LACA's Photography Group meets the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. in LACA's main gallery Meetings are free and open to anyone who would like to discuss all things photography.
Each gathering of the group will include a brief highlighted topic followed by open discussions among attendees.
Occasional "field shoots" may be scheduled at various locations around the Ludington area on weekends.

Ukulele group 

to meet at 

LACA monthly

All Ukulele musicians are welcome and encouraged to attend. Sessions are divided into a beginner session from 1-1:30 p.m. followed by an "experienced" (can play 4 chords ) session from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Tickets are now on sale for the Ludington Area Center for the Arts’ annual Cajun Night dinner/dance fundraiser taking place Saturday, March 2 from 5-10 p.m. at the art center located at 107 S. Harrison, St. in downtown Ludington.

This is the 3rd annual Cajun Night event for the non-profit which strives to foster a community where arts and culture bring us together, feed the creative spirit, and fuel community growth. 

The mission of LACA, a volunteer organization, is to engage, inspire and strengthen the community through arts advocacy.

The Cajun Night dinner/dance fundraiser will include a social hour from 5-6 p.m. with a cash bar, creole appetizers and live music from Chad Rushing in LACA's main gallery. The evening’s dinner, also taking place in the center’s main gallery, will feature the creole culinary wonders of Chef Barry Sherlock. This buffet style dinner also include vegan options as well as traditional creole favorites.

Following dinner the festivities will shift over to the center’s newly renovated performance hall for an evening of great live Cajun music from Sel de Terre avec Appleseed Collective, Cajun dance instruction by Julie Sherlock, drinks and desserts.

“The performance hall at LACA recently underwent a pretty drastic renovation over the past few months and the center is eager to show off its new multi-functional space,” said LACA Operations Manager Andrew Skinner. “This will be the first time we get to show off how versatile the performance hall can now be. The removal of the pews, from the hall, will allow for Cajun night attendees to have plenty of room to dance and or mingle at various tables throughout the room.”

LACA will also be debuting some of the new seating purchased for the performance hall. New movable cushioned chairs have recently been purchased. In an effort help fund the new seating and additional performance hall improvements the center LACA is selling annual sponsorships for the new chairs. Funds from the $100 annual sponsorship and $5,000 forever sponsorship will help LACA purchase new seating and continue to make additional upgrades to the performance hall for years to come.

LACA Cajun Night dinner/dance fundraiser tickets are $65 per person for LACA members and $75 per person for non-members. Tickets can be purchased by e-mailing info@ludingtonartscenter.org, at the LACA office 107 S. Harrison St., in downtown Ludington or by calling 231-845-2787. All proceeds go towards promoting the arts in the Ludington area.

Chef Barry Sherlock has designed this year's menu and will be cooking up his great ideas. Sherlock is a graduate of the Culinary Arts Institute at Grand Rapids Community College. His culinary career has spanned a diversity of endeavors including executive chef of Green Ridge Country Club in Grand Rapids, Mich., hotel and banquet kitchen management and restaurant executive chef/kitchen management. He

has additionally owned and operated a restaurant, catered privately and has volunteered his culinary expertise extensively throughout the local community. Sherlock has also served as the dietary supervisor at Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital.

Sel de Terre avec Appleseed Collective is a full Cajun dance band from the Manchester, Mich. area and play traditional Cajun music. The sounds of twin fiddles, accordion, rhythm guitar, tee-fer (Cajun

triangle) and upright bass accompany the lyrics sung in Cajun French. This is the music of the dancehalls and bal de maison (house dances) of southwest Louisiana, referred to as French music in Louisiana.

Dance instructor Julie Sherlock will provide dance instruction for the Cajun two-step and Waltz. She is the vocal and general music teacher at Baldwin Elementary School and exhibits a keen interest in diversity and multicultural music education. Currently, she teaches twice weekly general music, drumming, ukulele, choir and band classes to approximately 300 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Julie's fascination with Cajun and Creole music and culture began several years ago and led her to Lafayette, La., where she studied Cajun fiddle and dance with notables including Courtney Granger, David Greeley, Jonno Frishberg and Corey Porchye. She has also assisted in Cajun and Zydeco dance instruction at the Wheatland Music Organization's Music and Dance Week.

Over the past few months the Ludington Area Center for the Arts staff and a team of volunteers have been hard at work making a number of improvements to the center's performance hall. Among the upgrades are a new sound system that will allow for a crisper, cleaner sound. With the new sound system LACA's performance hall is now one of the top sounding venues in West Michigan.

Additional changes to the performance hall include freshly painted walls and the removal of the old church pews and carpeting. 

The removal of the pews and the subsequent purchase of new seating will allow the art center to use the performance hall as a multi-functional venue that can have a seating capacity of over 3oo people, host an event with no seating to allow for dancing or allow for tables to be set up for a luncheon or meeting.

In an effort to fund the purchase of the new seating LACA is selling annual sponsorships for our new performance hall chairs. Funds from the $100 annual sponsorship and $5,000 forever sponsorship will help LACA purchase new seating and continue to make additional upgrades to the performance hall for years to come. Call LACA (231-845-2787), stop by the office or print and return the form below if you are interested in sponsoring a chair.

The Ludington Area Center for the Arts will host a special exhibit and reception Friday, Feb. 22 of award winning photographer Sue Brown's 2018 personal photo challenge of photographing area residents as they celebrated milestone birthdays. "Every year I assign myself a personal project to expand my creativity and continue to hone my skills," Brown said.  "2018 was the year I turned 50 and a year that made me really think about aging. I decided to invite others celebrating milestone birthdays in 2018 to also come on this journey. This became a great adventure of photographing people celebrating their 10th through 100th birthdays this past year. I am excited to share the results with everyone with a reveal of the images and a reception at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts, Friday, Feb. 22 from 5-7 p.m."

 Mason County artist Marie Marfia will host a Pastel Basics workshop Feb. 26 and March 5 at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts.

Pastel Basics: Students will explore different papers, mark making, under painting techniques and whatever else students would like to learn.

Cost of the workshop is $20 for LACA members per session and $25 for non-members per session. All materials will be provided.
Marie Marfia is a pastel artist who likes painting skeletons, portraits and landscapes.
Marfia got her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Mich. She worked the next 30 years as a graphic designer, honing her compositional skills and learning how to work under deadlines. In 2011, she tried pastels and promptly fell in love with them. She paints every day and hopes with all that practice by the time she’s 80 she’ll be fantastic!
She currently lives in Fountain, Mich. in a tiny little house with her husband, Steve Oliver, and two happy dogs. They have three grown children. Marie’s studio is called The Bonafide Gallery and is located at 307 S. James Street, Ludington, Mich. She’s there most days, painting pastels and posting to her blog.

Chaotic Mike Coleman will host another of his highly popular acrylic pour workshops Saturday, March 16 at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts (LACA) from 1:30-3 p.m.

Coleman will guide students on the widely popular abstract technique of acrylic pours. Participants of this one-day workshop will get two canvases to paint with their choice of colors available. Cost of the workshop is $30 for LACA members and $35 for non members. Additional canvases and upgrades may be available for additional purchase depending on time left and availability of extra supplies. The workshop is open to all levels of experience. Some aprons will be available on a first come first serve basis. Please dress in clothes you don’t mind getting some paint on as it is very possible. Most paintings will be very wet it is recommended to let sit overnight and pick up later in the week. 

Coleman will host another acrylic pour workshop Saturday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m.

To register for either workshop call 845-2787, e-mail info@ludingtonartscenter.org or stop by the LACA office between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. The Ludington Area Center for the Arts is located at 107 S. Harrison St., in downtown Ludington.