Tag Archives: Department of Parks Heritage and Tourism

New HAM exhibit looks at 75 Years of the museum

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75thbannerHistoric Arkansas Museum, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, will host a free opening reception for the museum’s 75th anniversary exhibit A Diamond in the Rough: 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum during 2nd Friday Art Night from 5 to 8 pm. The reception will feature a vintage cocktail from 1941, the year the museum was founded, live music by the Delta Brass Combo and a unique 75th anniversary Living History performance featuring portrayals of museum founder Louise Loughborough, as she campaigns the historic structures that are now preserved on the museum grounds, as well as Senator Ed Dillon and Governor Bailey. Refreshments will be available, including the vintage cocktail Millionaire No. 1 which was popular in 1941 – the year Historic Arkansas Museum was founded.

A Diamond in the Rough: 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum

Experience 75 years of Historic Arkansas Museum, beginning with the ambitious Louise Watkins Loughborough whose one-woman campaign succeeded in the founding of the museum in 1941. The museum, now a gem of Arkansas history and culture, began as a diamond in the rough; a half-block of dilapidated historic homes—the last remnant of Little Rock’s oldest neighborhood. Loughborough’s passion and vision saved these historic structures and the subsequent contributions of architects and preservationists such as Max Mayer, Ed Cromwell, Parker Westbrook and others succeeded in making Historic Arkansas Museum the historic landmark and vibrant cultural institution it is today.

The anniversary exhibit is a celebration of the museum’s commitment to preserving and exhibiting objects and artworks that illuminate Arkansas’s rich and varied cultural heritage. Learn more about the contributions of pioneering community leaders, reflect on milestones in the museum’s development over 75 years and see many of the most important pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. This exhibit continues in the Horace C. Cabe Gallery through February 2017.

Currently on exhibit:

Historic Arkansas Museum is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the galleries and parking are free; admission to the historic grounds is $2.50 for adults, $1 for children under 18, $1.50 for senior citizens. The Historic Arkansas Museum Store is open 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which was created in 1975 to preserve and enhance the heritage of the state of Arkansas. Other agencies of the department are Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Old State House Museum.

Brown Bag at Old State House today at noon – COURAGE, PROMINENCE, THEN OBSCURITY: THE LIFE OF EDWARD ALLEN FULTON

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OSH Brown BagToday (March 10) at noon, Blake Wintory presents the Old State House’s March Brown Bag program on the life of Edward Allen Fulton.
Fulton was an African American leader, politician and newspaper editor in Arkansas during Reconstruction and subsequent years. Born a slave in Kentucky in 1833, Fulton spent his youth as a slave in Missouri before escaping and joining the abolitionist movement in Chicago. During the Civil War he worked as a recruiter for U.S. Colored Troops and arrived in post-war Arkansas in 1866.

In 1870 Drew County elected him to the Arkansas General Assembly as a Republican. Fulton sided with Joseph Brooks’ “Brindletail” or Reform Republicans and often clashed with the Regular Republicans, including Governor Powell Clayton. Throughout his career he championed the rights of African Americans and even led several Drew County families to western Iowa at the height of the Exoduster migration. Despite a colorful life that included an assassination attempt, Fulton died in relative obscurity in St. Louis in 1906.

Blake Wintory received his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 2005. He is the on-site director at the 1859 Lakeport Plantation, an Arkansas State University Heritage Site in Chicot County. He serves on the board of Preserve Arkansas and the Friends of the Arkansas History Commission. In 2015 he published his first book, Images of Chicot County, and has published articles on Arkansas history in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, the Arkansas Review, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

The Arkansas Arts Council seeking applications for Individual Artist Fellowships

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aaclogo_vertical_colorThe Arkansas Arts Council is accepting applications for its Individual Artist Fellowships. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2016.

The Individual Artist Fellowships annually recognize individual artistic ability and creative excellence to encourage the continuing artistic development of the selected recipients. To be eligible for a fellowship, an artist must be at least 25 years old and must have been an Arkansas resident for at least one year at the time of application.

