Baton Rouge Has Its Own Awards Night — And Every Dollar Goes to the Kids Who Need It Most

Published by 225 Live Events & 5 Star Entertainment Events May 2026 · Category: Arts & Culture, Community, Announcements

We've been building something for a long time, and we're finally ready to tell you everything about it.

On November 1, 2026, the first-ever 225 Arts & Music Awards comes to life at BREC Independence Theatre in Baton Rouge — a full-day celebration of the extraordinary creative talent that defines the 225 region, from rock bands and jazz musicians to visual artists, theatre companies, culinary artists, comedians, and filmmakers. Every single one of them local. Every single one of them deserving of a room full of people who know their name.

But this isn't just an awards night. It never was.

Why We're Doing This

Baton Rouge has always had the talent. What it hasn't had is a stage built specifically to celebrate it — a moment where the community gathers, looks around, and says this is who we are.

That's the 225 Arts & Music Awards.

And while we're honoring the people who make this region extraordinary, we're simultaneously doing something else: 100% of the net proceeds from this event go directly to Capital Area CASA Association — the organization that trains and supervises volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children in our local foster care system.

Right now, 46% of eligible children in East Baton Rouge Parish have no CASA volunteer. Nearly half of the children who most need someone to stand in their corner are still waiting. Every ticket sold, every sponsorship secured, every five-dollar door donation collected at a venue event this year goes directly to closing that gap.

When you show up for local art, you show up for local kids. That's the deal we made when we started planning this — and we're not moving off of it.

200+ Categories. One Community.

The 225 Arts & Music Awards honors over 200 award categories spanning music and the arts. On the music side alone, we're recognizing artists across rock, blues, jazz, R&B and funk, hip-hop, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, country, electronic, and more — plus bands, albums, recordings, instrumentalists, songwriters, venues, and events. On the arts side, categories span visual arts, theatre, dance, film and media, literary and spoken word, culinary arts, comedy, craft and specialty, photography, and beyond.

The top 40 Music categories and 27 Arts categories — 67 total — will be presented live on stage at BREC Independence Theatre on November 1st. But the other 150+ categories? Those belong to the community in a different way entirely.

The Awards Come to Your Neighborhood

One of the things we're most excited about — and most proud of — is the venue event model we've built around this awards season.

Rather than cramming every award into a single stage presentation, we've partnered with approximately 25 live music venues and arts spaces across the 225 to host two dedicated co-sponsored events each. Here's how it works:

Event One — The Nomination Celebration (August 2026) Your venue is assigned award categories that fit your crowd and your personality. A country bar might get Country Artist of the Year and Dream Wedding Band of the Year. A jazz venue might get Jazz Musician of the Year and Jazz Band of the Year. Each category has three nominees — so that's six people from your community who show up to your venue with their families and their fans to be recognized. You — or whoever you want on stage — presents each nominee with a physical award bearing your venue's logo. A professional photographer captures every moment. 225 Live Events and 5 Star Entertainment Events promote the event across our combined network of 100,000+ social media followers and 100,000+ monthly web visitors.

Event Two — The Award Presentation (November 2026) After the main November 1st event, the winners are announced at your venue. You host the reveal night. You present the category award trophies on your own stage, to your own crowd, for your own community. Your logo is engraved on every award.

Both events are co-sponsored by Anheuser-Busch / Mockler Beverage, 5 Star Entertainment Events, and 225 Live Events — so participating venues aren't doing this alone. We handle the promotion, the photography, the award production, and the event support. All the venue provides is their stage and their community.

And at the door of every venue event, we collect a $5 per person donation — 100% of which goes directly to Capital Area CASA.

A Night Worth Dressing Up For

Back at BREC Independence Theatre on November 1st, the main event runs from noon to nine o'clock. Doors open at 12:00 PM with red carpet arrivals. The Arts Celebration kicks off at 1:00 PM — honoring visual artists, theatre productions, dancers, filmmakers, culinary creators, and more. At 4:00 PM, the Music Celebration takes over and doesn't stop until 9:00 PM.

Live performances are woven throughout the entire evening. We're proud to announce the following confirmed performers for the inaugural 225 Arts & Music Awards:

Chris LeBlanc
Thomas Cain
Lauren Lee
Ian Webster
Purposely Chozen
The Eddie Smith Band
Kendall Shaffer
Torrie Knighten
Petty Betty & Michael Jackson Tribute Dancer
Stormy the Band — Closing Set

Additional performers and special guests will be announced in the coming months.

