Monthly Archives: January 2016

Art+History Throwback Thursday: Museum of Fine Arts

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MFA postcardOn February 9, Little Rock voters will have the chance to say Yes to improving the Arkansas Arts Center, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History and MacArthur Park.

Leading up to that election is a good time to look back at the development of these two MacArthur Park sited museums.

The Museum of Fine Arts opened in October 1937.  The groundbreaking was held on January 3, 1936, with the cornerstone laid on October 6 of that year.  Nearly one year later, the Fine Arts Club held its first meeting in the building and hosted a grand open house on October 5, 1937.

The front doorway to the museum is visible today inside a gallery of the Arkansas Arts Center.

Today’s Old State House Museum Brown Bag Lecture – AIRDOME: A HISTORY OF THE AIRDOME THEATER IN ARKANSAS

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OSH Brown BagToday (January 14)  at noon at the Old State House Museum, the first Brown Bag Lecture of 2016 takes place.

In the early 20th century, several of Arkansas’s small towns and smaller cities were host to Airdome theaters, an open-air movie theater. Ralph S. Wilcox of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program presents a talk about these early theaters for a Brown Bag Lunch Lecture at the Old State House Museum on Thursday, January 14, at noon. Once the Airdome appeared on the scene in Arkansas, it grew in popularity relatively quickly. By the mid-1910s at least sixteen communities in Arkansas had Airdomes. However, they closed just as quickly as they opened, and had virtually all disappeared by the mid-1920s. Learn more

Wilcox is a native of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and obtained his B.A. in History from Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA, and his M.S. in Historic Preservation from Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Little Rock Look Back: Pulaski Heights officially part of Little Rock 100 years ago today

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Ninth WardOn January 13, 1916, the Little Rock City Council formally accepted Pulaski Heights into the City of Little Rock.

The Council had held a regular meeting on Monday, January 10, 1916, which was the same evening as the final meeting of the Pulaski Heights City Council.  Three days later, on Thursday, January 13, 1916, Mayor Charles Taylor again convened the Little Rock City Council to take the steps to officially annex Pulaski Heights into Little Rock.

By Ordinance 2259, the City’s boundaries were increased to include the land which had been Pulaski Heights.  Resolution 918 directed city staff to replat the land, which was necessary to bring the land in accordance with existing city plats and documents.

Resolution 919 set forth January 20 as a special election date to elect the two new members of the Little Rock City Council who would represent the new Ninth Ward of Little Rock.  Those who won would serve until April 1916.  The election would also serve as the primary for the April election.  Back then, winning the Democratic primary for a City race was tantamount to winning the race.  Since there were two seats being created, one would have a two year term, the other would be for only one year.  The candidate receiving the most votes on January 20 would, after April, take up the two year term and be able to run for re-election in April 1918. The candidate with the second highest total of votes would win the one-year term and be up for re-election in April 1917.  At the time, there were three publicly declared candidates for the two seats.  Another had been interested, but dropped out that morning.

Making Pulaski Heights the Ninth Ward was not the only focus of the City Council meeting.  An ordinance was also approved which allocated $438 for the purchase of beds, mattresses, chairs and other furniture for the City hospital.  (That is the equivalent of nearly $10,000 today.)  The Council then reimbursed a doctor the $438, which presumably had been spent on making the purchases.

David Starr & Ben Harris headline tonight’s Local Live at South on Main

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llsom dsbhThis week’s installment of South on Main’s Local Live concert series features David Starr & Ben Harris.  Presented by the Oxford American magazine, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table: (501) 244-9660.

The concert starts at 7:30 tonight (January 13).

 

David Starr is a singer/songwriter/musician with Arkansas roots and a Colorado mountain address. He has shared the stage with artists as diverse as John Oates, Kenny Edwards, John McEuen, Dan Fogleberg, and Sonny Bono.

His sixth solo album, Love and Sabotage, includes fifteen songs (originals, co-writes and one cover) as well as cameo vocal and instrumental performances by John Oates, Steve Cropper, Richie Furay, and Dana Cooper.

