50 Years of Red River Revel
LIVE! in the community award 2025
2025 Recipient – Jason Barnett
In 2025, new primary sponsor Live! Casino & Hotel based in Bossier City, LA sponsored a new award at the Red River Revel: The Live! In The Community Award. For more than five days, staff from the property based in Bossier City, LA quietly examined original art pieces throughout the festival. As a group and after much discussion, one piece was selected to receive the award during the second weekend of the festival. The piece was purchased by the sponsor and is now displayed at the property in perpetuity.
The 2025 Live! In The Community Award selection went to “Joy Motel” by Trinity, Texas-based artist Jason Barnett. The artist attended the 2025 Red River Revel as the second juried art show of his career. Jason’s art has evolved over the years; he is well-known as an aircraft nose artist, having painted the noses of many historical planes in his career. By his admission, he had been reluctant to enter juried art shows due to the competitiveness of the jury process. His partner, Helene Bernhard-Little, is also a Revel visual artist and Jason typically travels to shows to help her set up her booth and sell her amazing watercolor art.
At the urging of Helene, Jason began to apply to shows and didn’t know what to expect out of the Revel. The sponsor representatives noticed the piece early and narrowed down their decision to two possible selections: the “Joy Motel” and (ironically) a piece from Helene’s collection…a fact, he says, Helene loves to ‘let people know’.
When approached by the Executive Director, Artist Committee Chair, and representatives from Live! Casino, Jason initially thought he had broken a rule and was going to be ‘reprimanded or kicked out of the festival.’ To his surprise and delight, the “Joy Motel” became the first recipient of this award.
“I was honored that someone would consider me for this, just absolutely blown away,” Barnett said. The story of “Joy Motel” is rooted in a chance occurance: Jason and Helene were on a road trip through Arkansas to purchase a vintage boat when they spotted the Joy Motel sign in Eureka Springs. Immediately catching Jason’s eye through a patch of trees as a particularly striking piece of Americana, he took approximately 40 photos of the sign back to Texas, where he proceeded to create the original painting in the studio.
Jason is passionate about preserving things from our past because they do not last forever. He feels we take objects that are a part of the style of our culture in America for granted and works to capture that nostalgia before it’s gone.
The Live! In The Community Award was created in 2025 to highlight and honor one original piece of artwork at the festival each year. The sponsor selects the piece and purchases it to display at the property in Bossier City, LA for all to see. Selections are made by an independent group of representatives from the sponsor and are not influenced or directed by the staff, volunteers, or vendors of Red River Revel, Inc.
About Live! Casino & Hotel
On February 13, 2025, the Ark-La-Tex region welcomed a world-class gaming, hotel, dining, and entertainment destination with the opening of Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana. Situated along the scenic Red River in Bossier City and adjacent to Shreveport, the $270+ million facility is a transformative development bringing economic opportunity and inclusivity to local residents. Featuring the market’s first-ever land-side casino, Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana spans over 47,000 square feet, including 1,000+ slots and electronic table games, 40+ live action table games, a sportsbook, an upscale hotel, resort pool, and fitness center; and a 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, multi-purpose Event Center for top-name entertainment, meetings, and special events.
Award-winning dining and entertainment options, covering 30,000-square-feet of space, includes the Zagat-rated #1 steakhouse, The Prime Rib®; Sports & Social, a one-of-a-kind sports restaurant, gaming venue and social lounge; PBR Cowboy Bar, offering high energy music, entertainment and a mechanical bull; Luk Fu, serving authentic Asian cuisine; and Ridotto Grand Café, featuring Italian cuisine with a Venetian flair. Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana was developed, owned, and managed by LRGC Gaming Investors, LLC, an affiliate of The Cordish Companies, the premier developer of Live! dining, entertainment, gaming, hotel, and sports-anchored destinations in the country, including Texas Live! in nearby Arlington, TX. For information, visit Louisiana.LiveCasinoHotel.com or follow them on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram @livecasinola.
