Celebrate Flag Day with the seventeen-piece Dave Rosen Big Band as they play jazz, pop, and patriotic favorites after 2nd Friday Art Night at Library Square. Doors open at 7:00pm, concert begins at 8:00pm.
Sponsored by Friends of the Central Arkansas Library System (FOCAL), Acansa Arts Festival, FM 89.1 KUAR, Dr. Elizabeth Fletcher Dishongh Charitable Trust and David Austin at The Charlotte John Company.
Born on June 14, 1912, Sidney Sanders McMath would play a key role in the development of Arkansas throughout the 20th Century.
A veteran of World War II, he was part of a new breed of Arkansas politicians who challenged the “old guard.” He won election of Prosecuting Attorney in Hot Springs and took on gaming and other corruption. This propelled him into the Governor’s Office (and to be the first family to reside in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.)
After being defeated in his bid for a third two-year term as governor, McMath returned to being a full-time attorney. He also remained active in the Marine Corps Reserves, achieving the rank of Major General. In 1967, he founded the Marine Corps JROTC program at Catholic High School.
After a lifetime of public service, Gov. McMath died on October 4, 2003.
In 2004, the Central Arkansas Library System opened the Sidney Sanders McMath branch library. A sculpture of him, created by Bryan Massey, Sr. and was commissioned to stand on the campus of the library branch which bears the Governor’s name. It was dedicated in 2006.
This bronze sculpture depicts Gov. McMath in shirt sleeves, slacks and a tie in mid stride. He confidently smiles as he raises his right hand to wave with the hat in the hand. It is based on a photo of the Governor walking in a Little Rock parade along side President Harry S. Truman.
Behind the statue are a series of medallions mounted on individual pedestals which depict scenes from McMath’s life. They are accompanied by a quote from U. S. Senator David H. Pryor “…the best friend Arkansas ever had.”
The plaza is flanked by the United States, Arkansas and Marine Corps flags.
The Central Arkansas Library System’s Library Square plays host to TWO different 2nd Friday Art Night locations.
In the Bobby Roberts Library of Arkansas History and Art – opening tonight in the Loft Gallery is Melissa Cowper-Smith: Natural Treatment, 2018–2019
Musical Guest: Southern Frayed (country-pop trio)
The Galleries at Library Square – Concordia Hall Gallery presents “Fifty Years of McFarlin Oil: Paintings and Sculpture by an Arkansas Traveler” He has been making art under the moniker of McFarlin Oil for more than fifty years.
Two other continuing exhibitions include “EMBRAID—Three Northwest Arkansas Strands” in the Underground Gallery, “Part to Whole: The Making of Art, the Artist, and the Artists’ Artist Group” in the West Gallery,
Also on the CALS Library Square campus, The Bookstore at Library Square is proud to present 50 works from the Arkansas League of Artists “Members Show” at the monthly event, 2nd Friday Art Night.
Visit The Bookstore six days a week. Three floors of books, gifts, locally made art & jewelry, plus an art gallery. By far the best place to buy used books in central Arkansas. Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm. Gallery open during regular bookstore hours.
The Arkansas Cinema Society and its premiere event Filmland were created to build a film community in Arkansas where film lovers can watch films, share ideas, connect with each other and nurture the new and existing film talent within our state through increased exposure to filmmakers and their art.
Filmland returns this August to the CALS Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock, furthering ACS’s mission to promote local filmmakers with Filmland: Arkansas. Information and details on how to submit to Filmland: Arkansas can be found in the specific short film and feature film categories.
The past two years have included Academy Award nominated actor Adam Driver, five-time Oscar nominated Director Richard Linklater, Director David Lowery, Producers Fred Berger and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Actors David Arquette, WIll Forte and Ted Danson and Oscar winner and ACS board member Mary Steenburgen. Screenings also feature Q&A’s moderated by ACS Founder and Director Jeff Nichols and every night is topped off with a party for filmmakers and attendees.
