Parish native hired as Exec. Director of The Dixie Center for the Arts

The arts scene in Ruston is getting an Evangeline Parish flair to it as Ville Platte native Travis Fontenot was hired as executive director of The Dixie Center for the Arts.
“The Dixie has a rich history and is still a very beautiful and opulent place to draw in people,” Fontenot told the Ruston Daily Leader. “It doesn’t need to be reinvented. It just needs to be reintroduced.”
He continued, “Ruston is very proud of the Dixie and the history it has. We want to keep it that way.”
Fontenot earned his master’s degree in arts administration from Louisiana Tech this past spring and was hired from among 15 applicants as executive director last month. “Travis was always at the top,” board president Larry Jarrell told the Ruston Daily Leader. “We were impressed with his knowledge about the Dixie and small theaters they can do for a community.”
Before arriving in Ruston, Fontenot earned his bachelor’s degree in theater performance and directing from Northwestern State University and spent eight years at Pine Prairie High School as coordinator of the theater program.
The 32-year-old Fontenot will begin his new theatrical endeavor in September following a summer internship in Williamstown, Mass., as apprentice coordinator for the Williamstown Theatre Festival.