Yallah Yallah performs at Festival International, Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Downtown Lafayette.
Festival International de Louisiane’s all volunteer board is launching a GoFundMe to help pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel and visa expenses needed to ensure the festival can book acts from around the globe for next year’s 40th anniversary festival, according to Lafayette alt-weekly The Current.
Festival International is a free, four day music and cultural event in Lafayette and is one the jewels of Louisiana’s spring festival season, drawing tens of thousands of people to the city. In addition to artists from Louisiana, the festival boasts an impressive lineup of international musicians, representing from 15 to 20 nations in any given year, according to the Current.
The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown, rhetorical attacks on various countries, trade policies and generally isolationist approach to foreign policy has been a driving force in the downturn in international tourism to the United States. It’s a problem that even Republicans in Louisiana are concerned about, including Lieutenant Gov. Billy Nungesser who began raising the alarm bells this spring.
Combined with steep hikes to visa costs designed to discourage travel by any but the most wealthy, it’s becoming increasingly untenable financially for musicians to come to the U.S.
For instance, Lisa Stafford, a booker for the festival, told The Current that visa cost increases and bureaucratic hurdles “basically more than double the price of everything … your curation can kind of suffer, because there’s so many bands I want to bring in that I can’t.”
For a deep dive into all the factors behind the rising costs and what it could mean for the festival, be sure to check out the Current’s excellent story. To donate, head over the GoFundMe page.
