NWLA artists speak out during SRAC's Open Forum: AI and Arts
- Sysica Hazelton
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
SHREVEPORT, La. - SBC HeART Share
On Jan. 8, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) held an Open Forum: Ai and the Arts at the historic Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, a place with deep artistic roots, where Elvis Presley made his first big debut.
The event was held following backlash when the arts council used AI imagery in its marketing, promoting holiday events in December 2025.
Upon arrival at the building, artists of all sorts were coming into the building. From visual artists, musicians, literary, and performance/video artists. The forum was set to be intensely structured and the agenda printed out and given to artists stated strict guidelines in which were supposed to be followed.
From the first part of the forum, the WARM-UP, people around the room spoke a single word to express their feelings on AI, some expressed concern, others expressed curiosity and opportunity, but a large amount of artists expressed more negative words toward Ai, such as stealing, anger, or violated.
Most artists that were there for this event were hoping for a singular answer.
Will SRAC support AI use in its policies?
The structured conversation ended at "Marketing & AI", the topic being the most heated part of the discussion.
Impatience grew, many artists began to express anger due to the fact that multiple artists were cut off in their comments and they many felt that they were not getting the conversation they had hoped for at the forum.
"We experienced communal abuse imo. They denied the issue, then attacked us when we defended our concerns. It escalated, with every denial, and then when they were called to account, they reversed the role from offender to victim so fast. That’s what triggered me." - Aych Evans, artist.
During the stream produced by Brittney Hazelton at the event, some artists and supporters were watching events from home, and many of them also had things to say about the forum.
"Cut people off when things get too close to the truth, and she can feel the crowd getting hyped." - Zack Nelms, musician and tech worker.
"The point of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council is to connect people with the arts and artists. AI used by the Arts Council seems contradictory and just wrong. Until this point, I have always supported SRAC. With the acknowledgement that AI, as a tool, is not going away...Regenerative AI has no place in use by SRAC when it replaces an artist," said M.c. Rollo, photographer
As the room went up into an uproar and more artists spoke out against the structure of the forum, some artists began to walk out.
"I was there and left when the entire meeting went off the rails and did not stay on topic. We spent an hour and a half talking about what Ai is. We all know what it is and that’s why we were there. Duh. The SRAC did not have a stance on AI nor did they have a facilitator to handle any questions regarding the council’s ad. Each question by the audience with the word SRAC in it was quickly shut down. This was a meeting to deflect attention away from why we were there. Poorly done. Should have had snacks too," said Penny Warner, artist.
One artist, Kathryn Usher, announced she was embarrassed about how the artists in the community were reacting as others were walking out.
Time ran out before the other slides were done. A lot of artists lingered and discussed the events of the night; many left still frustrated about the topic, with feelings that nothing was accomplished and that SRAC had still not given a concrete decision on the topic.
Outside of the building, many artists continued the conversations amongst each other.
Upon exiting, they were met with Matt Gromlich, a candidate for U.S. Congress, Louisiana District 4. He shared his card and a flyer for another AI discussion event.
Do you think AI should be allowed in artistic communities?
Yes
No
Yes, but with some limits/restrictions
I'm not sure
Thank you all for reading my experience from the night. It certainly was a bit of a crazy experience to be honest. But, I got to say, seeing the passion from all of the artists during this event makes me even more proud to be from Shreveport. Knowing that our art community comes together in such moments. - Author & artist, Brittney Hazelton
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