Two public meetings are planned this week to discuss a new dance/music project that's being created to discuss the arson fires that destroyed three black churches in 2019.
The three churches, all located in St. Landry Parish, were burned by one man who has since pleaded guilty to federal and state criminal charges in the case. He's serving a 25-year prison sentence. To read about that, click here.
The Performing Arts Society of Acadiana is working with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra to put together the project, entitled "Sacred Space?" It will be a new dance work that "would reflect on the impact of acts of hatreds against houses of worship, including bombings, fires, hostage-takings and other violence."
The two meetings, which are open to the public, will be led by Theodore Foster, Ph.D., who is an Assistant Professor of History at UL in African American History, Civil Rights Memory, and Black Studies.
Also attending the discussions will be Cleo Parker Robinson, artistic director of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance in Denver, and Adonis Rose, artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.
The first event is Monday June 13 at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, 103 Saquette Road, Port Barre.
The second event will be Tuesday June 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in downtown Lafayette.
"The artists want to hear from people in the congregations and the community. They want to know how you felt when the churches were burned and how you feel now," a statement from the collaborative group states. "How do you feel about other similar attacks?
