ACA services eight parishes and distributes grants to entities in all these parishes. Wuestemann explained that in the past 10 years, ACA has provided over $350,000 in grant money and that that money has gone a long way, as has much of the grant money it has distributed throughout Acadiana.

ACA is also incredibly invested in education, as Wuestermann explained, and all of its work is connected to curriculums. It provides many summer camps and helps build context through the arts, but Wuestemann recognizes that many times art is the missing piece in education throughout the state.

He does credit Acadiana, however, for recognizing that fact and helping promote arts in education. 

On the arts side, the facility’s gallery continues to be popular. Wuestemann invited the Rotarians to grab a cup of coffee at the coffee shop downstairs and check out the gallery, which shows art for free.

He commented that a large number of gallery visitors are under the age of 25 and that they aren’t just coming alone to stare at paintings like many do elsewhere.

“We experience culture differently here,” he said. “We experience culture together.

“That’s the wonderful thing about this region.”

The facility’s series is promoting quality, according to Wuestemann. But, by all accounts, they aren’t sacrificing quantity either as the facility has a jazz series, presents the Metropolitan Opera via satellite, a singer/songwriter series, theater productions, family performances and school performances, dance performances, film series as well as community events, its popular All-Star series and Louisiana Crossroads series, which will be also televised in 2015.

All of that, and more, is why the cultural economy continues to be a large driving force in Louisiana (Wuestemann explained that the numbers, ballpark, are around $10 billion with over 144,000 employees).

“We have an identity (thanks to culture),” he said. “It’s almost like a natural resource.

“We’re different here in Acadiana. That’s one of the best things about this place.”

The Acadiana Council for the Arts is located at 101 W. Vermilion St. in Lafayette. For more information on its ongoing series, visit http://acadianacenterforthearts.org/.