Moving Acadiana Forward: Performing Arts Serving Acadiana
LAFAYETTE, La (KLFY)-- Entertainment is slowly making a come back in the Hub City. Music venues are opening up, and a popular nonprofit is making a come back to the stage.
Music, theater, and performances can take us to far away places even while sitting close to home. One local group is making a come back to bring high quality entertainment to Lafayette.
PASA stands for Performing Arts Serving Acadiana.
Jackie Lyle, of PASA, spoke with News 10 about what it is PASA does.
"We are what in our industry is called a presenter, and we book touring arts nationally and internationally recognized dance and music ensembles to put on stage here at the Heymann Center," Lyle said.
Shows run from September to January. This year‘s performances include the modern dance company Moxie, with a production of Alice, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Postmodern Jukebox, and the theatrical hit “Black Angels over Tuskegee."
"Local access to these great performing artists that you would otherwise have to travel to see is a huge feather in the cap for our community," Lyle said. "It also spurs economic development. We spent a ton of money on housing, marketing, stage hands here at the Heymann Center, and putting money back into our city coffers by renting the Heymann Center."
The Heymann Center and the performances it brings here are an important part of the economy. When you’re buying a ticket to come to the theater, you might go eat out at a local restaurant before, or maybe even buy a new outfit from a local store. The entertainment industry drives our economy in the Hub City.
Tim Basden of PASA is hopeful that the organization can help get Lafayette back on its feet after the pandemic.
"Lafayette is the kind of town that comes back from a shut-down, and this is a very important part of our recovery as a community to get the stage back open and to get the theater back open," Basden said.
"When we all come together in a venue like the Heymann Center, we come together as one," Lyle continued. "It helps build community, it helps build tolerance, it helps build understanding of other cultures and it makes us all better to have been here."
PASA will ask for Proof of vaccination or a mask to be must be worn properly. Failure to comply may result in no entry and loss of ticket value, according to the organization.