Category Archives: Lecture

ASO Composer of Year at Clinton School

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UACSThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting special guests who are in Little Rock in conjunction with ASO performances. The latest in these takes place on Friday, February 22 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

jenniferhigdonJennifer Higdon is the 2012-2013 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Composer of the Year.  She is one of the most performed living American composers. Her list of commissioners and performing organizations is extensive and includes the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo String Quartet, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the President’s Own Marine Band, among others.

Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing her work as a “deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.”

This weekend, Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra will be on the ASO’s program.  In addition, she will be featured at the ASO River Rhapsodies Chamber Series on Tuesday, February 26.

Reed Kroloff: CHANGING THE WORLD: ONE INSTALLATION AT A TIME

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kroloffTonight at 6pm, architect Reed Kroloff will give a presentation entitled “Changing the World: One Installation at a Time.” This is part of the ongoing lecture series by the Architecture and Design Network.

Since 2007, architect Reed Kroloff has been the director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Museum, a graduate school of arts and design which prides itself on being a community. Cranbrook has been home to such luminaries as Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Daniel Libeskind. Florence Knoll, Tod Williams and Toshiko Takiezu – to name a few.

This past year Kroloff served as a member and chair of the jury that selected the prize winners of the 2012 design competition sponsored by the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

Supporters of the lecture series include the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, The Fay Jones School of Architecture and the Arkansas Arts Center.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information e-mail Projects4pi@mac.com.
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013
Time: 6 p.m., preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m.
Place: Arkansas Arts Center lecture hall

Sandwiching in History at Capital Hotel today

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Capital Hotel frontThe Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s “Sandwiching in History” program pays a visit this month to a location which is accustomed to receiving visitors — The Capital Hotel.

Built in 1872-1873 by businessman William P. Denckla, the Denckla Block, as it was then called, housed various shops on the first floor with offices and gentlemen’s apartments on the upper floors. The building featured a distinctive cast-iron façade with a projecting cornice, arched window openings, and engaged columns with Corinthian capitals. In 1877 the Denckla Block was converted into an hotel and quickly became the center of political and social activity in Little Rock. Over the years the building has been expanded upward and southward.

By the late 1960s, it fell into disrepair.  But through two extensive renovations, the Capital Hotel has been restored to its original beauty and continues to provide luxury accommodations in the capital city.

The “Sandwiching In History” program is a series of tours that seeks to familiarize people who live and work in central Arkansas with the historic structures and sites around us. The tours take place on Fridays at noon, last less than an hour, and participants are encouraged to bring their lunches so that they can eat while listening to a brief lecture about the property and its history before proceeding on a short tour.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Plans Announced for 2013 Literary Festival

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lit fest logoLast week, the tenth annual Arkansas Literary Festival announced the plans for this year’s festival.

The premier gathering of readers and writers in Arkansas will include more than 80 presenters in locations on both sides of the river from April 18-21, 2013. The Main Library campus and other venues in the River Market and Argenta Arts districts are the sites for a stimulating mix of sessions, panels, special events, performances, workshops,presentations, opportunities to meet authors, book sales, and book signings. Most events are free and open to the public.

Festival authors include Richard Ford, Sylvia Day, Ben Fountain, Karen Russell, Ayana Mathis, Domingo Martinez, Da Chen, CD Wright, Pat Mora, Charles Todd, and more.

This year’s Festival authors have won an impressive number and variety of distinguished awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, James Beard Foundation Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Newbery Honor, National Book Critics Circle Award, a Coretta Scott King Honor, PEN/O.Henry Prize; Pushcart Prize; Barnes and Noble Discover Prize for Fiction, Roger Ebert’s Film Festival Thumbs Up Award, Pure Belpré Award, International Griffin Prize for Poetry, International Documentary Association Best Documentary Short, Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, and several National Book Award Finalists. Many of the presenters’ works have been translated into multiple languages and made into films.

Special events for adults during the Festival include a cocktail reception with the authors, food, wine, and spirits workshops, films, a play, and Spoken Word LIVE!, a city-wide poetry competition. Panels and workshops will feature topics such as fiction, memoir, screenwriting, super hero psychology & law, Warrior Writers Project, erotica, and more.

Children’s special events include a storytime on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion, a book fiesta, the artmobile, plays, outdoor activities, and Super Hero Activity Afternoon. Festival sessions for children will take place at both the new Children’s Library, 4800 10th Street, and the Youth Services Department at the Main Library, 100 Rock Street.