Individual Artist Fellowships are unconditional, non-matching awards made directly to individual artists. Awarded annually, these fellowships recognize the artistic creative excellence of the recipient’s work and enable the selected artists to devote more time and energy to creating their art and mastering their craft. Funding categories change each year.

Up to nine Individual Artist Fellowships worth $4,000 each will be awarded to artists in the following categories:

  • Literary Arts – Poetry
  • Performing Arts – Music Composition (Folk/Gospel/Jazz/Pop)
  • Visual Arts – Painting (Paintings may include work on canvas, panel, or board, but not on paper.)

Click HERE to download an application, or contact the Arkansas Arts Council at (501) 324-9766. For more information, call Robin McClea at (501) 324-9348 or e-mail robinm@arkansasheritage.org.

The Arkansas Arts Council is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Sandwich in History at Waldo E. Tiller House today at noon

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ahpp WaldoTillerHouseThe Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s next “Sandwiching in History” tour will visit the Waldo E. Tiller House at 35 Sherrill Road in Little Rock beginning at noon today, (March 4).

Completed in 1954, the Tiller House was designed by Little Rock architect Dietrich Neyland, who worked for the firm of Ginocchio, Cromwell & Associates. The home’s modern design was inspired by the work of Neyland’s mentor, internationally-known architect Richard Neutra. Waldo Tiller was president of the Tiller Tie & Lumber Company. He also served as president and later, executive secretary, of the Arkansas Forestry Association. The Tiller House was remodeled in 2007 to provide necessary updates while preserving the home’s unique, Mid-Century Modern character.

The “Sandwiching in History” tour series targets Pulaski County structures and sites. The noontime series includes a brief lecture and tour of the subject property. Participants are encouraged to bring their lunches with them. The American Institute of Architects offers one HSW continuing education learning unit credit for members who attend a “Sandwiching in History” tour.

The tour is free and open to the public. For information, call the AHPP at (501) 324-9880, write the agency at 323 Center St., Suite 1500, Little Rock, AR 72201, send an e-mail message to info@arkansaspreservation.org, or visitwww.arkansaspreservation.org.

The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

Tonight at Mosaic Templars – Spoken Word with Foreign Tongues

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mtcc ftFan favorite, Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe will be performing at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center tonight (2/27) at 6pm.

Foreign Tongues is an artistic organization that travels, conducts workshops, and performs poetry in Arkansas and throughout the United States. The group is composed of authors, educators, entertainers, actors, visual artist, playwrights, award-winning slam poets, hip-hop artist, and entrepreneurs. The group is a diverse collective linked by a common thread, which is their love of poetry.

Admission is free, but seating is limited.

For more information, contact Tameka Lee at 501.683.3620 or tameka@arkansasheritage.org

LOVE JONES on screen tonight as part of MTCC After Dark

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MTCC Love JonesJoin MTCC “After Dark” for a Valentine’s Day affair with a special screening of the 1997 New Line Cinema film Love Jones starring Larenz Tate and Nia Long.

Darius Lovehall (Tate) is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Mosely (Long), a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they’ve got a “love thing” or are just “kicking it,” Nina attempts to test the strength of Darius’ feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion.

Refreshments will be served. Admission is $10. Seating is limited and tickets must be purchased at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

MTCC is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Sandwich in History today at the First Presbyterian Church

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The monthly architectural history program “Sandwiching in History” visits the Albert Pike Memorial Temple, located at 712 Scott Street. The program begins at noon today (February 5).  A historian with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program delivers a brief lecture about the church before leading guests on a tour.

Organized in July 1828, Little Rock’s First Presbyterian Church occupied three locations before it moved to the southwest corner of 8th and Scott streets. Built in 1920-1921, the current Gothic Revival-style sanctuary was designed by Little Rock architect John Parks Almand to complement an earlier three-story education building on the site. The sanctuary’s main entrance was crowned by a deeply recessed arch and a parapet with battlements. Beautiful stained-glass windows, made by Payne Studios of Patterson, New Jersey, were dedicated in 1928.

Sandwiching in History is a program of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  The AHPP is responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other DAH agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.