Regional arts council created in Houma

A new regional arts council was formed in Houma last week with the hopes of becoming the administrator of Decentralized Arts Funding grants for Terrebonne Parish.

Concerned citizens from Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes formed the Bayou Regional Arts Council.

Currently, the Art Council of New Orleans administers the DAF program for Assumption, St. James, St. John, St. Charles, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.

The Houma Regional Arts Council used to administer those grant dollars, but fiscal mismanagement led that organization to ruin in 2013.

BRAC announced this week that it had hired Erica Suarez as the first executive director of the organization. Suarez has a bachelor’s from Loyola and a master’s from UNO in Public Administration with a concentration in non-profit leadership. Before taking over with the new regional arts council, Suarez served as a director within the Department of Community Centers at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the newly formed Bayou Regional Arts Council,” Suarez said. “I am passionate about the importance of art and creative expression for individuals and our community. I think it’s great that our area will have this type of support for the Arts once again.”