New Orleans —The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser announced Tuesday that Michael Doucet, musician and founder of BeauSoleil, has been named 2026 Humanist of the Year.
In addition to the Humanist of the Year award, the LEH is recognizing eight other Bright Lights Awards recipients, honoring those who have made significant contributions to the understanding of Louisiana’s history and culture in the humanities field (additional details below):
- Humanist of the Year: Michael Doucet
- Champion of Culture: Pam Atchison
- Chair’s Award for Institutional Support: The RosaMary and Keller Family Foundations
- Documentary Photographer of the Year: Kevin Rabalais
- Humanities Book of the Year: “American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana” by Thomas Patterson (published by Louisiana State University Press)
- Humanities Documentary Film of the Year: “What We Can Know About Edmond and Basile” produced and directed by Sascha Just
- Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities: Don Marshall
- Light Up for Literacy: Debra Jo Hailey
For more than 40 years, the Bright Lights Awards have offered a collective opportunity to celebrate all the humanities have to offer and honored documentary filmmakers and photographers, literacy and language advocates, historians and authors, culture advocates, and more.
The awardees will be highlighted in the summer issue of 64 Parishes magazine [64parishes.org], published by the LEH, and they will be recognized during the organization’s annual Bright Lights Awards Dinner on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at the Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge. Tickets are available online at leh.org/bright-lights. [leh.org]
“Michael Doucet has carried listeners around the world right back here to Louisiana, increasing awareness, celebrating our rich heritage and spreading the joy of our culture through his music,” said Miranda Restovic, executive director and president of the LEH. “Through his own work and by inspiring younger generations of musicians, he has led a revitalization of Louisiana’s important Cajun musical heritage. We are honored to be able to say thank you by recognizing him as our 2026 Humanist of the Year.”
“The Bright Lights Awards celebrate those who protect, interpret, and elevate Louisiana’s rich cultural heritage. Michael Doucet and all this year’s awardees exemplify that mission,” said Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser. “From Michael Doucet’s worldwide influence on Cajun music to the achievements of each of this year’s honorees, these awardees reflect the depth, diversity, and statewide impact of the humanities in Louisiana and the role they play in shaping who we are. They remind us why our cultural heritage is one of our greatest strengths.”
ABOUT THIS YEAR’S AWARDEES
Humanist of the Year: Michael Doucet
A Louisiana singer-songwriter and native of Scott, La., Michael Doucet is the founder of BeauSoleil, a Cajun band formed in 1975 in Lafayette. BeauSoleil, or BeauSoleil with Michael Doucet, tours internationally and is among the best-known Cajun bands globally, having been featured on film soundtracks, talk shows, and at music festivals across the world. BeauSoleil has received 13 Grammy nominations and was awarded the 1997 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album and the 2008 Grammy for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album. BeauSoleil helped put Cajun and Zydeco music on the map globally and continues to tour across the country.
Doucet received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1975. He received an NEA National Heritage Fellowship for his work revitalizing French language and Cajun culture, the highest honor in folk arts, as well as a United States Artists Collins Family Foundation Fellowship. In 2011, BeauSoleil was inducted into Louisiana’s Music Hall of Fame.
Champion of Culture: Pam Atchison
Pam Atchison served as executive director of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC), the area’s largest arts nonprofit, for 38 years. SRAC develops partnerships, produces programming, educates the community, and advocates in the name of art and artists across Northwest Louisiana. Atchison began working at SRAC as an artist-in-residence in the 1980s, a time when SRAC struggled financially. Atchison developed the council into a $3 million-per-year organization, and founded a citywide youth art initiative, ArtBreak. After an arson destroyed the SRAC offices, Atchison worked with the City of Shreveport to designate the historic downtown Central Fire Station as the council’s new offices, inspiring other organizations to inhabit historic buildings along Shreveport’s Texas Street. Atchison retired in December 2024.
Chair’s Award for Institutional Support: The Rosamary Foundation and the Keller Family Foundation
The RosaMary and Keller Family Foundations have supported LEH for more than 25 years, contributing more than $400,000 collectively. In addition to unrestricted support and support for Prime Time family engagement and reading programs, the Keller Family Foundation contributed to the opening of The Helis Foundation John Scott Center.
