Category Archives: Museum

MOD gets Buggy

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Creepy, crawly critters will be the name of the game at the Museum of Discovery May 10-12, 2012 as educators host the annual three-day Bug Out! event, providing visitors the opportunity to learn about insects and the world of entomology.

Jane Jones-Schulz, Education & Information Coordinator for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, will conduct presentations on tarantulas native to Arkansas and rare and endangered invertebrates that can be seen both in The Natural State and other parts of the United States.

Museum visitors will get to view a live insect collection, learn of the dangers of mosquitoes, the benefits of bees and more. If live bugs aren’t suitable for some, people can build electronic crawlers in the museum’s tinkering studio, and take their “bugbots” home.

The Museum of Discovery has many educational offerings for people of all ages, including three permanent galleries focused on physical, health and earth sciences. The Earth Journeys gallery allows visitors to explore some of our planet’s unique inhabitants, several of which will be highlighted in the three-day event.

Bug Out! Demonstrations and Showtimes:

Thursday, May 10: 10 am; 12 pm; 2 pm

Friday, May 11: 10 am; 12 pm; 2 pm

Saturday, May 12: 11:30 am; 1 pm; 3 pm

Established in 1927, the Museum of Discovery is Little Rock’s oldest museum. Following its 2011 closing and a 10-month renovation, the Museum of Discovery re-opened in January 2012. It is central Arkansas’s leading informal educational resource in areas of science, technology, engineering and math. The museum’s mission is to ignite a passion for science, technology and math in a dynamic, interactive environment.

Happy 100 to WR

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One hundred years ago today, Winthrop Rockefeller was born in New York.  After moving to Arkansas in the early 1950s, he would establish himself as a positive force for the development of the state.

Perhaps his most obvious impact was helping to transform the provincial Little Rock Museum of Fine Arts into the first rate Arkansas Arts Center.  He and his family were generous donors of money and art to this effort.

Through the effort of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, many cultural institutions have received funds for programming which has reached into every county and every corner of this state.  For instance, one of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s string quartets is the Rockefeller Quartet.

Mr. Rockefeller at the groundbreaking for the Arkansas Arts Center

It is hard to quantify what impact his efforts had on cultural institutions which did not even exist in his lifetime.  Without the elevation of the arts and the understanding of their impact, it is doubtful that endeavors such as the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Opera Theatre (now Wildwood Park for the Arts) and Ballet Arkansas would have had success with donors in their nascent days.

In 2012, a year-long Celebration is planned to highlight the legacy of Winthrop Rockefeller in the state 40 years after he left office as the state’s 37th governor.  His leadership in political, economic, and cultural arenas as well as in his philanthropic endeavors had a significant impact on the development of Arkansas. This celebration is intended to promote an understanding of these accomplishments to an audience that may know little of his deeds as an historical figure or his contributions to the evolution of the state.

Over the next year, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Winrock International, the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Central Arkansas Library System, and the Arkansas Arts Center will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Winthrop Rockefeller’s birth by reaching out from Petit Jean Mountain, the home he created in his adopted state, to the rest of Arkansas and the United States.

This Centennial Celebration will offer a variety of programs that will honor his legacy, bringing it alive to a new generation. These programs will convene some of the nation’s leading thinkers and innovators to explore his contributions and take a contemporary look at the issues about which he cared so deeply. Alongside celebratory events, the Celebration will include an assortment of academic conferences, public forums, art exhibits, and educational programs.

UALR to Honor Sotomoras at FINALE

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UALR will honor Eileen and Dr. Ricardo Sotomora at the seventh annual Finale at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 28 at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the UALR Fine Arts Building.

Reservations to the black-tie optional event are $150 with $110 being deductible.

Finale celebrates the arts in Central Arkansas and is the premier fundraising event for UALR’s fine arts programs. The dinner gala features performances and artwork by students.

Dr. Sotomora is the only pediatric cardiologist in private practice in Arkansas. He is the exclusive provider of cardiology services for children at Baptist Health Medical Center and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, in Little Rock, and Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock. His cardiology practice is managed by Eileen.

The Sotomoras were instrumental in founding the American Heart Association’s annual “Heart Ball,” in Arkansas, a debutante ball that not only raises proceeds for the organization but strives to teach girls about volunteerism and health. In 2006, Dr. Sotomora received the “Worthen Cornett Award,” the highest honor given to a person for work on behalf of the American Heart Association in Central Arkansas.

