Tag Archives: National Endowment for the Arts

Grants for Rep, ASO announced by National Endowment for the Arts

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nea-logo-960Two Little Rock cultural institutions were among the nine Arkansas recipients of National Endowment for Arts grants recently announced.

These were Art Works and Challenge America grants. Art Works grants supports the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts and the strengthening of communities through the arts. Challenge America grants offer support primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics or disability.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre received $10,000 to support the production of Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man. This play is set during Passover 1865.  As the annual celebration of freedom from bondage is being observed in Jewish homes, a wounded Confederate officer returns from the Civil War to find his family missing and only two former slaves remaining.

The Rep  will partner with the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Jewish Federation of Arkansas to explore the play’s themes and the role of both the African-American and Jewish communities in Arkansas history.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra received $10,000 Little to support performances, workshops, and related outreach activities featuring violinist Randall Goosby. Goosby, the first-place winner of the 2010 Sphinx Competition, will be in residence in Central Arkansas conducting free workshops and music demonstrations for community members and student musicians drawn from economically disadvantaged schools.

In addition, TheatreSquared in Fayetteville received $10,000 for its Arkansas New Play Festival. This is presented in Fayetteville and Little Rock. The Little Rock performances are in conjunction with the Arkansas Rep.

Other Arkansas recipients were the Walton Arts Center, Fort Smith Symphony, Sonny Boy Blues Society (for the King Biscuit Blues Festival), Low Key Arts of Hot Springs, Ozarks Foothills Film Festival and John Brown University.

Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts to visit Little Rock

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NEA LRDr. Jane Chu, a former resident of Arkadelphia, is the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.  On Tuesday, October 7, she will be in Little Rock.

At 1:30, she will be part of a presentation at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  Steve Luoni of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, will lead a discussion of the Creative Corridor.  Dr. Chu will also make remarks.  Mayor Mark Stodola will be the host of the event.  The public is invited to attend.

During her visit in Little Rock, Dr. Chu will also take part in a variety of meetings and tours.

LR Creative Corridor featured on National Endowment for the Arts website

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NEA websiteThe National Endowment for the Arts recently featured Little Rock’s plans for the Creative Corridor on its website.

The entry discussed the next phases in the NEA’s Creative Placemaking grant process.  There were many other images the NEA could have used, but they selected this one.  It is a testament to the planning done by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architect and the support by the Little Rock community for this plan.

Planning for the Creative Corridor dates back to 2007 when Mayor Mark Stodola attended the Mayors’ Institute on City Design. It is a program jointly sponsored by the U. S. Conference of Mayors and the NEA.

 

ArtPlace America Awards $345,000 to Little Rock for Main Street

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ArtPlace_MAP_OCD_trans-520x337ArtPlace America announced today that the City of Little Rock has been awarded a $345,000 grant to enhance its creative placemaking project on Main Street Creative Corridor – a four block area of Main Street where arts organizations are relocating.  Little Rock is one of only 55 of 1,300 communities selected to receive 2014 funding.

In Little Rock the money will be used in a four block area of the Creative Corridor to enhance streetscapes, signage, artwork and an opening celebration.

“We are delighted to share this exciting news with our community. While we know first-hand that deploying the arts can transform communities, having our work recognized by a generous grant from ArtPlace further supports and validates our efforts to use the arts to revitalize our city,”  said Mayor Mark Stodola.

“Investing in and supporting the arts have a profound impact on the social, physical, and economic futures of communities,” said ArtPlace Executive Director Jamie L. Bennett. “Projects like these demonstrate how imaginative and committed people are when it comes to enhancing their communities with creative interventions and thoughtful practices.”

About ArtPlace America

ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) advances the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture plays an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical, and economic futures.  To date, ArtPlace has awarded $56.8 million through 189 grants to projects serving 122 communities across 42 states and the District of Columbia.

ArtPlace is a collaboration among the Barr Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, and two anonymous donors.

ArtPlace seeks advice and counsel from its close working relationships with the following federal agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

ArtPlace has additional partnership from six major financial institutions: Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

Little Rock Creative Corridor schematic designs for Main Street are on the City’s website: http://www.littlerock.org/!userfiles/editor/docs/The%20Creative%20Corridor_Final%20Report.pdf.