The RosaMary Foundation supports organizations within the Greater New Orleans area that contribute to a successful and vibrant city. The foundation was established in 1939 by New Orleans business leader, philanthropist, and civic leader Alfred B. Freeman.
One of the earliest family foundations to operate in the United States, the RosaMary Foundation trustees today are descendants of A. B. and Ella West Freeman, whose daughter, Rosa Freeman Keller along with her husband Charles Keller Jr., founded the Keller Family Foundation. The Kellers were important and dynamic civic activists in New Orleans from the 1940s to the 1990s. The foundation supports organizations that sustain and improve the Greater New Orleans community through education, youth development, human services, and public affairs. The current Board of Trustees represents the third and fourth generations of Keller descendants to serve in that capacity.
Documentary Photographer of the Year: Kevin Rabalais
The Documentary Photographer of the Year award honors photographers whose work captures Louisiana’s history, culture and/or people. Dr. Kevin Rabalais, an Avoyelles Parish native and professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans, has lived and worked all over the world. Since returning home to Louisiana, Rabalais has traversed the state tirelessly to document how Louisianans work, play and celebrate. His work helps us see and understand our state in new ways.
Rabalais photography appears regularly in Acadiana Profile, 64 Parishes and Louisiana Life magazines. He is the winner of several Press Club of New Orleans awards, as well as International Regional Magazine Association awards. Rabalais is the author of “The Landscape of Desire,” “Novel Voices: Conversations with 17 Award-Winning American Writers,” “Conversations with James Salter” and “Sacred Trespasses.”
Humanities Book of the Year: “American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana” by Thomas Patterson (published by Louisiana State University Press)
The Humanities Book of the Year award honors a book that best exemplifies scholarship on Louisiana topics or by Louisiana writers. In “American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana,” Thomas Patterson reevaluates Huey Long’s life and legacy. Leveraging previously unused primary-source documents, Patterson reframes the present-day caricature of Long, deconstructing existing narratives and introducing new scholarship to the subject of the Kingfish.
Humanities Documentary Film of the Year: “What We Can Know About Edmond and Basile,” produced and directed by Sascha Just
The Humanities Documentary Film of the Year award honors a documentary film that best exemplifies scholarship on Louisiana topics or by Louisiana documentary filmmakers. Sascha Just’s “What We Can Know About Edmond and Basile” documents the artistic legacy and modern rediscovery of two 19th century Creole composers, Edmond Dédé, a free man of color, and Basile Barès, a man born into enslavement. Through archival materials and interviews with contemporary musicians and composers, Just’s film illuminates the previously obscured history of Dédé’s and Barès’ lives and legacy, culminating in contemporary performances of their music.
Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities: Don Marshall
The Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities award recognizes those who have supported and been involved in public appreciation of issues central to the humanities. Don Marshall is the retired executive director of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, leading the organization for 20 years. He has spent his career supporting, uplifting, and leading the arts community of New Orleans. Marshall was the founding director of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), and co-founder of the Krewe Du Vieux, the Tennessee Williams Festival, and the New Orleans Film and Video Festival. He also served as executive director of the St. Tammany Art Association and of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.
Museum Exhibition of the Year: “Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration,” The Historic New Orleans Collection
Awarded biannually in even-numbered years, the Museum Exhibition of the Year award recognizes an exhibition held during the prior two calendar years (2024 and 2025) that brought new insights to our understanding of the state, its artists, and/or its history. The Historic New Orleans Collection’s “Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration” (July 19, 2024–February 16, 2025) investigated mass incarceration through a historical lens. Using historical objects, textual interpretation, multimedia content, and data visualization, the exhibit traced the 300-year connection between slavery and mass incarceration.
Light Up for Literacy: Debra Jo Hailey
Presented in partnership with the State Library of Louisiana’s Center for the Book, the Light Up for Literacy award recognizes those who have made significant and lasting contributions to literacy efforts in the state. La Salle Parish native Dr. Debra Jo Hailey, assistant professor of child and family studies at Northwestern State University, has spent her career developing family literacy festivals and delivering childhood literacy experiences with an emphasis on community buy-in across Louisiana. Her work focuses on interrupting the poverty cycle and teaching parents about the importance of engaging children in conversation about stories, centering literacy on family well-being.
