Tag Archives: Central High School National Historic Site

18th Big Boo!-seum Bash Tonight

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bigbooseumFor the 18th year, Little Rock Museums have joined together to present BIG BOO!-seum Bash Thursday, October 24, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This FREE event provides a safe alternative to door to door trick-or-treating. Each location will offer games, story-telling, candy and fun!

Participating members of the Greater Little Rock Museum Consortium will host BIG BOO!-seum Bash at the following locations:

  • Central Arkansas Library System (Main Branch)
  • Central High School National Historic Site
  • Curran Hall Visitors Center
  • Historic Arkansas Museum
  • MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
  • Museum of Discovery
  • Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
  • Old State House Museum
  • Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center

Visitors can drive to each location, where FREE parking is available.

Participants can start at any location where Game Cards will also be issued at each site. Visit all nine participating locations to qualify for the Grand Prize-Flat Screen TV (additional information listed on Game Cards). 

New this year, each site will offer a prize drawing for kids who visit that site.  Be sure to register at each of the sites visited.  For instance, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will draw for a FREE boys or girls bicycle.

Arkansas Literary Festival This Weekend!

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litfestlogoThe Arkansas Literary Festival, the premier gathering of readers and writers in Arkansas, has expanded to include over 90 authors in many locations on both sides of the river from April 18-21, 2013.

The Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Library campus, other venues in the River Markets and Argenta Arts districts are the sites for a stimulating mix of sessions, panels, special events, performances, workshops, presentations, opportunities to meet the authors, book sales, and book signings. Most events are free and open to the public.

Festival authors include:

Salma Abdelnour, David Abrams, Mary Stewart Atwell, Beth Ayer, Jenni B. Baker, Jan Barry, Carolyn Briggs, Kevin Brockmeier, Sam Calvin Brown, Oliver Burkeman, Mary Bucci Bush, Drew Cameron, Raquel Cepeda, Da Chen, Joseph Crespino, James Daily, Lela Davidson, Edmond Davis, Sylvia Day, James W. Erwin, Richard Ford, Ben Fountain, Tim Gallagher, Tim Gallagher, Paula J. Giddings, Kay Collett Goss, Jessica B. Harris, Ruth Hawkins, Roger D. Hodge, Ty Jaeger, Jay Jennings, Ben Katchor, Janis F. Kearney, Jeannette Keith, Brian and Terri Kinder, Steve Kistulentz, Christi Shannon Kline, Jon Krampner, Travis Langley, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Dorothy R. Leavell, Domingo Martinez, Ayana Mathis, Carla Killough McClafferty, Rosetta Miller-Perry, Lydia Millet, Pat Mora, Linda Murphy, Sara Nesson, Cynthia LeJeune Nobles, Harry Ostrer, Darcy Pattison, Lori Perkins, Leonard Pitts Jr., Garry Craig Powell, Padgett Powell, Joe Queenan, Karen Russell, Eric Rutkow, Courtney Miller Santo, Rosie Schaap, Martha Silano, Heather Sutherlin, Steve Teske, Chuck Thompson, Charles Todd, Caroline Todd, Duncan Tonatiuh, GB Tran, Dennis Vannatta, Frank X Walker, John Corey Whaley, Steve Wiegenstein, David Wesley Williams, Johnathon Williams, Rita Williams-Garcia, Christian Wiman, Jan Wolfe, Ron Wolfe, C.D. Wright, Steve Yates

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.

At 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 University; 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 8pm on the fifth floor of the CALS main library building.  Tickets are available at the door.

The Arkansas Literary Festival is a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. The Festival’s mission is to encourage the development of a more literate populace. A group of dedicated volunteers assists Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy with planning the Festival. Jay Jennings is the 2013 Festival Chair. Other committee chairs include Katherine Whitworth, Talent Committee; Lisa Donovan, Youth Programs; and Amy Bradley-Hole, Moderators.

Big Boo!-seum Bash

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Have a HOWLING GHOUL TIME at the 17th Annual Big BOO-seum Bash.

Visitors can start at any of the eight participating museums:

  • Central High School National Historic Site
  • Clinton Presidential Center
  • Curran Hall Visitors Center
  • Historic Arkansas Museum
  • MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
  • Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
  • Museum of Discovery
  • Old State House

This FREE Safe and Kid Friendly event promises Story Telling, Trick or Treating, Fun & Games and more! 6-8:30 pm

This year, trick-or-treaters are encouraged to hit as many of the above locations as possible, so that they can enter our free giveaway/drawing for a special gift basket and a flat-screen TV.  Game cards will be provided at all locations, and in order to be entered into these drawings, trick-or-treaters must have their game cards stamped at each location they visit.  To qualify for these drawings, participants will need to visit at least six of the above participating member locations for the special gift basket drawing, and all eight for the grand prize drawing for the flat-screen TV. Winners will be notified at a later date.

Cool Culture — Beat the Heat at LR Museums

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Seeking a daytime escape from the heat of the day, most of Little Rock’s museums offer wonderful climate controlled environments at no charge.

Among those museums in LR which offer escapes to galleries at no charge are the Arkansas Arts Center, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Historic Arkansas Museum (fees do apply for tours of historic structures), Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Old State House Museum, Butler Center Galleries  at the Arkansas Studies Institute, Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center and the Little Rock Central High National Historic Site.  In addition, members to the Museum of Discovery can visit it for free.

Sculpture Vulture: The Spirit of Central High

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Located at the northwest corner of Park and Daisy L. Gatson Bates is the Central High School Commemorative Garden. The showcase of the garden is a sculpture created by Michael Warrick and Aaron P. Hussey.

The focal point of this piece is a pair of archways. The outward facing sides of each archway evokes the architecture of the historic high school through the buff bricks, cornice work and even statues.

On the reverse are a series of black and white photographs depicting the rich history and legacy of the school from its construction in 1927 through 2000.

By depicting a variety of decades and events, this sculpture does not shy away from 1957 there are images from that school year included. These several dozen photographs represent the hundreds of thousands of students who have gone to high school in this building since the doors first opened.

Nor does the sculpture try to explain away or justify actions. Instead it embraces the roots of excellence which gave birth to the school and shows the manifestation of that excellence in modern times which has been made possible by the crucible that was the flashpoint of 1957.

Arts & Humanities Month: Big Boo!-seum Bash

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For the 16th year, a number of Little Rock museums have joined together to present the Big Boo!-seum Bash.  The 2011 edition takes place tonight. This annual, free event is hosted by members of the Greater Little Rock Museum Consortium and sponsored by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. The hours are from 6pm to 8:30pm.

Big Boo!-seum Bash is one giant story-telling, trick-or-treating, fun and games evening that is safe and accessible for children and their families.

This year’s locations are the Historic Arkansas Museum, Heifer Village, Central High School National Historic Site, Old State House Museum, EMOBA, Clinton Presidential Center, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Visitors can drive to each location, where free parking is available. Game cards will also be issued at each site. Visit five of the eight participating locations to qualify for a prize drawing collected from the participating museums or visit seven of the eight participating locations to qualify for the grand prize drawing.

Visitors are encouraged to support the Arkansas Foodbank by brining non-perishable food items to enter for a chance to win prizes.