AC23

Emmy award winning host, Mike Esneault interviews poet, author, and president of the Poetry Society of Louisiana, Ed Ruzicka today. Listen to their great conversation discussing his fourth book, "In the Wind". This is a collection of Ed's poems inspired by travel experiences throughout Europe, South America and other places.

Join host Pam Bordelon as she visits with Karen Soniat, the new executive director of the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, who is now back in Baton Rouge after several years in New Orleans working with the National World War II Museum. She's excited about her first LASM Gala -- Party in the Valley of the Kings, which takes place Oct. 4.

Join host Pam Bordelon as she talks with Baton Rouge native Louis Herthum about his upcoming role in the Netflix hit, The Night Agent, which is supposed to hit the screen in early 2025. They also talk about growing up in Red Stick and his 50-plus year career as an actor.

Join jazz aficionados, Arts Council CEO Jonathan Grimes and Mike Esneault, our director of arts education as well as an award-winning composer and jazz pianist, for an insider's glimpse and listen into the upcoming River City Jazz Masters Series! You don't want to miss this one!

For the September Alvin Batiste Jazz Society Listening Room, two Baton Rouge jazz greats are celebrating 40 years of making music together. Join host Pam Bordelon as she visits with pianist Willis Delony and bass player Bill Grimes as they take a stroll down memory lane and talk about this special anniversary collaboration.

In honor of Lafayette native and former LSU great Mondo Duplantis' gold medal-winning pole vault in the just completed Olympics in Paris, we're replaying host Pam Bordelon's conversation with filmmaker Brennan Robideaux about his film, Born to Fly, the intimate story of Mondo and his rise to fame from child prodigy to the greatest pole vaulter of all time. His jump of 6.25m (that's more than 20 feet!) was the ninth time he's broken the world record.

Host Pam Bordelon sits down with Callie Smith and Sarah Nansubuga on the project they're conducting in conjunction with the LSU Museum of Art's Clementine Hunter exhibition. They have been conducting oral history interview with members of Hunter's family, the results of which will eventually become part of LSU's T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History's digital library.

In a very special iteration of the Alvin Batiste Jazz Society, local bass great George Bell, trumpet; Mike Esneault, piano; Bill Grimes, bass; and Jonathan Grimes, drums, serve as the house band for any musicians who want to join them for what promises to be an amazing gig.

The Little Girl at the Bottom of the Picture is the heart-warming, immersive story of college sweethearts Edie and Jeremy White's transformational journey to meet her biological family after a submission to Ancestry.com drops a bomb in her lap. The two sit down with host Pam Bordelon and share more of this epic in this episode of AC23

Meet the two new co-artistic directors of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre as host Pam Bordelon visits with Rebecca Acosta and Jonna Cox, both of whom started dancing at a very young age and have big plans to carry out the legacy they've inherited.

Original Air Date: 07/21/2024 - Arts for EveryBody project director Mike Weary and participating artists Shamira Gatz and Aruna Modgill visit with host Pam Bordelon about all the free events taking place Saturday, July 27, as Baton Rouge takes part in Arts for EveryBody, a national art-making

Original Air Date: 7/14/24 — This week, host Pam Bordelon sits down with Harlem 9's Garlia Cornelia Jones to talk about their 48 Hours in Baton Rouge project that anchors Arts for EveryBody July 27 in the Manship Theatre's Hartley/Vey Studio.

Original Air Date: 7/7/24 — This Sunday, AC23 host Pam Bordelon gets the skinny on sculptor Thras Kalaitzidis' interactive 3-D soft sculptures that double as board game pieces -- one of the first Arts for EveryBody projects taking place July 27. How do you play? How many can play at once? And find out how this Greek native ended up in Baton Rouge.

Original Air Date: 6/30/24 — Host Pam Bordelon is joined by Kendrick Alford, cofounder of ellemnop, and photographer Rick LeCompte, participants in Arts Council's Arts for EveryBody day-long celebration of the Arts and the role they play in our overall health. Theirs is one of 12 projects taking part across all of our Metro-Council Districts on July 27. Find out what they have on tap at the Healthcare Gallery and how they became members of the Arts world.

Original Air Date: 06/23/2024 - This Sunday, host Pam Bordelon is joined by Jason Furrate, creator/writer/director of Spillway, a one-hour pilot for a crime series set in south Louisiana and featuring a cast and crew entirely from the state, and actor/casting director Jenny Griffin Hogan. Tune in and find out how to attend the June 30 premiere at Manship Theatre.

Original Air Date: 06/16/24 —Fresh from his trip to the French Riviera for the Cannes International Film Festival, local actor, singer and producer Joe Carleton stops by for a visit with host Pam Bordelon. He talks about this amazing experience, the exciting response Beware the Box Folk received and his journey to making his first full-length movie with three of his best friends.