The Award Itself

We want to tell you about the physical award — because it matters.

The 225 Arts & Music Awards trophy is a hand-crafted piece built on a sleek black base, featuring a stunning resin art panel with flowing blue pigment, gold flecks, and a finish that catches every light in the room. It's engraved with the 225 Live Events seal, the event name, the category, and the year. It's the kind of thing you put somewhere people can see it.

Every nominee receives one. Every winner receives one. Every presenter — the venue, the company, the person who steps to the mic — receives one with their name on it. That's part of the design. We want this award to live in the community, on shelves and walls and mantles, long after November 1st has come and gone.

About CASA — And Why It's the Right Partner

The Capital Area Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association trains and supervises community volunteers to be the voice for abused and neglected children in the East Baton Rouge Parish court system. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to work one-on-one with children in foster care — making recommendations that prioritize each child's safety, permanency, and well-being.

The data is striking: children with a CASA volunteer are 50% less likely to re-enter foster care. They perform better academically. They are more likely to find safe, permanent homes. And yet 46% of eligible children in our parish currently have no advocate.

We connected the arts and child advocacy intentionally. Creative expression heals trauma. Research consistently shows that arts participation helps children who have experienced abuse and neglect regulate their emotions, rebuild confidence, and process what has happened to them. By celebrating the arts and funding CASA, we're not doing two separate things — we're doing one thing with two hands.

Every dollar raised at the 225 Arts & Music Awards goes to changing that 46% number. No overhead carved off the top, no middlemen. Net proceeds, directly to CASA.

You can learn more about the organization and volunteer opportunities at capacasa.org.

For Venues: There's Still Time

We are still finalizing our venue partners for the 2026 season. If you operate a live music venue, bar, arts space, or community event space in the 225 area and want to be part of this — to host your own awards nights, carry your logo on physical trophies, and bring your community together around something that matters — we want to hear from you.

Venue sponsorships start at $1,000 (50% at signing, 50% due August 1, 2026), with an optional Contributor Plus Plus upgrade for up to four award categories at your location.

For Sponsors: A Seat at the Table of Something Historic

This is the first 225 Arts & Music Awards. The inaugural edition. The one people will reference for years. Sponsorship opportunities range from Contributor Plus venue-level partnerships to Presenting Sponsorships and beyond, with full media integration, logo placement across all physical awards, digital advertising on 225 Live Events (100,000+ monthly visitors), and recognition at the main event before 700–850+ attendees from the arts, business, and cultural communities of Baton Rouge.

All sponsorships are structured with flexible cash and in-kind options, and a portion is tax-deductible as a contribution to a 501(c)(3) CASA fundraiser.

Get Your Tickets

Tickets are on sale now at 225ama.com/tickets, starting at $35. A portion of every ticket is tax-deductible as a CASA fundraiser contribution.

If you're an artist, musician, or arts organization in the 225 area, nominations are open. Make sure the people who deserve recognition know about this — and make sure the community shows up to vote.

One More Thing

We want to say something directly.

225 Live Events and 5 Star Entertainment Events have been building this region's arts and music community for years — documenting it, promoting it, putting local artists in front of audiences who didn't know they existed. The 225 Arts & Music Awards is the most ambitious thing we've ever done, and we're building and operating every piece of the infrastructure — website, ticketing, marketing — at no cost to the event itself, so that every dollar possible reaches Capital Area CASA.

We believe the arts matter. We believe the people who make this city extraordinary deserve a moment where the whole city says so. And we believe the children in our community who are waiting for an advocate deserve everything we can give them.

November 1st is that moment. We hope to see you there.

Michael Paul Executive Producer, 225 Arts & Music Awards 225 Live Events · 5 Star Entertainment Events mp@5StarEE.com · 225-250-6877 www.225ama.com · www.225liveevents.com

The 225 Arts & Music Awards is a fundraising event benefiting Capital Area CASA Association (501(c)(3)). Tickets are partially tax-deductible. Tax receipts provided by CASA. Fair market value disclosure available upon request.

For venue partnership inquiries, sponsorship opportunities, or press inquiries, contact mp@5StarEE.com.