In 2008, they chaired the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Opus XXIV. Currently, Dr. Sotomora is a trustee of the Arkansas Arts Center Board and a member of the development committee. Both of the Sotomoras are members of the Director’s Circle.  The Sotomoras are supporters of the Venezuelan “El Sistemia,” a government-funded program that currently assists nearly one million Venezuelan children in learning classical music.

“Eileen and Ricardo are amazing leaders in the Central Arkansas community,” said Deborah Baldwin, dean of the UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. “We are honored that they would assist us in raising awareness about how arts programs enrich the communities in which we live.”

Finale 2012’s performance will feature UALR music students performing scenes from the Broadway musical, “Into the Woods,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. Craig O’Neill of Today’s THV will serve as master of ceremonies. This is his fourth year to host the event.

In the live auction, Finale will feature a designer jewelry piece created by Sissy’s Log Cabin.

Presenting sponsors of the 2012 event are Glazer’s Distributors of Arkansas and Sissy’s Log Cabin. Premier sponsors include Pediatrix, Terri and Chuck Erwin, and Chip and Cindy Murphy. Sustaining sponsors are Simmons First National Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, East-Harding, Inc., Entergy, US Bank, and HBO/Time Warner.

Arts organizations from around the region lend their support to Finale each year. This year’s participating arts partners are Accademia dell’Arte, Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Reservations to Finale are $150 each. Call Rivka Kuperman at (501) 765-9636 or at rekuperman@ualr.edu for more information.

Digital Dialogues Family Festival at Ark. Arts Center this Saturday

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This Saturday the Arkansas Arts Center will host an event to provide fun for the whole family at the Digital Dialogues Family Festival from 1pm to 4pm at the Arts Center on April 21.

Technology has always been an important part of the art world. This event will give families the chance to explore technology and art through activities involving cameras, flip book animation, illustrations, digital jewelry and shadow play.

Comic book artist, storyteller and illustrator Mitch Breitweiser will demonstrate how he digitally creates Captain America comics.  Since 2005, he has worked on dozens of Marvel comic books including Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, the Fantastic Four and more. He will also be available for autographs.

To make things even more fun, Dippin’ Dots ice cream and lemonade will be served.

The exhibition The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft will also be on view. Organized by the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Mass., and curated by Fo Wilson, this exhibition explores the growing use of digital technologies as a means of expression in craft and art in the United States.

Tickets for the Family Festival are $5 per person or $20 per family. Arkansas Arts Center members attend for free. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

The Digital Dialogues Family Festival is sponsored by Arkansas Business Publishing Group and Dippin’ Dots, Inc. For more information, call 501-372-4000 or visit http://www.arkarts.com.

Museum of Discovery to showcase TITANIC wreckage

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100 years ago today, people worldwide read newspaper accounts of the unthinkable disaster that was the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

The Museum of Discovery is set to unveil its latest traveling exhibit April 28 titled “Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss” revealing some of the ocean floor’s mystique, and how science and technology play integral roles in defining it.

Developed by Evergreen Exhibitions in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s largest non-profit ocean science research institution, this 3,000 square foot interactive exhibit is designed to engage museum visitors through hands-on exploration and discovery, submerging them into the deep undersea world. Extreme Deep depicts the mysteries of the ocean’s greatest depths. Newly discovered life forms, thermal vents, close-up views of deep-sea research submersibles as well as shipwrecks including the Titanic, are among the attractions in this deep-sea adventure. Museum goers will observe firsthand the technology that only recently has allowed men and women to travel to the ocean floor.

Extreme Deep puts the technology necessary for deep-sea exploration in the hands of museum guests. Visitors join fellow explorers in an interior replica of the submersible Alvin’s personnel sphere, which they can operate to simulate a dive to depths of up to three miles. They can fly a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) over a model of the Titanic’s deck. They can also test their skill at manipulating Alvin’s robotic arm by picking up lava rocks and clams from the seafloor while peering through a re-creation of Alvin’s four-inch viewport window.

Extreme Deep is presented by Little Rock Family Magazine, a member of the Arkansas Business Publishing Group. Little Rock Family is dedicated to providing informative family-friendly activities and resources for the central Arkansas region, and works to promote and support local businesses and non-profit organizations, as well as community-minded people.

