This week on Inside the Arts, the 32nd Annual Tennessee Williams-New Orleans Literary Festival kicks off with a variety of activities around town. We check out a few theater offerings.

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with Tayari Jones. The N.Y. Times best-selling author’s latest novel, An American Marriage, is an Oprah Book Club pick.

This week on Inside the Arts, Second Star New Orleans gears up for Two for Tennessee: The Tricentennial Edition. The performance collective premieres two original one-act plays inspired by the life and legacy of Tennessee Williams.

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with acclaimed jazz trumpeter, composer and poet, Hannibal Lokumbe. His latest work, Crucifixion- Resurrection: Nine Souls Traveling, remembers those killed in the basement of Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. It premieres this weekend in New Orleans. Airs Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m., and Thursdays at 8:45 a.m.

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with Carol Rausch. The New Orleans Opera chorus master and Loyola Opera Theatre director is being honored with GAMBIT's Classical Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.

This week on Inside the Arts, the Birdfoot Festival presents Sakura. The Los Angeles based cello quintet performs two concerts in New Orleans. We talk with Sakura co-founder and cellist Michael Kaufman and Birdfoot’s artistic director Jenna Sherry.

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with multi-Grammy winning jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. He'll talk about his opera, Champion: An Opera in Jazz. It is about the life of famed prizefighter Emile Griffith.

This week on Inside the Arts, renowned choreographer and director Jean-Christophe Maillot puts a French twist on Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers. We talk with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s Roméo, dancer Stephan Bourgond. Airs Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m., and Thursdays at 8:45 a.m.

This week on Inside the Arts, Grammy nominated jazz trumpeter and composer Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah brings 'stretch music' to the Contemporary Arts Center. Then, a heads up for Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts as acclaimed preservationist and lead architect Gunny Harboe gives a special lecture at Tulane on the restoration of Wright's masterpiece, the Unity Temple in suburban Chicago. And, the citywide international contemporary art triennial, Prospect.4, gears up for closing activities

This week on Inside the Arts, it's Carnival time in the city's tricentennial year. We look at Mardi Gras past and present.