The 8-episode series explores French programming on KRVS public radio, the Isleños of Louisiana, the tradition of boucheries, and much more.
Filming for season 1.2 of La Veillée has been underway since February, featuring reporting in the field with francophones from across Louisiana. Drake LeBlanc/Télé-Louisiane
By Jonathan Olivier
La Veillée, a weekly news show produced by Télé-Louisiane with Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB), returns with more stories that dig deeper into the rich cultural layers of the region. The spring half of season 1 features French-language content alongside a special episode in Spanish documenting the Isleño community of Louisiana and another episode partially in Creole focused on the Louisiana Creole language.
“La Veillée is unique not only because it is in French, but also because we visit communities that are too often forgotten in mainstream coverage and we focus on stories that matter to people across Louisiana regardless of ethnic, political, or regional background,” said Télé-Louisiane CEO and co-founder Will McGrew, who is an executive producer of La Veillée.
La Veillée is the first weekly television program produced entirely in Louisiana French in over 30 years. It airs for 15-minutes on Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. on LPB and online. The spring season premiers on March 16 with a finale on May 4, featuring in-the-field reporting and interviews, and hosted by McGrew, Drake LeBlanc and Caitlin Orgeron. The eight episodes from the fall season are available online at lpb.org/laveillee.
The Thursday night premier will focus on French-language programming hosted on Acadiana’s NPR public radio affiliate KRVS. The station is home to Blake Miller’s La Lou Juke Box, Megan Brown Constantin’s Encore and Cedric Watson’s La Nation Créole.
“We have admired KRVS’s historic French programming over the years and were thrilled to see the return of Bonjour Louisiane with Ashlee Michot,” McGrew said. “Interviewing some of the young talent at the station for our spring season premiere was inspiring, informative and fun.”
Throughout the season, La Veillée episodes will explore a variety of topics:
A special Spanish-language episode focused on the Isleños of St. Bernard Parish
An episode focused on revitalization efforts underway for the Louisiana Creole language
Interviews with Lafayette-area-based musicians Jo Vidrine, Kelli Jones and Jourdan Thibodeaux
A look at the efforts to keep French alive with reports on two French immersion schools: LeBlanc Elementary, which is the first and only immersion school in Vermilion Parish, and École St. Landry, a French immersion charter school in St. Landry Parish
An exploration of the traditional boucherie through the decades-old Fête du Cochon, an annual celebration in Golden Meadow
Also airing on LPB in March is the animated cartoon series Les Aventures de Boudini et Ses Amis, created by the Creole Cartoon Company with Télé-Louisiane. Boudini premiered online in Jan. 2021, and the first season was funded with support from the Louisiana Consortium of Immersion Schools, CODOFIL, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The move to LPB highlights the ongoing partnership between the network and Télé-Louisiane to strengthen French language programming in the state.
“Our partnership with Télé-Louisiane has been a wonderful way to share the stories of the French-speaking communities in Louisiana,” said Linda Midgett, LPB executive producer. “This has always been an important part of LPB’s mission and we are grateful for this collaboration.”