“Most Likely to Succeed” film screening and Q&A at Clinton School tonight

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Tonight at 7pm, the Clinton School will screen the documentary Most Likely to Succeed.  It will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s producer Ted Dintersmith.

Where a college diploma once meant a guaranteed job, now more than half of America’s new college graduates are unable to find employment. Director Greg Whiteley locates the source of the problem not in the economy but in our educational system, which was developed at the dawn of the Industrial Age to train obedient workers and has changed little since, despite radical changes in the marketplace wrought by technology and the outsourcing of labor.

With a world of information available a click away, and the modern workplace valuing skills like collaboration and critical thinking, our rote-based system of learning has become outdated and ineffective. Charter schools like San Diego’s High Tech High, which replaces standardized tests and compartmentalized subjects with project-based learning and a student-focused curriculum, offer an alternative. Whiteley follows students, teachers, and parents to see if this different model can reawaken the love of learning and offer the potential for a paradigmatic shift in education.

In concert tonight at Wildwood Park – Chamber Music Society of Little Rock presents Brooklyn Rider

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The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, in collaboration with Wildwood Park for the Arts, is proud to present Brooklyn Rider in its second concert of the season.

Hailed as “the future of chamber music” (Strings), the game-changing string quartet Brooklyn Rider presents eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to draw rave reviews from classical, world, and rock critics alike. NPR credits Brooklyn Rider with “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble”; the Los Angeles Times dubs the group “one of the wonders of contemporary music”; and Vice likens its members to “motocross daredevils who never screw up a stunt.”

Program:
Dig The Say – VIJAY IYER (b. 1971)
“Maintenance Music” – DANA LYN (b. 1974)
“Show Me” – AOIFE O’DONOVAN (b. 1982)
Ping Pong Fumble Thaw – GLENN KOTCHE (b. 1970)
John Steinbeck – BILL FRISELL (b.1951)
“Five-Legged Cat” – GONZALO GRAU (b. 1972)
Bradbury Studies – GABRIEL KAHANE (b. 1981)
String Quartet No.13, in A minor, Op. 29, D.804, “Rosamunde” FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

Adult admission is $30 and FREE for students (K-College). Tickets available at the door or at www.ChamberMusicLR.com

This program supported, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tonight at South on Main, the Oxford American Local Live series features Dana Louise & Adams Collins

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llsom dana lAt 7:30 PM tonight, this week’s installment of South on Main’s Local Live concert series features Dana Louise & Adams Collins! Presented by the Oxford American magazine, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table: (501) 244-9660.

Dana brings her vibrant, melodic vocals and finger picking to a body of complex songs. Drawing from jazz and bluegrass, carrying a contemporary beat, the sound is roots-rooted flung-into-the-future folk. Dana Louise and Adams Collins (vibraphone and five-string banjo) work to leave their audiences glowing with the magic music can bring: genuine human connection.

Free “Movies at MacArthur Museum” tonight WAY OF THE WARRIOR

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In partnership with AETN, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a screening of the documentary Way of the Warrior. The screening starts at 6:30pm tonight at the museum in MacArthur Park.  This film was chosen for November as a way to commemorate Native American Heritage Month.

Free admission. Free popcorn and beverages provided.

This documentary examines the visceral nature of war and the bravery of Native-American veterans who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War–and came to grips with the difficult post-war personal and societal conditions.

Their stories are examined through the prism of what it means to be “ogichidaa,” one who protects and follows the way of the warrior. Dramatic historical footage, period photographs and sound effects juxtaposed with photos of veterans in more genial settings, away from combat with family and friends stateside, create portrait of not just the warrior, but the paradox of a warrior’s motivations.

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is a program of the City of Little Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department.

New book EMPIRE OF COTTON focus of Clinton School lecture

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In “Empire of Cotton,” Sven Beckert tells the epic story of the rise and fall of the cotton industry, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities.

“Empire of Cotton” weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist. The book won the Bancroft Award, The Philip Taft Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Sven Beckert is an American historian and Laird Bell professor of American History at Harvard University, with a particular emphasis on the history of capitalism, including its economic, social, political, and transnational dimensions.

The program starts at 6pm tonight at the Clinton School of Public Service.

Little Rock Look Back: Clinton Center Opened 11 Years Ago Today

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SkipMany remember November 18, 2004, for the rain and cold wind which greeted visitors to the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center and Park.  In the years which lead up to that day, November 18, 2004, was known simply as “Game Day” for a group of people.  The chief one was Skip Rutherford.

Overseeing the planning for the Clinton Presidential Center and the events surrounding it had been the focus of James L. “Skip” Rutherford for many years. A FOB for decades, he had stayed in Little Rock when so many went to Washington DC in 1993.

He oversaw the planning for the Clinton Library and led the Clinton Foundation.  No detail was too small or insignificant for him to consider. For months leading to the opening he led meetings to help restaurants, hotels, and attractions understand the scope of the opening.

Together with Dean Kumpuris and Bruce Moore on behalf of the City of Little Rock and Stephanie Streett of the Clinton Foundation, he reviewed plans for the Clinton Presidential Park and the streets and neighborhoods around the Clinton Presidential Center.

He used his connections with the business community in Little Rock and throughout the state to discuss the importance of a Presidential Library regardless of one’s personal political affiliations.  He withstood critics who second-guessed everything from the cost, the design, the location, the purpose, and even the anticipated tourism and economic impacts.

Finally the big day had come.  If the weather was not ideal, that was almost inconsequential. It was still the culmination of more than seven years hard work.

However, the opening of the Clinton Presidential Center was not the end of the task. It merely was the move from one phase to another. A few years later, Skip’s role would change as he would leave the Foundation and become the second Dean of the Clinton School of Public Service.

Tax proposal for Arts Center, Military Museum, Parks advances

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macmusThe Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission voted to refer a 2% hotel tax to the City Board of Directors to eventually be put before the voters.

arkartsThis tax would be used for capital upgrades at the two MacArthur Park museums.  It is expected to go before the City Board in December for an election in February.

More information on this process and the individual proposals from both museums will be featured on the Culture Vulture blog in coming weeks.