 

Little Rock Look Back: Mark Stodola, LR’s 72nd Mayor

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colr_mayor_mark_stodolaToday, May 18, is the birthday of current Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola.

Mark Stodola was elected as Mayor for the City of Little Rock, beginning his term in January 2007 and re-elected to a 2nd term beginning in 2011.  Mayor Stodola has been key in promoting the revitalization of Little Rock’s Main Street, resulting in the City having been awarded a “Greening of America’s Capitals Grant” from the Environmental Protection Agency and an “Our Town Grant” from the National Endowment for the Arts for the creation of an Arts District in the heart of the downtown core.  The UA’s Community Design Center, which includes faculty and staff members from the school, won a 2014 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for its work on the Creative Corridor, on which it collaborated with Marlon Blackwell Architect of Fayetteville.

Prior to becoming Mayor, he served as a senior partner in the Little Rock Law Firm Catlett & Stodola, PLC.  While at that firm, he served as General Counsel to the Little Rock Airport Commission.   Having previously served the City of Little Rock as its City Attorney for six (6) years, he was elected as Prosecuting Attorney for the 6th District in 1990 and was re-elected again in 1992 and 1994.   Mayor Stodola is Past President of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Arkansas City Attorneys Association, as well as Past Chair of the Municipal Operations Section of the International Municipal Lawyers Association.  In addition, he is a member of various State, regional and national legal and professional associations.

Mayor Stodola is a graduate of Leadership Greater Little Rock, and served as Chair of Class 16 for that program. In addition, he is a member of the Heights Neighborhood Association and serves as Co-Chair of the Downtown Partnership’s Main Street Task Force.  Mayor Stodola has served on the Board of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre (for which he was the attorney who incorporated the Rep) and is Past-President of the Quapaw Quarter Association and the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas.  He has worked with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program and is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Little Rock.

Mayor Stodola graduated from the University of Iowa with a double major in Political Science and Journalism, and received his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville.  Mayor Stodola is married to Jo Ellen and has three (3) children:  a daughter, Allison; and twin sons, Robert and John Mark.

ROCKing the TONYS – Rocco Landesman

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Rock the Tonys

Rocco Landesman on stage at the Arkansas Rep

Rocco Landesman on stage at the Arkansas Rep

Rocco Landesman

Little Rock connection: Visited Little Rock in 2012 in his capacity as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts for the Obama Administration.

Tony Awards connection: As a Broadway producer, won Tony awards for the musical Big River (which opened on this day in 1985), The Grapes of Wrath (1990 Best Play), City of Angels (1990 Best Musical), Guys and Dolls (1992 Best Revival), Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (1993 Best Play), Angels in America: Perestroika (1994 Best Play), Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995 Best Play), The King and I (1996 Best Musical Revival), Titanic (1997 Best Musical), Death of a Salesman (1999 Best Play Revival), Proof (2001 Best Play), The Producers (2001 Best Musical), 42nd Street (2001 Best Musical Revival), Into the Woods (2002 Best Musical Revival), Jersey Boys (2005 Best Musical), Hair (2009 Best Musical Revival) and Kinky Boots (2013 Best Musical).  He has been nominated for 33 additional Tony Awards.

ROCKing the TONYS – Jane Alexander and James Earl Jones

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Rock the Tonys

Jones and Alexander in 2012. Photo by Bruce Gilkas

Jones and Alexander in 2012. Photo by Bruce Gilkas

Jane Alexander and James Earl Jones

Little Rock connection: Alexander visited Little Rock when she was head of the National Endowment for the Arts in the Clinton Administration. Jones has appeared with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and at UCA’s Public Appearance Series.

Alexander and Jones in THE GREAT WHITE HOPE. Photo by Fletcher Drake, courtesy of Arena Stage

Alexander and Jones in THE GREAT WHITE HOPE. Photo by Fletcher Drake, courtesy of Arena Stage

Tony Awards connection: Alexander and Jones both received Tony Awards on April 20, 1969 (45 years ago today) for their performances in The Great White Hope. Jones also received a 1987 Tony for his performance in Fences. Both have received numerous other Tony nominations. Alexander served as co-host of the 1979 Tony Awards ceremony. She and Jones have each made several appearances as presenters at Tony ceremonies.