This Tuesday, March 13, Little Rock voters are being asked to vote for an enhancement of the Central Arkansas Library System. Information is below.
This will not only help CALS but will be a benefit to cultural life in general in Central Arkansas.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Marching along 2nd Friday Art Night
History takes front and center at this month’s 2nd Friday Art Night.
First up, the Butler Center Galleries of the Arkansas Studies Institute are featuring the new exhibit “Making a Place: Jewish Experience in Arkansas.” This exhibit explores the development of the Jewish community in Arkansas focusing on immigration, isolation and assimilation.
Over at Historic Arkansas Museum, the Smittle Band will be entertaining visitors who are looking at the temporary and permanent exhibits of art and history. The evening will also feature a sample of wines hosted by downtown’s very own Zin Wine Bar.
The Old State House Museum will be open so that visitors can see the new exhibit “Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980.”
Another exhibit with a history flavor will be at studioMain. The March exhibition is “The History of Our Downtown.”
These and other stops of 2nd Friday Art Night will be open from 5pm to 8pm. While on-street parking is available near most sites, a free trolley makes stops at each of the venues. The Arkansas Times is a sponsor of 2nd Friday Art Night.
Wiz Biz at Ark Rep
There will be a whirlwind of activity as the Arkansas Rep opens The Wiz tomorrow night. This Tony Award winning super soulful retelling of The Wizard of Oz features a witty book by William F. Brown and a score by Charlie Smalls that is infused with blues, R&B, gospel, disco, jazz and good old fashioned razzmatazz.
This production (which runs through April 1 – no fooling, it closes that day) is directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, who has directed A Raisin in the Sun and Dreamgirls at the Rep. The cast includes Carla Stewart at Dorothy, Nik Alexzander as the Scarecrow, Tony Melson as the Tin Man, Darryl Jovan Williams as the Lion, and Baci as Toto. Sinclair Mitchell plays both Uncle Henry and the title character, while Zoie Morris plays both Aunt Em and Glinda. Jennifer Leigh Warren, who was in the original New York casts of Little Shop of Horrors and Big River will be playing Addapearle (a good witch) and Evilene (the wicked witch).
The creative team for this production includes Set Designer: Mike Nichols, Lighting Designer: Douglas Cox, Costume Designer: Rafael Colon Castanera, Properties Designer: Lynda J. Kwallek, Sound Designer: M. Jason Pruzin, Music Director: Charles Creath and Choreographer: James Harkness.
Historic Preservation Alliance seeking Endangered Places nominations
The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Most Endangered Places List. The deadline for nominations is Monday, April 2, 2012.
Every year, many historic properties across the state of Arkansas are threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of resources or knowledge of their importance. Each of the endangered resources holds a special place in our collective memory and helps to define who we are as a people, a culture, and a State. Once these unique places are gone, they are gone forever
The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas has maintained a Most Endangered Places List in our state since 1999. By bringing attention to these threatened buildings, sites and places in Arkansas, we seek to raise awareness in communities statewide and to create many success stories from places in peril. This nomination form is your chance to initiate your own story of success.
Properties selected for the Most Endangered Places List will be announced in May during Arkansas Heritage Month and National Preservation Month.
The list of Arkansas’s Most Endangered Historic Places is publicized each year through the announcement of the list in mid-May, which is also Arkansas Heritage Month and National Preservation Month. Press packets are issued to the media in conjunction with the announcement, encouraging TV and radio coverage as well as articles in both statewide and local newspapers. In addition, the Alliance newsletter annually publishes an article about the properties in the list, and information about the list is provided to the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and to the newsletters of local preservation groups and historical societies.
Each year, the Board of Directors of the Alliance appoints a special five-member “Most Endangered List Committee” to oversee the selection of properties for the list and to work with Alliance staff on organizing the announcement of that year’s list.
The composition of this special committee is as follows:
- A representative of the Alliance Board of Directors
- A representative of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
- An architect
- A historian familiar with Arkansas history
- An at-large member chosen from the Alliance membership
The representative of the Alliance Board of Directors chairs the committee.
It’s Fronkensteen!
The classic Mel Brooks movie is ALIVE…and it’s headed to Robinson Center Music Hall under the auspices of Celebrity Attractions. The original Broadway production was the winner of the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award and the Broadway.com Audience Award for BEST MUSICAL!
The show includes all the favorite moments from the classic film, plus brand-new show-stopping numbers for the stage, including “Transylvania Mania,” “He Vas My Boyfriend” and of course “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
This wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that’s Fronkensteen) as he attempts to create a monster–but not without scary and hilarious complications. The brains behind the laughter is mad genius and three-time Tony winner Mel Brooks himself–who wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book- along with his record-breaking team from The Producers: five-time Tony-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman and three-time Tony-winning writer, Thomas Meehan.
Performances begin tonight and continue Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm.
UALR Evenings with History: A Brief History of Human Rights on March 6
The UALR Evenings with History program returns tomorrow night (March 6) with Charles W. Romney’s “A Brief History of Human Rights.”
What are Human Rights? Some claim humans have always had rights that cannot be traded, infringed, or given away. Others argue international organizations and American officials invented the concept of human rights in the 1970s to further various political agendas. In this Evening with History we will discuss the two historical interpretations behind each vision of human rights, assess the relative strength of both ideas of international rights, and explore the political and intellectual stakes in the debate over the origins of Human Rights.
Charles Romney graduated from Pomona College and received his Ph.D. in history from UCLA. He worked in public history for seven years on documentary films and digital history projects, and in the five years before joining UALR taught Asian and African history at Whittier College in California. At UALR he is the Graduate Coordinator of the History Department’s MA program in Public History. Dr. Romney teaches classes on public history, digital history, African history, and on the United States and the world. His current research includes a study of law, labor, and the state in modern America and a comparative history of colonial Hawaii.
The Evenings with History take place in the Ottenheimer Auditorium in the Historic Arkansas Museum at 200 E. Third Street. Refreshments are served at 7:00 p.m., and the talk begins at 7:30 p.m.
Corporate sponsors for the 2011-2012 season are Delta Trust, Union Pacific Railroad, the Little Rock School District—Teaching American History Program; the law firms of Friday, Eldredge, & Clark and Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. Also thanks for support and gifts in kind from the Ottenheimer Library; Historic Arkansas Museum, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage; UALR Public Radio–KLRE-KUAR; and Grapevine Spirits
Sculpture Vulture: St. Andrew
As runners in the Little Rock Marathon raced downtown today, they went past this sculpture of St. Andrew which sits in front of the Cathedral of St. Andrew near the race course.
The sculpture, St. Andrew – Ave Crux (Behold the Cross) was installed in 1979 under the leadership of Bishop Andrew J. McDonald of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and Monsignor B. F. McDevitt, Rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew.
In 1981, the statue was dedicated as a memorial to Monsignor McDevitt.
The statue, by the sculptor Pedrini, is just under 10 feet tall and is carved out of Carrara marble. It depicts St. Andrew holding a scroll with the words “Go Teach All Nations” as well as a string bag of fish.
These items pay homage to his background as a fisherman and his work as a disciple who taught and traveled as far as Russia, Turkey and Italy — far journeys from the Holy Land in ancient times.
The saltire, or X shaped cross, stands behind him. Also known as St. Andrews cross, legend has it that he was crucified on a cross of this shape as opposed to the traditional “T” shape.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 