Original Air Date: 06/09/2024 - Paige Gagliano has been a member of the Theatre Baton Rouge family since she was 18; this summer, she's returning to the fold to direct its summer musical, Cinderella (Enchanted Version). Paige and TBR board President Beth Bordelon visit with host Pam Bordelon about the production, their TBR experiences over the years and what's in store for the theatre's upcoming 79th season.

Original Air Date: 06/02/2024 - Internationally renowned watercolor artist Judi Betts was the 2024 recipient of the Arts Council's Michael Crespo Fellowship. This past fall AC23 host Pam Bordelon visited with Judi, who was in the spotlight with an exhibit celebrating her 60 years as a working artist. Catch this replay and get to know this remarkably talented and witty 88-year-old as she recounts her amazing career.

Original Air Date: 05/19/2004 - Host Pam Bordelon talks with Betsy Braud, aka the Jazz Nurse, about how she incorporates her music into her work as a nurse.

Original Air Date: 05/12/2024 - This Sunday, host Pam Bordelon sits down with Manship Theatre's new executive director, Jason Langlois, who's been on the job for five months now, and marketing coordinator Sarah Nichols to get the scoop on what all's planned in the next few months. They duo also share some of their favorite memories of concerts past.

Original Air Date: 05/05/2024 - Former Baton Rouge Zoo director Phil Frost returns from another African safari. He's joined by two of his fellow travelers, Rannah Gray and Gracella Simmons, to discuss this amazing experience.

Original Air Date: 4/28/24 — Host Pam Bordelon sits down with poet Ed Ruzicka to discuss the newly established Poetry Society of Louisiana and his latest book of poems, Squalls. Make plans to catch his poetry reading May 2 at 7 p.m. at RED STICK READS on corner of Eugene and Government streets.

Original Air Date: 4/21/24 — Louisiana has a new specialty license plate dedicated to the Arts. Join host Pam Bordelon as she visits with Acadiana artist Denise Gallagher, who created the winning design in the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts competition. A portion of the proceeds from sale of the plate benefit LPA, which works to ensure that culture is recognized as indispensable to a healthy society.

Original Air Date: 4/14/24 — Lauren Tompkins gives you the deets on the Baton Rouge Blues Festival, while THE BROSFRESH, appearing as part of Sunday in the Park, talks about their career and playing before a hometown crowd.

Original Air Date: 3/31/24 — Spring in South Louisiana means festival time! This Sunday, host Pam Bordelon sits down with Shawn Williams, who kicks off ACGBR's Sunday in the Park concert series on April 7.

Original Air Date: 03/24/2024 - Host Pam Bordelon sits down with Dr. Bill Grimes, founder of the LSU School of Music's jazz program, as he talks about his life and career. Now retired, he's planning an amazing night of jazz with his long-time friend Byron Stripling to celebrate his 70th birthday.

Original Air Date: 3/17/24 — This April, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge kicks off the second session of its Talent Advancement Program (TAP) focusing on video production. Host Pam Bordelon talks with facilitator Chris Jeansonne and one of his featured instructors, Dierdré Peterson, who share what participants can expect to get out of the 10-week session.

Original Air Date: 03/10/2024 - Host Pam Bordelon sits down with former ACGBR President/CEO Renée Chatelain to talk about her eight-year stint as leader of the organization as well as her time at Manship Theatre, Mid-City Dance Project, and as a practicing attorney. Find out what's up next on her agenda.

Original Air Date: 2/18/24 — Re-ran Writers Workshop

Original Air Date: 2/25/24 — Mat Keel, 2024 recipient of Everette Powers Creativity Grant

Original Air Date: 02/11/2024 - Things are jazzy in the Capital Region this February. Host Pam Bordelon sits down with Tracey Barhorst, curator & public programs manager for LASM, and Amanda Moak, curator of collections for the West Baton Rouge Museum, to talk about their current exhibits — Improvisation: The Art & Healing Power of Jazz and Shutter & Sound: The Jazz Photography of Bob Willoughby, respectively.

Original Air Date: 2/4/24 — Baton Rouge artist Nanci Charpentier, whose recently commissioned painting graced the cover of InRegister magazine's “Women with a Cause” cover, joins host Pam Bordelon to talk about her career. You're going to love hearing about Plein Air!

Original Air Date: 1/28/24 — Jena Vanjgel sits down with host Pam Bordelon to talk about Community of Note, a project that brings music to the unhoused throughout the Baton Rouge area. Then Luke Lognion pops in to talk about plans for a re-imagined Baton Rouge Arts Market, which he is now managing for ARGBR.

Original Air Date: 01/21/2024 - Brennan Robideaux joins host Pam Bordelon to talk about his film, Born to Fly, which recounts the intimate story of Mondo Duplantis and his rise to fame from child prodigy to the greatest pole vaulter of all time. The movie is being screened at the Manship Theatre Jan. 25

Original Air Date: 1/14/2024 - LSU Museum of Art's Chief Curator Michelle Schulte and Executive Director Mark Tullos visit with host Pam Bordelon to share details of its exciting current exhibit, Andy Warhol/Friends & Frenemies: Prints from the Cochran Collection, which runs through March 31.

