In the past, one of the indications of being good in business – and a successful and respectable person in general – was job stability. You graduated from high school or college, you got a job and you stuck at it for 40 years. If you did well, you’d work your way up through the ranks and end up in management. But even if you didn’t, you appreciated the security, you were loyal to the company, and you retired with a decent pension.

That’s all changed. Markedly. These days there is usually no pension waiting for you. And far from any stigma being attached to changing jobs, we regard change and new challenges as positive.

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Aileen Bennett meets two people who have both recently made big changes.

For 11 years Dana Baker was Executive Director of Festival International. For most of us, running the most popular music festival in town, and one of the greatest in the country, would be a dream job. Dana’s new job keeps the dream alive. As of late 2016 Dana is the Executive Director of the Acadiana Symphony. 

Harold Bernard has started a new business at the time of life most people are retiring. Harold is 65 and as of January 2017 the founder and owner of Glide Studios, on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette. Harold is a dancer and dance teacher. Glide Studios is a place where you can learn dance, watch dance, or just plain old dance.

In Acadiana our cultural life is an integral part of every aspect of our lives. From the symphony to the zydeco dance hall, in this conversation we discover the audiences are not so different. Often they’re the same people.

Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Gwen Aucoin.