Fanfare has reached its 27th season this fall. The annual celebration of the arts, humanities and social sciences takes place every October. Roy Blackwood, Harriet Vogt, Karen White and Jerry Salomone founded the program.
“The reason we did [start Fanfare] was because in 1985 then-president Larry Crain canceled our football program at Southeastern,” said Blackwood, the interim director of the Columbia Theatre. “We decided that there could be a reason for people to come to homecoming, even if there wasn’t a football game, and we were going to make that reason be a month-long celebration of art and culture.”
The first Fanfare season included a variety of cultural and artistic showcases by both Southeastern faculty and a number of larger, renowned groups.
“We had a gospel choir. We had art exhibitions. We had musical events, and we had lectures, put on mostly by the faculty,” said Blackwood. “Eventually one of us, Harriet Vogt, was asked to be the director of Fanfare, so she shifted from being a music faculty member to director of Fanfare, and she developed it to this incredible month-long celebration. We were bringing in big-name entertainers like Maya Angelou, James Earl Jones, Frank McCourt, a number of astronauts came, opera singers out of New York, and the budget was enormous. For all these big events, we held cocktail receptions afterwards for the performers and the community and it just got to be this huge event.”
According to Blackwood, Fanfare was originally funded by several fundraisers that were run by then-director Vogt. However, over the years it became apparent that the high-profile entertainment was too much for student budgets.
“In 2001, we opened Columbia Theatre, and Fanfare then became part of the operation of the Columbia Theatre. Harriet Vogt retired, and Donna Gay Anderson became the artistic director of Columbia Theatre and Fanfare,” said Blackwood. “At that point, it was determined that the community was really worn out. We started to back off of the really, really big-name entertainers, and we refocused it on student-oriented events that the students could afford. Over the last few years, we have moved a lot of the Fanfare events back to campus.”
For the last two seasons, the Student Government Association of Southeastern has been the exclusive sponsor of Fanfare. Students have been able to attend most Fanfare events for free.
“It’s really provided an opportunity for education and enjoyment to literally thousands of people,” said Blackwood of Fanfare’s success over the years.
This season, Fanfare promises to entertain audiences with many of the usual artistic delights.
“Next weekend is the wind symphony,” said Blackwood. “They are calling it ‘Southeastern Wind Symphony presents Planet Earth,’ and that’s going to be a huge event. They are going to do ‘The Lord of the Rings Symphony Number 1’ and a really big program including a guest artist from the Netherlands, Johan de Meij.”
Other highlights for this year’s Fanfare season include the Foreign Film series, where each film is produced in a language taught at Southeastern, and the popular “Then and Now” lecture series, presented by Southeastern’s History and Political Science Department under Bill Robison.
“Dr. Robison always does a Halloween kind of lecture,” said Blackwood. “This year it is on Halloween, and that’s something he always comes in costume, and he usually has kind of a Monty Python-type presentation, so it’s crazy and a lot of fun. That’s in Pottle so it’s easy for students to get to and free.”
Blackwood also noted two Fanfare events that will not take place in Hammond this season.
“On the 22nd, Professor Charles Elliot is going to give a talk about the history of Louisiana’s becoming a state, since this is part of the bicentennial celebration year of our statehood,” said Blackwood.
Elliot’s lecture will take place at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum in Madisonville at 7 p.m.
“Then on the 27th up in Amite, the Victory Belles are going to perform,” said Blackwood. “The Victory Belles were a close-harmony trio. They were world-renowned. They went to USO clubs and entertained the troops during World World II.”
The Victory Belles performance will be sponsored by the Amite Cultural Foundation and will take place at the Amite High School theatre at 7 p.m.