FIL cuts ribbon on new digs

Phil Lank, former director of the city of Lafayette’s Community Development Department and a co-founder of Festival International, addresses the ribbon-cutting gathering Friday at FIL’s new office on Lee Avenue.

Festival International de Louisiana’s office has been moving ever closer to the action. Just a few years ago FIL staff shared cramped space in the old City Hall at the Jefferson Street/Lee Avenue intersection. Then it moved to a larger space at the corner of Congress and Jefferson. Now it’s a stone’s throw from Scène International in the former Greyhound Bus terminal on Lee Avenue.

FIL staff welcomed the public to that office Friday to cut the ribbon on the new office, which staff have actually occupied for a few months. The project was facilitated by the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority, which acquired the property after Greyhound moved out. The LPTFA helped finance the deal. The new space gives FIL not only adequate office space but warehouse space to boot.

Here’s a video highlight of today’s ribbon-cutting.