Festival International de Louisiane

A Celebration of Cultural Diversity and the Francophone World

Jul 29, 2008

The annual festival is held the last full week of April in downtown Lafayette, LA as a way to appreciate both differences and similarities of the world's cultures.

Each year about 300,000 travelers and Acadiana residents make the trip to Festival International de Louisiane to experience its 500 artists and their free music and entertainment, cultural workshops and demonstrations, dance and drama, and crafts and cuisine as a way to celebrate the common human experience lived by means of diverse cultures.

The annual Festival International de Louisiane began in 1987 as an effort to connect Cajun French-speaking southwestern Louisiana to the rest of the Francophone world in a celebration of the French, African, Caribbean and Hispanic influences.

According to Dana Cañedo, the festival's executive director, Festival International was originally designed to connect Louisiana to the French-speaking, or Francophone, world and to highlight Acadiana's heritage.

Over the years the festival has become the nation's largest outdoor, free Francophone event, consisting of five days of entertainment, arts, food, and festivity of both human diversity and common experience.

Due to limited space, the festival no longer looks to grow in size but instead to grow in quality. Improvements in recent years include giant screens at each of the five major music venues and life-size stilt-walker signs pointing directions to both natives and visitors.

Within five days, more than 50 bands perform at six major music venues in downtown Lafayette. The bands come from genres as widespread as Afropop to Indie Rock and places as unique as Belize, Madagascar, and Spain.

Dancing, movies, dramas, and Catholic masses can be found around the festival. Street jugglers, stilt walkers, drummers, and dancers wait just beyond each official venue. The performers energize the festival-goers and the festival-goers energize the performers.

At the Place des Enfants, children learn about culture through storytelling, games, music, dance, puppetry, art, workshops, craft demonstrations, hands-on activities and active participation.

More than 50 artists from across the eastern coast of the United States sell paintings, pottery, jewelry, and more every year at the Marche des Arts exhibit, and more than 100 vendors from across the globe sell instruments, clothing, art, jewelry, and more at the Marche du Monde.

Local cuisine is also available serving everything from crawfish nachos to jambalaya to gyro sandwiches. International cooking demonstrations, cultural workshops, and a world music store can also be found, each encouraging family participation.

How to Help at Festival International: Donations and Volunteers

A large part of the Acadiana region participates in the individual donation program Friends of the Festival (or Amis du Festival), which encourages locals to give with its slogan "YOU are Festival. YOU enrich, YOU educate, YOU encourage. YOU enhance Acadiana's cultural connection with the Francphone world." There are different levels of giving ranging from Bon Ami to Magnifique Ami.

Several years ago when rain dampened the festival's fun, the Rain Angels formed to collect money from the community to purchase quality tents to protect people from outside elements at each of the main venues. Major contributors receive VIP treatment at the festival.

The festival needs a minimum of 1,500 volunteers each year to keep the festival thriving, and the people of Acadiana provide help with everything from hospitality and interpretation to media and security. Volunteers greet people from the moment they step off the shuttle to the moment they buy their favorite artist's CD. A large number of local festival-goers serve as unofficial volunteers, giving direction and welcome to the thousands of travelers.

Location of the Festival and Number of People Who Attend

Hundreds of thousands of people journey each year to downtown Lafayette, the unofficial capital of Cajun Country and fourth largest city in Louisiana. Lafayette is known for its oil and tourism industries, its Cajun culture and food, its swamps and wildlife, and its hospitality and joie de vivre (or joy of living).

Though the festival's goal has grown from an appreciation of Francophone culture to an appreciation of global culture, diversity, and unity, the festival brings together people from cultures as unique as the people who celebrate them for a rich and exciting celebration of life. For more information on previous and future festivals, visit the website.