LAFAYETTE, La - The 2019 official Festivals Acadiens et Créoles pin is now available via the festival website and around town.
Those fans wanting to show their support for the festival and get their $10 pin in advance can find them at Parish Ink, Vermilionville, Hilton Garden Inn/Lafayette Cajundome. They will also be available at Downtown Alive (DTA) on Sept. 27. Pocket guides are available at all those locations as well.
The pin is based on original artwork created by this year's official artist Melissa Bonin and adapted as wearable art by designer Megan Barra,
The 2019 Official Pin features a pair of birds and the words “Oiselles Chanteuses,” which translates to singing songbirds in French. Bonin's poster design also depicts birds in flight, “a symbol of freedom for women finding their voice,” she says. Titled “Songbirds,” the festival poster image was selected from a series of works on paper called “Forced Migration I” that Bonin created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but has never shown in public before.
For 2019, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is paying homage to the role of women in Cajun and Creole music. The poster and pin are both a visual celebration and tribute to the lyrical legacy of the feminine. More of Bonin's works, including the “Forced Migration I” series, can be seen in an exhibit titled “Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor” at the A. Hays Town Building at the Hilliard University Art Museum on display through Oct. 13.
To purchase your pin or poster via the website, go to http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/shop/. Pins are $10 each and posters are $25 unsigned and $35 signed by Bonin.
The festival is also asking that anyone wanting to set up a tent this year sign up to be a Festival Friend first and essentially buy their pin. Levels start at just $30, which includes the Official Pin, a Festival Friend sticker and recognition on the website.
