Monthly Archives: March 2019

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra launches 2019 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts tonight

Posted on by

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, opens the 2019-2020 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts (INC) series with Songs from the Heart, Thursday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (310 W 17th St, Little Rock).

Michael Underwood (ASO principal trombone) and Susan Bell León (ASO principal bassoon) perform music from Albrechtsberger and Lars-Erik Larsson, respectively. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts are presented in acoustically unique venues around Little Rock. The programs feature works suited to the acoustic and aesthetic space of each venue, giving patrons the opportunity to hear these works as the composers imagined them.

General Admission tickets are $29; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the venue beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.

Program
LARSSON, Lars-Erik — Concertino for Bassoon and String Orchestra, Op. 45, No. 4
Susan Bell León, bassoon

ALBRECHTSBERGER — Trombone Concerto in B-flat Major
Michael Underwood, trombone

TCHAIKOVSKY — Serenade for Strings, Op. 48

About Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 53rd full season in 2018-2019, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, to which the ASO returned in November of 2016 after a two-year renovation of the historic structure. ASO performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, Intimate Neighborhood Concerts, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools. ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. in conversation with Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford this evening

Posted on by

Today (March 28) at noon, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. will deliver his first State of the City Address. This evening at 6pm at Sturgis Hall, he will be featured at the Clinton School as part of the Clinton School Speaker Series.

In January, Frank Scott, Jr. was sworn in as the City of Little Rock’s first elected African-American mayor after running on a campaign that promised unity and change.

Previously, Scott was an executive with First Security Bank and spent five years in leadership in the Office of Governor Mike Beebe, first serving as deputy policy director and later as director of intergovernmental affairs. Prior to his work on state issues, Scott was a distribution operations manager for Target’s Central Arkansas distribution center.

Scott served as a state highway commissioner and on the board of directors for both the Little Rock Port Authority and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Arkansas. Scott has focused his professional career on giving back to the community, city, and state that has invested so much in him.

The program will feature a conversation between Scott and Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford, offering a behind-the scenes look at the campaign, strategy, coalition building and victory of Little Rock’s first popularly elected African-American mayor.

All Clinton School Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or by calling (501) 683-5239

Women Making History: Gretchen Hall

Posted on by

Gretchen HallAt the 2019 Governor’s Conference on Tourism, Gretchen Hall was named Tourism Person of the Year.  This is just the latest honor for her.  In 2017, she was the first woman to solely receive the Downtown Little Rock Partnership’s Top of the Rock Award.

As the President and CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, she leads a staff that not only brings conventions and tourists to Little Rock, but also creates opportunities for local residents to enjoy their city more.

From 2014 to 2016, she actively oversaw the deconstruction and reconstruction of Robinson Center Performance Hall. Taking a New Deal era assembly hall and making it into a state-of-the-art performance facility was not an easy task. Gretchen and her team have worked with the architects, engineers, designers and consultants to make it happen.

Gretchen joined LRCVB in 2001 and worked her way up through the organization.  In May 2011, she was named to her current position.  Since that time, the LRCVB has undertaken numerous efforts to enhance Little Rock including a new amphitheatre in Riverfront Park, enhanced programming at the River Market, and increased financial support of cultural organizations.  She has worked to improve not only the meeting space available for conventions, but also to enhance the dining and lodging scenes in Little Rock.  In addition, she helped lead the effort to see the additional penny of the hotel tax be dedicated to support the Arkansas Arts Center and MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

Downtown Little Rock Partnership seeks artists for mural

Posted on by

“InspiredLR” is a public art initiative developed by the Public Spaces subcommittee of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership (“DLRP”). The goal is to encourage artistic expression and foster a greater appreciation for art in our community.

Arkansas artists are invited to submit concepts or proposals for a site-specific art installation on the east wall of the Union National Plaza in Little Rock, Arkansas, as a focal point of Downtown Little Rock.

