Monthly Archives: October 2015

And then there were Two – Finalists for next CALS Director announced

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calsThe Transition/Selection Committee of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has recommended the CALS Board of Trustees consider two candidates, Nate Coulter and Haley Lagasse, both of Little Rock, as the final candidates for the position of director.

The next director will succeed longtime director Dr. Bobby Roberts.

There will be a reception in mid-November open to anyone interested in meeting the finalists. An announcement of the new director will be made following the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, December 10, at noon at Hillcrest Hall, 1501 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Collegiate Sports during Great Depression focus of Clinton School address tonight

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Democratic SportsDisparity in collegiate sports has been around since, well, the beginning of collegiate sports. Tonight at 6pm at the Clinton School, Brad Austin discusses “Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression.”

 

Austin is a professor of history at Salem State University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in modern American history, sports history, and history education, and has served as the chairperson of the American Historical Association’s Teaching Prize Committee.

 

In his new book “Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Athletics during the Great Depression,” Austin explores the funding cuts that America public universities suffered while they were also responsible for educating an increasing number of students. University leaders used their athletic programs to combat the crisis of mounting financial troubles, coupled with a perceived increase in the number of “radical” student activists, and to preserve “traditional” American values and institutions, prescribing different models for men and women.

 

In the book, Austin discusses the stark contrast of educators emphasizing the individualistic, competitive nature of men’s athletics in order to reinforce the existing American political and economic systems, while the prevailing model of women’s college athletics taught a communal form of democracy, denying women individual attention and high-level competition. “Democratic Sports” tells the important story of how men’s and women’s college athletic programs survived, and even thrived, during the most challenging decade of the twentieth century.

Leo “Bud” Welch with Jimbo Mathus at South on Main tonight

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Leo Bud Welch with Guest Jimbo Mathus [Archetypes & Troubadours Series]Tonight at 7:30 PM, the Oxford American magazine brings Leo Bud Welch to the South on Main stage as part of the Archetypes & Troubadours Series. Welch is welcomed by the Esse Pure Museum. Doors open at 5:30 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible in part by the generosity of The Summer Foundation. Single tickets are still available, but going fast.

Welch is joined tonight by Jimbo Mathus.

Leo “Bud” Welch was born in Sabougla, Mississippi in 1932, and he picked up a guitar for the first time in 1945. By 1947 at age fifteen, Bud could play well enough to perform publically and garnered the blessing of many elder guitar players. He was offered an audition by B.B. King but could not afford the trip to Memphis. Bud played the blues continuously until 1975, when he converted to playing mostly gospel with the Sabougla Voices, which consisted of his sister and a sister-in-law. He also played with the Skuna Valley Male Chorus. Bud earned his living by carrying a chain saw up and down the hills and hollows of North Mississippi, logging for thirty-five years.

Leo Bud Welch does not believe that blues is the Devil’s music, but rather they’re a way of expressing the highs and lows of one’s life through song. He has played his guitar for close family and friends for the past sixty-five years and has remained under the radar, undetected by the vast majority of Blues Aficionados. Welch’s debut album, Sabougla Voices, was released January 7, 2014, just two months before his 82nd birthday.

Jimbo Mathus was born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he often spent time listening to blues music in the Mississippi Delta. “I break down walls and stereotypes with my music,” says Mathus, “I confuse people. I use Mississippi Music, which is renegade music at heart, as my inspiration and motivation…” He excels as a songwriter, a producer, a recording artist, and at spreading the gospel of Mississippi Music in concert. “I like to let the shows be the test and keep the boogie going thirty minutes if needs be,” Mathus says. “If everybody is grooving on something why bother and stop it?”

Mathus can regularly be found performing at the world-famous Ground Zero Blues Club, which is co-owned by fellow Clarksdale resident Morgan Freeman, who co-produced Mathus’ 2004 live album Jimbo & Friends at Ground Zero Blues Club. Mathus is a continuation of the storied music history of Clarksdale and of Mississippi, when all is said and done. His current band, The Tri-State Coalition, features solid talent cut from the same Delta cloth: Tri-State bassist Justin Showah and keyboardist Eric Carlton are also from Mississippi. Guitarist Matt Pierce hails from Arkansas. Missouri native and drummer Austin Marshall rounds out the group, whose sound, Mathus describes as “inner-planetary honky-tonk. Basically I’m using a lot more of white country, folk, and southern rock influences. It’s a great Southern band that is versatile to the extreme.”

FountainFest at the Arkansas Arts Center

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The Arkansas Arts Center’s Contemporaries auxiliary group is calling on all Arkansans to find their inner artist and share what most inspires them in preparation for this year’s Fountain Fest. This year’s fundraiser will be held today, Thursday, October 22, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. around the Carrie Remmel Dickinson Fountain at the Arkansas Arts Center.