Starr tours stateside and in the UK, both as a solo artist and with guitarist Ben Harris. He also fronts the David Starr Band several times a year. Ben Harris is a versatile guitarist and educator based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he is the Instructor of Guitar at the University of Arkansas.

Free performance by ASO Rockefeller Quartet at the Capital Hotel this evening at 5:15

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ASO at CHMusicians from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be performing this evening (January 13) in the lobby of the historic Capital Hotel. The music will start at 5:15 pm.

The concert will feature the Rockefeller Quartet.  Members of the quartet will introduce the pieces to be performed.

The Rockefeller Quartet will perform an eclectic program featuring tangos, Scott Joplin Rags, selections from Beethoven and Borodin, and even a popular surprise.

Unlike concerts in music halls, guests here are encouraged to bring drinks to their seats or to stand and move around while the musicians are playing.  It is a relaxed, informal atmosphere where the audience and musicians alike are able to interact with each other.

In 2011, the ASO started these free concerts in the lobby of the Capital Hotel.  The marble and tile of this historic lobby provide a wonderful acoustic backdrop for the musicians.

Reinventing the Classroom, Rethinking Education this evening at the Clinton School

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This evening (January 12) at 6pm at the Clinton School, Dr. Harry Lewis will be discussing “Reinventing the Classroom, Rethinking Education.

Harry Lewis, the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, is the author of numerous books and articles, including his celebrated book on higher education, “Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future?”

As a member of the Harvard faculty since 1974 and the former Dean of Harvard College, he has helped launch thousands of Harvard undergraduates, including both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, into careers in computer science.

With “Reinventing the Classroom, Rethinking Education,” Lewis explores the movement of information online and how it challenges the old rule of the lecture hall as the place where information from the professor is passed on to the students, while also exploring the emergence of mass online education and rethinking how faculty use classroom time.

Architecture Design Network tonight presents Tommy Pacello discussing Innovations in City Building

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150511_Tommy_U3_Philly_Langdon_004INNOVATIONS IN CITY BUILDING: Lessons from Memphis, a lecture by Tommy Pacello

     DATE: Tuesday, January 19, 2016

    TIME:  6:00 p.m., preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m

PLACE: Arkansas Arts Center, 9th and Commerce, Little Rock, AR

Tommy Pacello will talk about lessons to be learned from the Memphis (TN) Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team (MMIDT), a body charged with helping struggling city neighborhoods become economically viable once again. Tasked with bringing about change, team members, with the assistance of public-private partnerships, work with distressed  communities as they deal with the challenges of urban blight, vacant properties, youth gun violence and the lack of adequate community services. Through the team’s efforts many distressed neighborhoods have been made livable again and enabled to sustain their viability.

Tommy Pacello is an attorney and city planner. He specializes in innovative yet pragmatic approaches to city buildings. He is currently consulting with U3 Advisors developing an Anchor Strategy around nine institutional anchors in Memphis, TN.

Prior to working with U3 Advisors, Tommy served as the Director of the Innovation Delivery Team in Memphis, Tennessee. This non-profit team, originally funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is charged with developing strategies to address the city’s most pressing challenges. In Memphis, the team’s focus is on generating economic vitality in core city neighborhoods, reducing youth gun violence, reducing the number of blighted and vacant properties, and improving service delivery among city departments.

Tommy previously worked with the Austin, Texas based firm Code Studio where he managed several national planning and development code projects. Tommy started his career as an Assistant City Attorney in Memphis representing the city on legal matters involving planning, zoning, and constitutional law and managed the development of the city’s first unified development code.

Tommy was recently named one of the top 40 Real Estate Professionals under the age of 40 by Urban Land Magazine and serves as the Chairman of Mission Advancement for the Memphis Chapter of the Urban Land Institute. He is also actively involved with the Congress for the New Urbanism and is a frequent national speaker on civic innovation and urban issues.

Tommy earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia, Terry College of Business, and a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis’ School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.  Tommy holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Memphis’ Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Pacello’s lecture is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

ADN supporters include the Arkansas Arts Center, the UA Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the Central Arkansas Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and friends in the community.

For additional information, contact ardenetwork@me.com .