As part of our public art strategy, DLRP is dedicated to collaborating with Arkansas artists to present public art that enhances our City’s imaginative capacity, enlivens our neighborhoods, contributes to economic vitality, sparks civic exchange, and enhances community connection.

All artists residing in the State of Arkansas who have prior public art mural experience are eligible to apply. Work must be durable and suitable for outdoors with the ability to withstand the elements of our Arkansas climate as well as interaction with the general public.

The artist will be selected by our committee on April 30, 2019, and the installation must be completed by June 30, 2019.

For a copy of the complete Call to Artists: email here.

 

 

The Climate Reality Project is focus of UA Little Rock Downtown talk

Posted on by

“The Climate Reality Project: Need for Change and Reasons for Hope” is the topic of Dr. Jessica Scott’s discussion tonight (3/27) at the UA Little Rock Downtown campus.  The program is free and begins at 6pm.

Must we change? Can we change? Will we change? These three questions will be the focus of Dr. Scott’s presentation on climate change and the work of The Climate Reality Project.

Although climate change is often misunderstood by the public, more than 97 percent of climate scientists agree that it is real and caused by the burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. Understanding climate change can be overwhelming because our atmosphere, oceans, soil, and weather are driven by a complex network of interconnected factors.

Dr. Scott’s talk, targeted at non-scientists, will not only summarize the evidence for climate change, but will also give an overview of what we know about its impacts and the policy and industry changes that experts predict will be necessary to mitigate these effects.

Dr. Jessica Scott is assistant director of the Donaghey Scholars honors program and anthropology instructor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Dynamics and M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, and her B.A. in Anthropology and History from UALR.

Women Making History: Stephanie S. Streett

Posted on by

Stephanie S. Streett is the executive director of the Clinton Foundation. In this role she oversees the day-to-day operations of the Clinton Presidential Center, including the development and implementation of its educational programs, special events, exhibits, and services as well as staff management.

She establishes and cultivates strategic partnerships and cooperative arrangements with state and local governments, the non-profit and private sector, community groups and other organizations. Stephanie also serves as the corporate secretary for the Clinton Foundation Board of Directors.

Stephanie has used her position to broaden culture in Little Rock through the wide variety of exhibits which the Clinton Center has hosted. A wide variety of styles of visual arts, design, contemporary craft, sports, science and history have been showcased in exhibits at the Clinton Center.  She also was instrumental in planning the special events in conjunction with the Clinton Center 10th Anniversary in 2014 and the 2017 celebration of the 25th anniversary of President Clinton’s election.

In addition, she has been active in promoting partnerships with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Together with Kaki Hockersmith, she has facilitated several seminars which have brought key Kennedy Center leaders to Little Rock.  Together they lead the effort known as Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas. Now in its second year, Fusion promotes heritage and culture and celebrates human achievement by weaving the arts and humanities together.

She has been the president of the University of Arkansas Alumni Association National Board of Directors and is co-chair of the Board of Directors for City Year Little Rock. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Downtown Partnership of Little Rock and is a member of the International Women’s Forum Arkansas.  In April 2018, she was honored with the 2018 City Year Little Rock Lifetime of Service Award at the Red Jacket Ball.

CALS Ron Robinson Theatre: Silver on the Silver Screen – THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

Posted on by

The Shawshank RedemptionJoin the CALS Ron Robinson Theater for Silver Anniversaries on the Silver Screen, as they celebrate films that turn 25 in 2019!

Tonight’s feature is The Shawshank Redemption. A prominent banker (Tim Robbins) unjustly convicted of murder spends many years in the Shawshank prison. He is befriended by a convict who knows the ropes (Morgan Freeman) and helps him to cope with the frightening realities of prison life.

Others in the cast include Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore.  The film was directed by Frank Darabont, who also adapted the screenplay from a Stephen King short story.  The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

The showing starts at 7:00.  Admission is $5.00.