Original Air Date: 12/17/2023 - Erin Douget shares the details on ACGBR's 2024 MPAC Gala while Jonathan Grimes gives us the scoop on the upcoming River City Jazz Masters concert with jazz percussionist Bobby Sanabria.

Original Air Date: 10/7/2021 - In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month and National Arts and Humanities Month, to explore how the roads meet, we are joined today by Gloria Palacios and Raudol Palacios from Palacios House of Arts.

Original Air Date: 9/30/2021 - As we continue with our focus on the Ebb and Flow Festival, AC23 welcomes Lucy Guerra with “Line for Line”, an organization that provides free haircuts for kids in exchange for books. She talks about Line-for-Line's involvement with the Ebb and Flow Arts Festival.

Original Air Date: 9/23/2021 - Today, AC23 continues their series highlighting the month-long Ebb and Flow Festival with Grant Benoit, the educator and public programs manager at the LSU Museum of Art, and Jonathan Grimes, Chief systems officer for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, as they discuss “The Boneyard”, the arts event that is being hosted by LSU's Museum of Art.

Original Air Date: 9/16/2021 - AC23 continues its series highlighting Ebb and Flow while also highlighting National Arts and Education Week. AC23 is joined today by Kaity Harland, ArtFlow Junior Coordinator, and Sherry Wang, this year's high school first-place winner. They speak on the importance of art in youth and arts education.

Original Air Date: 9/9/2021 - Movies and Music on the Lawn is a series that the Baton Rouge Gallery has been included in the Ebb and Flow Festival. AC23 is joined today by Jason Andreason, President and CEO of Baton Rouge Gallery, as they speak on the inclusion of movies and music in the Ebb and Flow festival, and what that means for the people of Baton Rouge.

Original Air Date: 9/2/21 - Creative Relief is an emergency preparedness and response program that addresses community needs through an artistic lens and resources to artists and arts organizations. Creative Relief is particularly designed to prepare the arts and culture sector to respond to and recover from a wide range of disasters. Today, we are joined by Renee Chatelain, the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, as she discusses what inspired the response program and what that means for different artists and organizations.

Original Air Date: 8/26/2021 - Today's Guest, Mary Deruso and Ariana Robinson, to talk about “Dreamland at the Old State Capitol” and what the event means for the people of Baton Rouge. They discuss the origin of the idea and the background behind the event and why it is important.

Original Air Date: 8/19/2021 - AC23 is joined today by photography, poet, and artist Antione Lacey, whose latest exhibit “Black Joy In The Sun” is now up at the Bluebonnet Library. He discusses what inspired the exhibit and what drives his passion for art that represents African-American empowerment.

Original Air Date: 8/12/2021 - The Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual guidebook for African American road trippers. The Green Book played a huge role in giving African Americans security when traveling during the Jim Crow era. Today, AC23 is joined by the division director for the Louisiana State Museum, Rodneyna M. Hart, as they discuss the newest exhibition, The Negro Motorist Green Book at the Capitol Park Museum and what part of history inspired this exhibition.

Original Air Date: 8/5/2021 - On today's segment, we are joined by singer, and songwriter, Justin Garner, as they talk about the history and culture behind R&B and what drove his passion for it. He discusses how he has developed as an artist over the years and what his earliest inspirations for music are.

Original Air Date: 7/29/2021 - Today, AC23 is joined by the creator of the new kids show “Ziggy's Arts Adventures”, Clay Achee, as they talk about what inspired the creation of the show and the artistic process involved with the show.

Original Air Date: 7/22/2021 - The East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President, Sharron Weston-Broome initiated the Baton Rouge Poet Laureate program in partnership with the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge in 2019. The program was created to celebrate Baton Rouge's rich culture and diversity. In this segment, AC23 is joined by the newly appointed Poet Laureate, Jonathan Mayers, as they speak on the history behind his unique interpretation of the arts.

Original Air Date: 7/8/2021 - On this episode, AC23 is joined today by Miles Boom, as he talks about the arts and his journey with the arts. He talks about what that looked like during his childhood and his early beginnings as an artist.

Original Air Date: 7/1/2021 - On this segment, we are joined by actors, Timmie Callais and Erica Pitman to talk about their theatrical radio show titled “The Radio Drama Club”. They discuss their backgrounds in acting and what inspired them to produce a show.

Original Air Date: 6/24/2021 - Today, we are joined by Charles Champagne, a creative entrepreneur with a passion for photography, event production, design, curating, and the arts, and Greg Williams Jr. the artistic director of New Venture Theater and the founding executive director of Hoodoo House TV, as we explore what Pride Month means for the community and how art has impacted the LGBTQ+.