Arts & Culture

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is promoting a documentary about international adoption.

The Louisiana Democrat is the mother of two adopted children and the wife of a man adopted from overseas. She says many American families are willing to open their hearts and homes to children needing families all over the world, but the international adoption system "is broken and failing."

Landrieu introduced the film titled "Stuck" in Harahan on Monday night. She says it's about overseas children who are "stuck in orphanages, stuck in a system that doesn't work."

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.

The Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals has named the Bogalusa Blues and Heritage Festival its New Event of the Year.

Organizers held the inaugural festival in September. The Bogalusa Daily News reports that it drew a couple of thousand people despite a daylong rain.

At the fairs and festivals association's recent annual conference in Baton Rouge, the Bogalusa festival also picked up a first-place award for its poster.

Re-enactors based in Thibodaux will tell the history of the Bayou Lafourche region during the Civil War and demonstrate camp cooking, military drill and other aspects of life in the Union and Confederate armies this weekend.

The unit called Hellfire Stew Mess/Bouanchaud's Battery will spend the weekend encamped at the E.D. White Historic Site.

A news release from the Louisiana State Museum and Friends of E.D. White Historic Site says the event is free and open to the public.

Check out Omar Sosa and Paolo Fresu's performance on PRI's The World.

Global Hit: Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu from PRI's The World on Vimeo.

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.

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.