Filmland 2019 will take place the weekend of August 23rd. The exact dates, events and other details will be announced once special guests are finalized.
ACS Filmland is a non-competitive, curated event but there will be an audience award for the Filmland: Arkansas program.
The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is a recipient of a $14,900 grant to host the NEA Big Read: CALS. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.
CALS is one of 78 nonprofit organizations to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading. The NEA Big Read: CALS events will take place between March 16 and April 26, 2020.
“We are very excited to host Tim O’Brien and to explore his classic The Things They Carried throughout the library system and beyond,” said Mark Christ, CALS adult programming coordinator. “As an institution, we strive to improve literacy and encourage the exchange of ideas, social engagement, and cultural expression. We hope that additional partners will join with us before the NEA Big Read begins next March.”
The NEA Big Read showcases a diverse range of titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery. The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection.
“It is inspiring to see both large and small communities across the nation come together around a book,” said National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “We always look forward to the unique ways cities, towns, and organizations, like Central Arkansas Library System, explore these stories and encourage community participation in a wide variety of events.”
Planned events for the NEA Big Read: CALS include a lecture by Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried; book clubs, readings and exhibits at CALS branch libraries; an Operation Song event at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock; a film and documentary series, panel discussions and dramatic readings at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater; readings and discussions of The Things They Carried by private book clubs in the area; Vietnam veteran oral history recordings by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies staff in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art; performances by the Writeous Poets from Little Rock Central High School; special displays and discussions during the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans event at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History, and other events.
Partners include the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, Arkansas State Library, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Little Rock Central High School, public radio station KUAR, the Jacksonville Museum of Military History, the Arkansas Educational Television Network, Central Arkansas Literacy Council, professors from Hendrix College, Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and others.
Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,400 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $20 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past twelve years, grantees have leveraged more than $50 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 5.7 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, approximately 91,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and 39,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible. For more information about the NEA Big Read, please visit arts.gov/neabigread.
For more information about NEA Big Read: CALS, contact Mark Christ at (501) 918-3069 or mchrist@cals.org.
$2 Terror Tuesdays continue tonight (6/11) at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater with 1932’s WHITE ZOMBIE.
White Zombie is a 1932 American horror film independently produced by Edward Halperin and directed by Victor Halperin.
The screenplay by Garnett Weston, based on The Magic Island by William Seabrook, is about a young woman’s transformation into a zombie at the hands of an evil voodoo master.
The film stars Bela Lugosi as a zombie master, as well as Robert Frazer, Madge Bellamy, and John Harron. It is considered the first feature-length zombie film.
The showing starts at 7pm. Cost is $2.
Today (6/11) at noon, the Central Arkansas Library System presents the annual Rabbi Ira E. Sanders Lecture. It featured Richard T. Hughes, “Understanding White Supremacy: Why We Must Hear Black Voices.”
According to Dr. Hughes, six myths lie at the heart of the American experience. Taken as aspirational, four of those myths remind us of our noblest ideals, challenging us to realize our nation’s promise while galvanizing the sense of hope and unity we need to reach our goals. Misused, these myths allow for illusions of innocence that fly in the face of the primal American myth that stands at the heart of all the others—the myth of white supremacy.
Richard T. Hughes is a professor emeritus at both Pepperdine University and Messiah College. He is the author or coauthor or editor of more than a dozen books including Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875 and Christian America and the Kingdom of God.
About the Rabbi Ira E. Sanders Lecture: The Sanders Lecture was established in 2000 to commemorate Rabbi Sanders’s forty years of service on the Boards of Trustees of Little Rock Public Library and CALS. The lecture includes topics that support Rabbi Sander’s commitment to intellectual freedom.
This year’s lecture is presented in partnership by the UA Little Rock’s Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity and will take place in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater.
The program is free but a reservation is required. Please reserve your seat at ualr.edu/race-ethnicity/hughesrsvp/.
The Rabbi Ira E. Sanders Lecture is co-sponsored by the UA Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 