New Digs. New Trails. Same Chance to Raise a Glass to the Arts.

There’s something in the air at Mcneese this year, and it isn’t just the smell of Southwest Louisiana’s best bites and the aroma of 200 decadent wines being uncorked. 

There’s a whole lot of new on campus—a new president, a spectacular new student union, a brand-new way into Rouge et Blanc, and a Banners cultural season that is no longer relegated to March and April. Banners is now year-round!

It seems only fitting that Rouge gets a new front door, too. This year, patrons can skip the wide-open lots of Rouge days past and park in the campus parking garage. Then walk straight into the back entrance of the new Elizabeth and Leslie Richard Student Union. Pick up tickets in the ballroom, mosey into Ballroom B for your glass, then make your way through the building and out those beautiful glass doors onto the Quad.

The gleaming new 50,000-square-foot gathering place stands where two pieces of McNeese history once stood: Farrar Hall and Memorial Gymnasium. Both were badly damaged by Hurricanes Laura and Delta, but part of that history survived. Original ironwork from Memorial Gym was saved and incorporated into the new building. You’ll walk right past it on your way to party with a purpose, and that feels pretty appropriate.

Because this building is about more than bricks and glass, McNeese students helped envision it, shape it and even voted to help fund it all while knowing some of them would graduate before they ever got to walk through its doors. After hurricanes took so much from campus, students invested in something they might never personally get to enjoy. They bet on what came next. And that sounds an awful lot like what Rouge et Blanc does.

Every ticket purchased, every bottle ordered, every glass raised at Rouge helps Banners bring arts, culture, education and extraordinary experiences to Southwest Louisiana. And now it’s happening all year long—spring, summer, fall and winter. Banners is no longer a cultural season but a year-round cultural presence.

So, this year, when you step through our new entrance, past a piece of the McNeese that was and into the McNeese that is becoming, take a second to appreciate the view. Join us as Rouge rides into its next chapter.

Get your Rouge et Blanc tickets at banners.org