Tag Archives: National Federation of Music Clubs

LR Cultural Touchstone: Ann Nicholson

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ann_nicholsonAnn Nicholson has been in Little Rock since the 1970s. She maintains the distinctive accent of her native Great Britain, which she puts to use as the “voice of UALR Public Radio” and the host of the weekly interview show “Art Scene.”

For more than 25 years, Ann Nicholson has shared the news and promoted cultural events in Central Arkansas via the KLRE/KUAR airwaves.  Host of “The Arts Scene,” an in-depth interview program that features local and international artists in all genres and a weekly arts calendar, Nicholson has loyal listeners who have enjoyed her interviews, her soothing and inviting British accent and her tireless enthusiasm for the arts. Those at KLRE/KUAR often refer to her as “the heart of Little Rock public radio.”

Being featured on Arts Scene has been a boon to many emerging organizations and institutions.  But more than that, her insightful and engaging interview style allows listeners to learn more about the artists and the artistic process.  The program feels less like an interview and more like a chance to eavesdrop on an entertaining conversation.

In addition to hosting the weekly interview program, she has been an active supporter of Little Rock’s arts community since her arrival.  She has been on the Board of Ballet Arkansas and UALR Friends of the Arts. She is often in the opening night audience at the Arkansas Rep.  She also rarely misses a performance of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.  Ann was a longtime member of the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Promotion Commission. She is a supporter of the Little Rock Musical Coterie and the National Federation of Music Clubs. When that organization’s national meeting was in Little Rock in 2002, she was involved in the planning of the meeting.

 

LR Cultural Touchstone: Mrs. H. H. Foster

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Foster BandshellElizabeth Wallin Foster, known better as Mrs. H. H. Foster, became very active in Little Rock’s music scene when she and her husband arrived from Wisconsin in 1901.  She was a driving force of the Little Rock Music Festival which took place annually during the 1910s.

Though at the time she had been unable to exercise her vote, since this was prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment, Mrs. Foster was not afraid to exercise her voice and address the City Council to work for the City to support cultural life.  Mrs. Foster was very involved with the National Federation of Music Clubs serving in leadership positions and establishing an Arkansas affiliate.  She also organized the Little Rock Festival Chorus (during World War I) and the Little Rock Song Leaders (after the war).

Mrs. Foster appeared before the City Council in June 1926 to speak about the need for entertainment in City Park.  The matter was referred to the Council’s Parks Committee.  The following year the City Council appropriated money for construction of a Bandshell in City Park.  The City Park Bandshell was located in the southwestern corner of the park nearly in line with 13th Street.  The structure was positioned at a diagonal so that the music would be projected out toward the park and away from neighboring houses.  The City agreed to pay $1,500 toward the erection of the structure.  The stipulation was that the members of the Federation of Music Clubs would raise the remaining money.

Mrs. Foster purportedly donated one third of the cost of the bandshell. From 1928 through 1958 the bandshell would be the site of a variety of outdoor events including concerts and speeches.  Three 1952 presidential candidates spoke at the bandshell: Little Rock native General Douglas MacArthur (City Park had been renamed in his honor ten years earlier), General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson.  Following Mrs. Foster’s death in 1929, the bandshell was renamed in her memory by the City Council.

The bandshell was torn down in the early 1960s.  Today, the Foster Pavilion in MacArthur Park is named in her memory.