Inside the Arts

This week we go Inside the Arts for a look at theater offerings as the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival kicks off celebrations beginning Wednesday.

Then we visit with the New Orleans Ballet Association as they present the legendary Martha Graham Dance Company, which returns to the city for the first time in decades. And Musaica, a local chamber ensemble, gears up for a series of concerts.

Gentrification: a welcome concept to some; a fighting word to others. And because one of New Orleans' neighborhoods, the Bywater,  is undergoing this change, it should come as no surprise that the cultural shift received some attention in an article posted on New Geography.com.

On this week's Notes from New Orleans, Sharon Litwin asks the author, Tulane professsor Richard Campanella, for a definition of that most controversial word.

For almost 40 years, one specific New Orleanian has been a constant in the movie theater business. He's a movie maven who's passion for art films and indies has lead him all over the greater New Orleans area: from Gentilly to Bay St. Louis to Chalmette.

On this week's Notes from New Orleans, Sharon Litwin talks with the one and only Wennie Schulz.

We go Inside the Arts for conversation with Steven Edwards, music director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans.

The Symphony Chorus presents a special concert featuring SOUL  — Singers of United Lands, an international vocal quartet. The concert is Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Name of Jesus Church on the Loyola University campus.

This week on Inside the Arts Diane will journey Uptown as acclaimed jazz percussionist Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band headline Loyola University's 44th annual Jazz Festival.

We go Inside the Arts for conversation with acclaimed trumpeter, composer and poet Hannibal Lokumbe. The residencies of Lokumbe at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans will be celebrated with a new retrospective exhibit — And Their Voices Cry Freedom Again — and with concerts on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

In conjunction with Lokumbe's concerts, the CAC will host two special exhibition preview receptions on March 1 and 2, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  

This week on Inside the Arts Diane talks with Tony Award-winning actress and singer Sutton Foster. Then she visits with acclaimed trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe and explores issues on integration with New York Times-bestselling author Tanner Colby.

Looking around New Orleans after Mardi Gras has officially been swept from the streets, it's hard to miss the early signs of spring. But the calendar still says February, and these signs may feel a bit premature to some New Orleanians. An acknowledgement that winter (brief as it always is down here) just might be gone completely, means that summer can't be far off.

Listen here for Brett Will Taylor's insights on the signs... and insects... of an early spring:

We go Inside the Arts for conversation with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's artistic director Tom Mossbrucker.

The New Orleans Ballet Association [NOBA] presents the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in an evening of dance, Saturday, February 23 at 8 p.m. at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. More info at nobadance.com.