Level 4, the Main Library’s teen center teens can meet authors and illustrators, participate in ComiCALS, activities and panels such as a cosplay contest, video game tournament, a writing workshop, and zombie survival activities.

Through the Writers In The Schools (WITS) initiative, the Festival will provide presentations by several authors for Pulaski county elementary, middle, and senior high schools and area colleges.

Support for the Literary Festival is provided by sponsors including Central Arkansas Library System; Friends of Central Arkansas Libraries (FOCAL); Department of Arkansas Heritage; Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau; Fred K. Darragh Jr. Foundation; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Mosaic Templars Cultural Center; Regions; ProSmartPrinting; MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History; Historic Arkansas Museum; Clinton Presidential Center; Hendrix-Murphy Foundation; Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP, Arkansas Times; Christ Church, Little Rock’s Downtown Episcopal Church; Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center; Arkansas Library Association; Henderson State College; University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service; Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre; Arkansas Governor’s Mansion; Hendrix College Creative Writing and the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature & Language; Hendrix College Project Pericles Program; Hendrix College; University of Arkansas at Little Rock, English Department; University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Department of Rhetoric and Writing; Pulaski Technical College; Jewish Federation of Arkansas; Arkansas Arts Center; Power 92 Jams; Central High School National Historic Site; National Park Service; Literacy Action of Central Arkansas; Capital Hotel; Little Rock Film Festival; and LuLav. The Arkansas Literary Festival is supported in part by funds from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Author! Author!, a cocktail reception with the authors, will be Friday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $25 in advance, and $40 at the door.

Celebrate Gen. Douglas MacArthur birthday on Saturday

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GenMacArthurOn January 26, 1880, Douglas MacArthur was born in the Arsenal Building while his father was stationed at the Little Rock Barracks.  Though he left Arkansas a few weeks later when his father was transferred, he returned to his birthplace on March 23, 1952. On that day he was greeted by crowds welcoming one of the USA’s most famous military figures.

On January 26, 2013, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will celebrate the five-star General’s 133rd birthday with a special program by Dr. Paul Fair.  Dr. Fair was the only Arkansan among the original members of the General MacArthur Honor Guard.  He is now one of the Honor Guards’ few surviving members.  He will share his reminiscences of guarding the MacArthur family in the Philippines and Japan.

There will be refreshments and birthday cake. This event begins at 12:00 noon, with Dr. Fair to speak at 1:00 p.m.

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History was created to interpret our state’s military heritage from its territorial period to the present.

Located in the historic Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal–the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur–the museum preserves the contributions of Arkansas men and women who served in the armed forces.

Exhibits feature artifacts, photographs, weapons, documents, uniforms and other military items that vividly portray Arkansas’s military history at home and abroad.

The Rep’s GEES BEND featured at Clinton School on Thursday January 24

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The Arkansas Repertory Theatre works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting educational panel discussions on various Rep productions. The latest in these takes place on Thursday, January 24 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

The panel discussions are led by Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp and include insights from guest directors, actors and Bob himself on bringing compelling stories to The Rep stage.  Join Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp and Gee’s Bend Director Gilbert McCauley and cast for a panel discussion on this true story.  Call the Clinton School at (501) 683-5239 for reservations.

Gee’s Bend follows Sadie Pettway and her family as they turn to quilting to provide comfort and creative expression to their lives. What begins as a labor of love soon turns into a spiritual and artistic awakening. Pieced together from discarded clothes and seasoned with laughter and tears, the women sew a patchwork of inventive abstract designs in rich, blazing colors.

The play is based on the true story of the women of Gee’s Bend, whose quilts have been on a national exhibition tour including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.

The production, written by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, starts tonight and runs through February 10.  Opening night is Friday, January 25.  Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evening performances are at 7 p.m., Friday, Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. Sunday Matinees performances are at 2 p.m.

 

Bob Nash headlines January “Legacies & Lunch” today at noon

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The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will host Bob Nash as the speaker for Legacies and Lunch on Wednesday, January 9, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Bill Clinton’s inauguration as President, Nash will discuss what it was like working with Governor Clinton, keeping the state government going during a presidential campaign, and going to Washington with some of President Clinton’s Arkansas friends and colleagues.

Nash served as Governor Clinton’s senior executive assistant in charge of economic development policy. He then served as President Clinton’s U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture and White House personnel director.

The Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch program is free and open to the public and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of the Central Arkansas Library System. It was founded in 1997 to promote the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library.