- The Baton Rouge arts and culture landscape saw a dramatic change in 2023.
- The organization has been operating without a permanent conductor or music director.
- Baton Rouge native Mark Tullos returned to the capital in June to assume leadership of the LSU Museum of Art.
The Baton Rouge arts and culture landscape saw a dramatic change in 2023. Prominent figures in the arts have declared their resignations and retirements. Molly Buchmann and Sharon Mathews, co-directors of Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, will retire after 50 years at the end of 2023.
Renee Chatelain, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge since 2015, and Melanie Couvillon, executive director of the Manship Theatre since 2016, also tendered their resignations.
Cultural and artistic events
Jenny Ballard, managing creative director of Theatre Baton Rouge since 2014, left the position in July to take a position as a professor at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, which just established a musical theater program.
Adam Johnson, who was named the new “head coach” of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra in June, began his new position on July 1. Since Timothy Muffitt announced his retirement in 2019, the organization has been operating without a permanent conductor or music director.
Last January, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge held their MPAC Gala, which had a 1970s theme and was held at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center, to commemorate 50 years of encouraging, funding, and creating artistic expression in the Baton Rouge region.
World-class violinist Hilary Hahn performed with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra to a nearly full house on March 21 as the guest soloist for the Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Great Performers in Concert Series.
Baton Rouge native Mark Tullos returned to the capital in June to assume leadership of the LSU Museum of Art. Tullos’ work in the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as the Louisiana Office of State Museums, demonstrates his strong ties to the state of Louisiana.
Examining the old City Park swimming pool that used to be on the manicured grounds behind its structure, the Baton Rouge Gallery is a center for contemporary art.
A dozen artists from Louisiana and around the country contributed to the exhibit, which included talks by the curator and artists, a screening of the Louisiana Public Broadcasting film “Baton Rouge’s Troubled Waters,” swimming instructions from Olympian Cullen Jones, and several dialogue and discussion events, such as the 60th-anniversary celebration of the Baton Rouge Swim-In.
With a $200,000 shortfall and 60 days to raise $100,000 or risk closing, Theatre Baton Rouge was in dire need of funds. Beth Bordelon, the president of the theater’s Board of Governors, declared that nobody was to blame for the situation.
Through a “Light the Stage” campaign that it started on its website, the theater raised $100,000 in three weeks. Bordelon announced that he would continue to host fundraisers in 2024 and thanked the audience for their support.
