Young Audiences of Louisiana hosts a live painting fundraiser to inspire creativity and community connection
After a two-year hiatus, Young Audiences of Louisiana (YALA) is holding its second YALA Art Live fundraiser in partnership with the Krewe of Rolling Elvi and Young Audiences Charter Schools (YACS). YALA Art Live centers around a unique type of visual performance art: live painting. Watch YACS talented art students Caiden Donois (11th grade), Mia Cano (10th grade), and Chaila McGuiness (10th grade) collaborate with professional New Orleans area artists Jessica Strahan, Josh Wingerter, and Alina Allen. Art lovers of all ages are welcome to join the festivities, scheduled to take place on April 1, 2022 from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Urban South Brewery, 1645 Tchoupitoulas Street. The local brewery has graciously committed to support YALA’s afterschool programs, by donating a portion of every pint sold during the free community event.
“Students are able to interact with our broader community through the arts, and the community becomes aware of the talent and potential that exists in our New Orleans youth.”
“YALA Art Live creates a reciprocal relationship wherein students are able to interact with our broader community through the arts, and the community becomes aware of the talent and potential that exists in our New Orleans youth,” said Jenny James, Executive Director of YALA.
“We strive to help students realize the many opportunities that arts education affords them. Pairing them up with a professional artist shows them they have the tools to work with an artist of that caliber, and gives them the confidence to know that art is an option for the future, whether they want to practice professionally or as a hobby.”
Paintings created at the event will be auctioned online to support YALA's afterschool and summer programs. YALA’s afterschool programs currently operate at twelve locations across the Greater New Orleans Area. The programs combine academics, arts and culture in order to develop students intellectually and socially.
“YALA’s afterschool and summer programming is vital to the community, because it is where the next generation of artist, thinkers, and creatives are born,” said Director of Extended Learning Zakiya Cornish. “Afterschool programs like ours are often where children first get to experience art and they can foster their innate talents while expressing who they are.”
YALA Art Live is presented in partnership with Krewe of Rolling Elvi and Young Audiences Charter School; and sponsored by First Horizon Bank, formerly IBERIABANK, and Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg. This is the second time it will be held at Urban South Brewery. Urban South Brewery Taproom Event Manager Jen Bordenave said partnering with YALA for the event was a “no-brainer.”
“At Urban South we support the community at every chance we can,” Bordenave said. “It will be amazing to witness the collaboration between the artists and the children. I'm also excited to see the art and how it all comes together.”
Join us to see it all come together and for your chance to win one of our raffle prizes, including a framed signed print by New Orleans Artist Becky Fos. For more information on YALA Art Live, and the arts educations programs it will help fund visit www.ya4la.org/artlive. You can also follow YALA on Facebook and Instagram. Interested in providing additional support? Become a sponsor!
About Young Audiences of Louisiana
Young Audiences of Louisiana (YALA) is the leading provider of arts education and integration programs in the state of Louisiana. Founded in 1962 to bring chamber musicians into local classrooms, YALA has adapted and evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of youth throughout the state through our mission of “inspiring, empowering, and uniting children and communities through education, arts, and culture.” YALA offers a comprehensive and creative approach to educating young minds. Fortified with years of experience, YALA draws upon New Orleans’s strong arts culture to provide young people with tools to impact their worlds using art. Through school performances, arts-integrated residencies, extended learning programs and community workshops YALA not only impacts the children of New Orleans, but make intentional contact with the influential adults in their lives.
Updated March 15, 2022