“Over the past two years, Fountain Fest has expanded both in attendance and impact, and it is thrilling to see this group of young art enthusiasts grow with it,” said Kelly Imhoff, AAC Contemporaries president. “Ticket sales support the Arkansas Arts Center Contemporaries’ efforts to expand the AAC Collection by funding the purchase of a work of art from the Collectors Show & Sale in November, and donating it to the Arkansas Arts Center’s permanent collection.”

There are several additions to this year’s Fountain Fest including a sculpture competition and purse raffle. There has also been a design competition for a temporary installation in the fountain.  Tod Switch, Eric Spann, Brian Felland, Mike Brown, John Steward and Hunter Brown are the finalists. The winner will receive $1,000 courtesy of the Markham Group and his/her work will not be revealed until the night of Fountain Fest.

Also new this year is a raffle for a Louis Vuitton purse valued at over $1200. Raffle tickets may be purchased in advance or at the event for $10. The winner does not have to be present to win.

The 3rd Annual Fountain Fest will also feature music by DJ Mike Poe, food from David’s Burgers, desserts from Cupcakes on Kavanaugh, drinks provided by Lost 40 and Stone’s Throw Brewing and live printmaking demonstrations by Neal and Tammy Harrington.

Tickets for the event are $40 and can be purchased in advance at ArkansasArtsCenter.org/fountain-fest or at the event. Sponsors of the 3rd Annual Fountain Fest include: CenterPoint Energy, the Markham Group, Stone Ward and Donna and Mack McLarty.

For more information visit ArkansasArtsCenter.org/fountain-fest.

Creative Class of 2015: Reese Rowland

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reeserArchitect Reese Rowland has literally changed the landscape of Little Rock.  He has designed some of Little Rock’s most recognized buildings, including Acxiom’s River Market Tower Headquarters, Bank of the Ozarks Headquarters, Heifer International’s Education Center, the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas Studies Institute and Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library.

Reese has been rewarded with over 60 National, Regional and State Design Awards in the last twelve years. His Heifer International World Headquarters design received the Nation’s highest honor for architecture, the 2008 AIA National Institute Honor Award, one of 13 awarded. The South’s first LEED Platinum building was also named a National AIA/COTE Top 10 Green Building in 2007. In 2011, his Arkansas Studies Institute design received a National AIA/ALA (American Library Association) Award of Excellence, one of five awarded in the biennial competition, honoring the best in library architecture worldwide. In 2015, his Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library won the same Award.

Arkansas Business named Reese to its prestigious list of “25 Entrepreneurs & Innovators of the last 25 years”, crediting his work with helping to transform downtown Little Rock through modern architecture. His work has been published in 25 national and international periodicals, as well as 13 books. AY Magazine named Reese to its list of “12 Powerful Men in Arkansas” for having influence, making a difference, and serving others. Additionally, Arkansas Times Magazine named him as one of “50 Influential Arkansans” as well in 2012.

In recognition of his commitment to design and the architectural profession, Reese was selected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2014.  This designation goes to fewer than 4% of all architects.

Local Live tonight at South on Main features Opera in the Rock

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OperaInTheRock_logo-singleskylineTonight at 7:30 PM, join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main.  This week, the series features a return of Opera in the Rock!

As always, Local Live is free and open to the public. To guarantee a table/seat for this popular series, call ahead at (501) 244-9660.

Join Opera in The Rock at South on Main for mid-week of “October Opera Days” with five great Opera In The Rock  artists.  In a program titled “Opera in a Bar” arranged by OITR Artistic Director, Arlene Biebesheimer, these artists will sing opera standards with some musical theater thrown in to keep you entertained. The OITR ensemble for Local Live includes Stephanie Smittle, LaSheena Gordon, Claire Wilkinson, Chase Burns, Micheal Lowe with Kristin Harwell at the piano.

Still on the Hill in concert at Historic Arkansas Museum

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HAMstillonthehillHistoric Arkansas Museum will host award-winning story-telling songwriters, Kelly Mulhollan and Donna Henschell Stjerna of Still on the Hill for a concert in the museum theater!  The concert is from 6pm to 7pm, doors open at 5:30pm.  It is free for museum members; $5 for non-members as space allows.

Kelly and Donna of Still on the Hill embellish their songs with a host of unique instruments—many of which were hand-made by old-timers and have amazing stories behind them.

Still on the Hill has been described as “Ambassadors of the Ozarks” for the work they do to preserve a rich culture that is quickly disappearing. They have produced several full-length albums, many of which will be available in the Museum Store. Their most recent album,Once A River (2014), is the culmination of a year spent researching stories about the people and places along the Beaver Lake watershed.

Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.