Opening reception: Friday, March 8 from 5-8 p.m.

In celebration of National Youth Art Month during March, the Hammond Regional Arts Center will host a “Young Artists” exhibition to give an opportunity for the public to peer into the classrooms of local art teachers. The Arts Center’s exhibition, on view from March 8-29, will showcase works of emerging art students throughout the city of Hammond from elementary school through high school. An opening reception will be held at the Arts Center on Friday, March 8, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Participating schools include Loranger High School, Midway Elementary, SLU Lab School, Hammond High School, Hammond Eastside and Westside Elementary, Holy Ghost Catholic School, St. Thomas Aquinas, Ponchatoula High.

Admission is free to the public and refreshments including a complimentary banana split bar complete with ice cream, fruit, nuts, sauces and sprinkles will be served. Patrons will be able to purchase tickets to win a giant basket of art supplies. The Arts Center will also be doing a special membership deal. All newly joined HRAC members will receive their choice of a free Love Pop card or a token for the Art-O-Mat art dispenser.

National Youth Art Month is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education and to encourage public support for quality school art programs. The focus of this month is to convey to the public that art education develops self-discipline, self-esteem, and a sense of pride in self-expression. Youth Art Month has been observed nationally since 1961.

Jane Hogan and Amelia Tritico founded Belle Journal, a literary publication, in 2013 as a space for women to share unique stories, art, and perspectives about what it means to “be southern.” In choosing the title Belle Journal, the editors hoped to expand the term “Southern Belle” to include all women who share a common grit and experience of living in this Southern land.

Belle Journal published its first volume in 2013 and its second volume in 2017. To date, Belle Journal has received over 1,000 submissions and a committee of Southern women are responsible for selecting the work and producing the journal.

Belle Journal is currently seeking submissions for its third volume, due out in the Fall of 2019. Women are welcome to submit stories, poems, recipes, musings, song lyrics, photographs, or other visual art. Men are also welcome to submit to the journal, provided they adopt a feminine pseudonym, as a nod to prior times when women had to disguise their gender in order to be published.

On March 22, 2019, at 6 p.m., Donna Gay Anderson will direct a one-hour dramatic reading of selected work from Belle Journal volumes one and two. A reception will follow and there is no charge to attend.