From Staff Reports

Three N.O. festivals begin this week

The second annual Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival will kick off Thursday with a party at The Mid-City Lanes Rock & Bowl, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., in New Orleans.

The event will feature Leon Chavis & the Burning Flames at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Festivities will continue at 11 a.m. Friday and run through June 15 at the Old U.S. Mint, 400 Esplanade Ave. Two Grammy winners – Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience and BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet – and three recent Grammy nominees – Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars – are part of the musical lineup.

The festival, sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, is being presented in collaboration with the Louisiana Seafood Festival, sponsored by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board and the French Quarter Business Association, and the Creole Tomato Festival, sponsored by the Great French Market. All three free events will run Friday through June 15.

The Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and the Seafood Festival will both be at the Old U.S. Mint. The Creole Tomato Festival will be in the French Market.

For infomrmation, visit www.jazzandheritage.org/cajunzydeco or call 504-558-6100.

Area children invited to summer arts camp

The Southern Cultural Heritage Center will host a multicultural arts camp for children. It will be from 8 a.m. until noon June 23-27.

The fee is $50, and the event is open to children in grades 1-6. Space is limited, and reservations are required. Instructors will be Kathy Gibson and Tracy Gardner.

For information or to register, call the SCHC office at 601-631-2997 or e-mail info@southernculture.org.

William Carey to present ‘Smoke on the Mountain’

William Carey University will present “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming.”

The performances, at 7 each night, kick off Thursday and run through June 28 at the O.L. Quave Theatre on the Hattiesburg campus.

In the play, set in 1945, the Sanders Family Singers return to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where they will say goodbye to the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe and his wife, June, while son Dennis takes his place as preacher.

The fee is $25. Reservations are required. For tickets, call 601-318-6221.

Applicants being sought for private music lessons

Applications are being accepted for private lessons at the Carey Institute of Fine Arts at William Carey University in Hattiesburg.

Lessons will be offered in piano, voice, guitar, organ, woodwinds, brass, composition and theory instruction and will begin in August. Instructors will include members of the Winters School of Music.

Tuition is $130 to $350 for 10 weeks.

Contact Sue Boyd Price at sueboydprice@gmail.com or 601-318-6138, or visit www.wmcarey.edu.