Swinging Mardi Gras fundraiser to feature celebrity emcees, Cajun-inspired food, and artful fundraising along with MSU Jazz Orchestra
 Juliet Dragos and Phil Dawson of WZZM-13 in Grand Rapids will be the celebrity emcees at the 3rd annual Jazz It Up winter fundraiser for the Ludington Area Center for the Arts on Saturday, February 20. Dragos is an anchor for WZZM's nightly newscasts, and Dawson is a reporter for the ABC affiliate.
The evening features Rodney Whitaker, one of the country's leading jazz double bass players and instructors, conducting his Michigan State University Jazz Orchestra I, comprised of MSU's most advanced music students.
Dragos and Dawson will emcee the 7 p.m. performance as well as the Mardi Gras party featuring Cajun-inspired food following the concert. Tickets are $25, with all proceeds going to the Center for the Arts. And, if you buy five tickets, you can the sixth ticket free. Tickets are available at the Center during its business hours, at the door, or online.
Putting the fun back into fundraising
Partygoers will have multiple ways to donate at various levels starting at $5. The  Ludington Area Arts Council hopes to raise $20,000 toward operations and programming at the Center.
Donations options include a Mardi Gras King Cake where a $5 ticket will buy a slice of cake and a prize for the lucky person who finds the Mardi Gras baby trinket in his/her slice of cake.
Ludington artist and former New Orleans resident, Thomas Brittain, has donated a copy of one of his photographs, "Cool Beat," for use as a fundraising mosaic. The image has been cut into squares, which can be purchased for $10 each and placed on a numbered board with the buyer's name entered into a drawing. The more pieces sold, the more of the complete photograph will be revealed. The person whose name is drawn will win Brittain's original photo.
Opportunities for larger donations will be available throughout the evening by purchasing Mardi Gras harlequin decorations ranging from $50 to $5,000.
Colorful, jazz-inspired paintings by award-winning Grand Rapids artist, Deborah Hoover, will be on display at the Mardi Gras party. Proceeds from the sale of Hoover's work will benefit both the artist and the Center.
Educational Outreach
On Friday afternoon, the MSU Jazz Orchestra I will give a concert for students at Ludington High School. On Saturday, students and area musicians are invited to a free mini-performance and music clinics with the individual musicians at the Center for the Arts. The performance is at 10 a.m., followed by the clinics, which wrap up at 1 p.m.
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