Category Archives: Museum

Play at Arkansas Rep focus of Mosaic Templar Lunchtime Discussion

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mosaictemplarsThe Mosaic Templars Cultural Center’s (MTCC) quarterly lunchtime series offers a variety of topics to educate, inspire, and entertain.

“It’s in the Bag” runs today from 11:30 to 12:30 at the MTCC.

Today’s installment will feature the cast of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s current play, The Whipping Man. Set at the end of The Civil War in 1865, The Whipping Man is an extraordinary tale of loyalty, deceit and deliverance. The award-winning play opened off-Broadway in 2011 to critical acclaim, winning the 2011 John Gassner New Play Award from the NY Outer Critics Circle and becoming one of the most produced plays in the country.

THEREP_THE WHIPPINGMAN (no credits)-page-001Don’t miss your chance to meet the cast and tour MTCC’s new exhibit, “Freedom! Oh, Freedom!” Arkansas’s People of African Descent and the Civil War: 1861-1866.

Guests are invited to bring their lunch, the museum will provide the drinks.

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Maned Wolf Pups born at Little Rock Zoo

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Maned Wolf PupsThe Little Rock Zoo is proud to announce that two maned wolf pups were born Dec. 21 and are growing strong according to Zoo staff.

The pups’ parents are maned wolves Gabby and Diego, two wolves living at the Zoo since 2013.  Maned wolves are known for their tall long legs and reddish-brown coats, but newborn maned wolves have a dark coat that will turn reddish-brown when full-grown. Gabby is now taking her pups out into the yard of her exhibit at the Zoo allowing visitors to catch an occasional glimpse. The pups are expected to fully be out on exhibit in the next two to three months.

The breeding of the maned wolves comes at the recommendation of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP). Maned wolves are threatened in their natural habitats in Central and Southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, Eastern Bolivia, and Northern Argentina due to deforestation. Maned wolves are even killed for body parts, due to the belief that they carry “magical properties.” This beautiful animal is at a risk of extinction, but with the help of zoo breeding programs like the SSP, maned wolves can still roam.

In 2007, the Little Rock Zoo was given praise for its maned wolf breeding program. Dr. Nucharin Songsasen, a reproductive advisor to the Maned Wolf SSP of North America, visited the Zoo to collect research from the Zoo’s breeding program, which is considered one of the most successful ones in the country.

Science of Mixology at this month’s Museum of Discovery Science After Dark

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MuseumMixologysmEach month, the Museum of Discovery stays open late for an event geared for adults.  Science After Dark, held the last Thursday of the month, is for the grown-ups. Why? Because, science is fun…at any age!  

The event takes place from 6pm to 9pm tonight at the Museum of Discovery.

Science After Dark provides visitors the opportunity to have fun and learn about science in a unique setting. Museum educators pick a science-related topic and build an entertaining, interactive evening around it. You never know what will sprout, pop, fizzle, or glow. We invite you to discover the science of having fun.

This month, just in time for Super Bowl and Oscar parties – Explore the science of cocktails and mixology at the first Science After Dark of the year!

This month’s Science After Dark will include mixology with Louis Uzcategui of Big Orange Midtown, molecular mixology with Chef Stephen Burrow of  Forty Two, distilling with Rock Town Distillery, the history of prohibition with Old State House Museum, density columns and more!

Cash bar by Juanita’s, beer sold by Stones Throw Brewery and pizza sold by the slice by Damgoode Pies

Admission: $5 per person; members FREE

Brown Bag Series today at Old State House features Cris Slaymaker discussing LR’s Union School

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OSH logoThe next edition of the Old State House Museum’s continuing Brown Bag Lunch Lecture series takes place today.  The Museum’s staff member Cris Slaymaker shares the story of Little Rock’s Union School.

During the American Civil War and into Reconstruction, Christian missionaries from the North took up the mantle of educating the newly freed former slaves. In Little Rock, missionaries accepted the roles of both teaching and administration for the already existing black school, the Union School. Their efforts over the next few years paved the way for the public education of African Americans in Arkansas.

Cris Slaymaker joined the Old State House Museum education staff in 2012. She earned a BA in Spanish from Lyon College, and has studied in the Public History master’s program at UALR. Cris has previously served on the staffs of the Old Independence Regional Museum, Arkansas History Commission, Arkansas State Parks, and Historic Arkansas Museum.

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

 

Violinist Randall Goosby at Mosaic Templars this morning, presented by Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

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ASO GoosbyToday at 10 a.m., the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, in partnership with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), presents Randall Goosby.

A young African American violin prodigy, Goosby won the prestigious Sphinx competition at age 13. Goosby is currently enrolled at Juilliard under the instruction of world-class violinists, Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. Goosby is the January guest violinist for ASO and will perform Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 with the orchestra January 31 and February 1.

For more information, call Elvon Reed at 501-683-3592 or email elvon@arkansasheritage.org.

Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Little Rock Look Back: General Douglas MacArthur

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MacArthurOn 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.

Though Gen. MacArthur spent only a few weeks in Little Rock, he was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church.  The location of the baptism remains a mystery today because the church was meeting in temporary locations due to the first structure having been lost to a fire.

When the General returned to Little Rock in 1952, he did pay a brief visit to Christ Church.  He also spoke at the Foster Bandshell in the park which bore his name.  He was one of three presidential candidates to speak at the Foster Bandshell in 1952, the others were the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower.

When General MacArthur died, he was granted a state funeral.  He was one of the few non-Presidents to have been given this honor.

Today, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is located in the Arsenal building.  It 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.

Straw Gets Spun into Gold as RUMPELSTILTSKIN takes stage at Arts Center Children’s Theatre

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AACCTrumpThe Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre presents Rumpelstiltskin through February 8, 2015.

“The magical tale of Rumpelstiltskin takes the audience on an action-packed journey that is familiar to so many generations,” said Todd Herman, executive director of the Arkansas Arts Center. “We invite the community to experience the enchantment of this wonderful play.”

Once upon a time, there was a dwarf who tried to take things that just weren’t his. Now, this dwarf lived in a land that was ruled by a king whose greed was as grand as his kingdom. And in that kingdom, there lived a miller whose bragging mouth was nearly as grand as the king’s greed. And it so happened that this miller had a lovely daughter who was kind and good, but one day she did a very bad thing –  she made a promise she could not keep. Now, the king is angry, the miller is frightened, and the dwarf is simply out of control.

Wheels spin and straw flies as the miller’s daughter works madly to make things right again, but the only way she can is by discovering the mean old dwarf’s secret true name. In searching for that, she discovers the only power in the world that will help her. The most magical power of all: love.

This production is adapted for the stage by Keith Smith from the Brothers Grimm.

The cast for Rumpelstiltskin includes:

  • Nate Plummer as Rumpelstiltskin
  • Lauren Linton as The Miller’s Daughter
  • Mark Hansen as The King
  • John Isner as The Miller

Bradley Anderson is the artistic director and Keith Smith is the playwright and set designer for the production. Costumes are designed by Erin Larkin; technical direction by Drew Posey; lighting design by Penelope Poppers; properties design by Miranda Young and Sarah Gasser is the stage manager.