Category Archives: Lecture

Neighbors: True Stories of Fences and Friendship – tonight presented by The Yarn and Arkansas Rep

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Neighbors. We all have them. Perhaps we are separated by a fence, a street, a hallway, or a cubicle, but the question remains; “What makes a good neighbor?”

The upcoming Arkansas Repertory Theatre production Native Gardens explores this.  But before that takes, place, on April 5, The Rep and The Yarn will explore this question in a storytelling performance all about neighbors – what divides us and what connects us.

The program will take place from 7pm to 9pm at the Rep’s Main Street Annex (518 Main Street).

Join them to hear stories about funny, outrageous, sweet, or challenging neighbors, stories about someone who makes the place they live a better place to live, and more!

Rockefeller & Pryor: The New Generation is focus of Clinton School program this evening

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The next generation of two longtime Arkansas political families will be the focus of a Clinton School program this evening (March 29).

The program, starting at 6pm, will feature a conversation with Will Rockefeller and Adams Pryor moderated by Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford.  It will be at Sturgis Hall.

Will Rockefeller works for Winrock Group Inc. in Little Rock and served on the staff of United States Senator John Boozman from 2011-2016.  He earned his B.A. in History from Rhodes College and an MBA from the University of Arkansas. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Real Estate Development from Georgetown University. He is the son of the late Arkansas Lt. Gov Win Rockefeller and the grandson of the late Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.

Adams Pryor graduated from the University of Arkansas and is currently a third-year law student at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Following his law school graduation, he hopes to work for an international development NGO. He is the son of Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor and the grandson of Arkansas Governor and Senator David Pryor.

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.

CALS Butler Center presents Page Harrington “Women’s Suffrage and Race Relations: A Divided Legacy” today at Noon

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Today (March 29), Page Harrington will present the 2019 Betsey Wright Distinguished Lecture on the topic “Women’s Suffrage and Race Relations: A Divided Legacy.”  The event is co-sponsored by the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Arkansas Women’s History Institute.

The program begins at 12 noon at the Ron Robinson Theatre on the CALS Library Square campus.

As the Centennial of the 19th Amendment approaches in 2020, promoters and writers of history must be aware that an authentic narrative of the suffrage should be inclusive and respectful of the roles of all who worked to ensure women’s suffrage. Women and men of color worked for women’s suffrage for more than 70 years in multiple organizations. Some of the organizations were integrated and open to all, while others supported a culture of racial bias.

How, then, can today’s audiences interpret an accurate and honest representation of the campaign for suffrage without focusing on applying negative labels to any individual or organization? The centennial is an opportunity to reframe the public narrative of suffrage in a relevant and racially transparent way. Learn techniques and resources to navigate the politically divisive rhetoric and find the honest and productive tone for your community, organization, or historic site or project.

Page Harrington is a consulting public historian specializing in early 20th Century women’s history. As President of Page Harrington & Company, LLC, she advises museums on creative and practical strategies to integrate women’s history into existing museum interpretation, exhibits, and programs. Harrington’s forthcoming book, INTERPRETING THE LEGACY OF SUFFRAGE AT MUSEUMS AND HISTORIC SITES, will be released in fall of 2019.

Harrington is the former Executive Director of the National Woman’s Party at the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, the founding Co-Chair of the Women’s History Affinity Group for the American Association for State and Local History, and Co-founder of the Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative. She also served on the Scholar Committee to advise the U.S. Congressional Commission on their exploratory study for an American Museum of Women’s History. Harrington holds two master’s degrees from the University of San Diego: one in Public History & Historic Preservation and the second in Non-Profit Management & Leadership.

The Betsey Wright Distinguished Lecture focuses on matters of politics, government, and public policy of special interest to women. It pays tribute to the long political career and advocacy work of Betsey Wright, who served as chief of staff for Governor Bill Clinton for seven years and as deputy chair of the Clinton 1992 Presidential Campaign. She also served as executive director of the National Women’s Political Caucus and as campaign manager for Bill Clinton’s successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1982, 1984, and 1986.

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

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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

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

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“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.

Abolishing Private Prisons is focus of noon Clinton School program today

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John_R_Dacey.jpgToday (March 25) at the Clinton School, John Dacey will discuss his work to abolish private prisons.  The program begins at noon at the Clinton School in Sturgis Hall.

In 2015, Executive Director John Dacey started a nonprofit with a name as straightforward as its goal: Abolish Private Prisons. In 2018, Dacey left his private law firm to focus on his nonprofit work full time.

Abolish Private Prisons believes that in turning over incarceration to the marketplace, government has abdicated a responsibility that belongs to government alone and creates huge financial incentives that sustain our societal addiction to mass incarceration. Taking away an individual’s liberty should never have any relationship to corporate profits.

Professor andré douglas pond cummings, UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Professor and President of the Board of Abolish Private Prisons, will join Dacey for the program. He states: “It is not just a constitutional issue for us. It is a moral imperative.”

Dacey says, “It’s about what kind of a country we are, and what kind of a country are we going to be? Are we really going to put these perverse incentives into our criminal justice system? This is treating people as human inventory. It’s a violation of human dignity.”

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.

Frida Unbound program at Arkansas Arts Center tonight

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Nickolas Muray, American (Szeged, Hungary, 1892 – 1965, New York, New York), Frida Kahlo on White Bench, New York (2nd Edition), 1939, color carbon print, 19 x 14 ½ inches. Courtesy of Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, New York.

DePaul Art Museum Director Julie Rodrigues Widholm will examine Kahlo’s continued relevance to international artists who address the performance of gender, issues of national identity, the political body, among other themes. Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous artists in the world.

The program begins at 6pm tonight (March 14) in the Lecture Hall at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Her reputation and persona have grown immensely since her death in 1954, yet posthumously she has been turned into a stereotype of Latin American art. This predicament, along with her celebrity status, often overshadows the confrontational and boldly transgressive nature of her paintings, and ultimately undermines the revolutionary intent of her work.

At the time it was made, Kahlo’s unabashedly intimate portrayal of her physical and psychological experiences and her appropriation of Mexican folk art aesthetics challenged the bourgeois European mainstream. Her work subverted accepted notions of gender, sexuality, social class, and ethnicity, and was prophetic in anticipating the broader cultural concerns—postcolonialism, feminism, civil rights, multiculturalism, and globalization—that reached a crescendo in the 1960s and continue to be relevant today.

Following the lecture, guests are invited to view the galleries, shop in the Museum Shop or enjoy dinner at Watercolor in the Park.

Seating is limited. Tickets are required. Call 501-372-4000 for tickets.