“Together with our partners at Little Rock Family, we look forward to bringing Extreme Deep to Arkansas. People have long been fascinated with the ocean and what lies beneath. This interactive exhibit embodies our focus – creating a passion and an understanding for science and technology through discovery,” explains Nan Selz, executive director for the Museum of Discovery.

Extreme Deep brings the seafloor to the surface in an amazing display that illustrates the magnificent engineering feats of Mother Nature – like the building of enormous “black smokers” that spew mineral-rich fluid into the ocean supporting life vastly different from that flourishing on land or in shallow water.

The exhibit will run from April 28-July 29.

Play Ball!

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Major League Baseball started the 2012 season last week.  The St. Louis Cardinals began their defense of their World Championship!

“Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals” opened at the Clinton Presidential Center last month.  The exhibit features more than 100 items from the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame Museum, a collection the team owns and has improved in recent years despite not having a place to publicly display it.

“This is going to be something that kids, adults, women, men, baseball fans, non-baseball fans alike will all enjoy,” says Jordan Johnson, spokesperson for the Clinton Foundation.

The Clinton Library and the Cardinals have been working on this exhibit for several years, and it’s only by coincidence that the library will have the Cardinals-based display immediately following a World Series championship. Among the items that the Cardinals lent to the library are several Dizzy Dean-related artifacts, including one of four known game-worn jerseys from the Hall of Fame pitcher and Arkansas native.

The trophies from the 2006 and 2011 World Series are also featured.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 16.

Little Rock Zoo showers visitors with fun activities in April

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The Little Rock Zoo is making April special for visitors.

All kinds of activities are lined up promising some extra fun.

The zoo kicked off its special lineup today at an “egg toss” event where the zoo’s otters were given large egg shaped toys to play with.

The following events will be hosted by the zoo this month:

  • Saturday, April  7 – Breakfast or Lunch with the Easter Bunny
  • Saturday, April 14 – Party for the Planet:  An Earth Day Celebration
  • Saturday, April 21 – World Penguin Day Celebration
  • Saturday, April 28 – Woo at the Zoo adults-only event

April fun at the Zoo kicks-off this Saturday, April 7, with breakfast or lunch with the Easter Bunny. Guests will dine in Caf Africa, decorate Easter egg shaped cookies, an Easter basket, and get a chance to have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.  At 11:00 a.m. the public is invited to watch as the Easter Bunny delivers large egg shaped toys to the big cats and otters. Advanced reservations for breakfast or lunch are required and can be made by calling (501) 661-7218. The cost is $9.95 for children and $14.95 for adults for members and $18.95 per person for non-members.

The fun continues on Saturday, April 14, as the Zoo celebrates Earth Day with Party for the Planet: An Earth Day Celebration sponsored by Central Arkansas Water. The day-long celebration features interactive educational booths set-up throughout the zoo where guests can learn all about conservation and our natural world. Other activities and programs will take place around the zoo and on the Civitan Amphitheater stage during the day and Radio Disney will be at the Over-the-Jumps Carousel with their Rock-n-Road show from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Guests can also vote on their favorite photograph from the Outdoor Photography Club’s annual Zoo photo contest sponsored by Bedford Camera.

Penguins take center stage at the zoo all day on Saturday, April 21, for the celebration of World Penguin Day. Special activities for kids will be available at stations set-up by the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe exhibit as well as a special opportunity to purchase paintings done by some of the zoo’s penguins. There will also be three special penguin keeper chats at the exhibit and a special presentation with one of the zoo’s penguins at the Civitan Amphitheater stage.

Adults will enjoy learning all about the strange, curious, and downright hilarious world of animal mating at Woo at the Zoo, April 28, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Guests to this adults-only event will get a special tour of the zoo to learn all about some of the mating habits of zoo animals. Did you know that a female rhino will ram a male rhino at more than 30 miles per hour to test his strength? After the tour, guests will congregate at the Civitan Amphitheater for food, beverages, and to jam to the tunes of the Shannon Boshears Band. Tickets are $35 per person and can be bought online at LittleRockZoo.com/woo or by calling (501) 661-7208. All proceeds benefit the Arkansas Zoological Foundation and the Little Rock Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Click here for more about all of the zoo’s April events.