Tag Archives: University of Central Arkansas

Creative Class of 2015: Erin Martinez

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erin54Moving with ease from a portraying a frustrated actress to an earthy Italian strumpet, Erin Martinez has had a memorable 2015 on Little Rock stages. Along the way, this singer/musician, actor, and music teacher has performed cabaret at various Little Rock night spots as well.

​During her childhood she spent many hours singing, composing, or teaching herself to play various instruments. She has been actively involved in performing in orchestra, band, jazz band, and theatre arts well into her adulthood.

In addition to appearing earlier this year in The Studio Theatre productions of The Last 5 Years and Nine, ​Erin has acted in theatrical productions (sometimes even in shows without numbers in the title) with several Central Arkansas companies such as The Weekend Theater, The Royal Players, The Community Theater of Little Rock. She made her NYC debut in November 2013 at 54 Below with Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown.

​Erin received a Bachelor of Music Performance, Bachelor of Music Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from The University of Central Arkansas. She enjoys a career teaching elementary music to children ages 4-12 and is very passionate about the importance of fine arts education.

1897 UFO Sightings in Arkansas topic of Old State House Brown Bag Lecture today at noon

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On Thursday, October 15, at noon, at the Old State House Museum, Brian Irby of the Arkansas History Commission will tell the story of one of the first waves of UFO hysteria that swept through the nation for a Brown Bag Lunch Lecture.

Between 1896 and 1897, the country was in the grips of what was one of the first major panics created by sightings of strange objects in the sky. Less than a decade before the Wright Brothers would fly the first powered flight, newspapers around the country began reporting on sightings of an airship, spotted in the wild.

In April of that year, the unidentified flying object stories came to Arkansas. In April, railroad conductor Jim Hooton told the Arkansas Gazette that he had seen the airship while hunting and provided a sketch to the paper. Just a few weeks later, mounted deputies near Hot Springs said they “noticed a brilliant light high in the heavens,” and drew their Winchesters on a man they said was traveling in an airship.

Brian Irby has a BA and MA from the University of Central Arkansas. He has been on staff at the Arkansas History Commission since 2008 as an archival assistant where he works on educational programs.

Admission is free, and attendees are welcome to bring a sack lunch. Soft drinks and water are provided.

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Creative Class of 2015: Chris Hancock

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ChrisHancock_K0A1139-webSocial media at history museums may seem to be a paradox. But Chris Hancock proves that it can be a successful way to increase outreach and awareness.   As Communications Manager at Historic Arkansas Museum, he uses cutting edge technologies (and old school methods) to spread the word about Arkansas’ earliest days.

A native of Russellville and graduate of UCA, he joined HAM in September 2014.  Prior to that he was Public Information Officer at one of HAM’s sister museums – Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

In addition to getting ready for HAM’s Candlelight Gala on November 7, he is also co-chair of Pop Up in the Rock’s Pop Up West 9th which takes place on October 24.

Hancock is a member of the City of Little Rock’s City Beautiful Commission and is on the Board of studioMAIN. He is also active in the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Create Little Rock initiative.

Sculpture Vulture for Banned Books Week – Dee Brown

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20120519-114242.jpgThis week is Banned Books Week.  One of the books which has often appeared on Banned Books list is Arkansan Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.  In honor of that, today’s Sculpture Vulture revisits Kevin Kresse’s sculpture of the author which is located at the CALS branch which bears his name.

Visitors to the Dee Brown Library are greeted by Kevin Kresse’s 2004 sculpture of the celebrated author. The bronze likeness depicts Brown with a bepenciled hand raised to his chin as if in the midst of a wondrous thought while writing. The titles of some of his books surround the pedestal including his most famous book: 1971’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Brown was a graduate of Little Rock High and Arkansas State Teachers College (now Little Rock Central and University of Central Arkansas, respectively). After a career as a librarian and bivocational but prolific author, he returned to Little Rock in 1973 and focused full time on his writing. He died in 2002.

Today at noon – The Rep offers “Macbeth 101”

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ScottishPlayMACBETH 101

Dramaturg and Assistant Director Paige Reynolds leads a brown bag lunch that will enrich your play-going experience. Paige will explore the real Macbeth and his influence on William Shakespeare’s production.

Paige Martin Reynolds also worked on The Rep’s production of Henry V. She holds a Ph.D. in British Renaissance Drama and is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Central Arkansas, where she specializes in Shakespeare Studies. Paige supervises the dramaturgy program for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, where she has also performed such roles as Olivia (Twelfth Night), Prospera (The Tempest), Desdemona (Othello), Luciana (The Comedy of Errors), and Lady Capulet (Romeo and Juliet).

Anat Cohen kicks off Oxford American 2015-16 Jazz Series at South on Main tonight at 8

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oa jazz AnatTonight at 8pm, the Oxford American magazine welcomes Anat Cohen to the South on Main stage to kick off the OA Jazz Series!

Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible by presenting sponsor, the UCA College of Fine Arts & Communication. Additional partners include The Summer Foundation, Arkansas Arts Council, Capital Hotel, Piano Kraft, Rosen Music Company, and FM-89.1 KUAR.

Tickets are $20 (General Admission), $30 (Reserved), and $32 (Premium Reserved). View the South on Main reserved seating map here. Please take a look at this very important ticketing and seating information before purchasing your tickets.

Clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised into a musical family. She began clarinet studies at age twelve and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland Band. At sixteen, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone; it was this same year that Anat entered the prestigious “Thelma Yellin” school, where she majored in jazz. After graduation, she discharged her mandatory Israeli military service duty from 1993-1995, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force band.

The Jazz Journalists Association has voted Anat as “Clarinetist of the Year” eight years in a row, and she has topped both the Critics and Readers Polls in the clarinet category in DownBeat magazine every year since 2011. That’s not to mention years of being named “Rising Star” in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as for “Jazz Artist of the Year.” In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors.

In March 2015, Anzic Records releases Luminosa, her seventh album as a bandleader. Luminosa sees Anat play singing, dancing originals, interpret Brazilian classics by the likes of Milton Nascimento, and even re-imagine electronica as acoustica with an ingenious arrangement of a Flying Lotus tune. Luminosaencapsulates the description Jazz Police offered of Anat in full flight: “She becomes a singer, a poet, a mad scientist, laughing—musically—with the delight of reaching that new place, that new feeling, with each chorus.”

Tonight at 6 at South on Main, Clinton School & Oxford American present “Jazz: Integrated Art in Segregated America” symposium

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alvin02sm.jpg.190x140_q60_cropThis evening at 6pm at South on Main, Oxford American in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service presents “Jazz: Integrated Art in Segregated America,” a symposium and panel discussion surrounding music and race.

The discussion will be led by Dr. Jackie Lamar, Professor of Saxophone at University of Central Arkansas’s College of Fine Arts and Communication. A jazz performance will follow the panel discussion. Thanks to sponsors Clinton School of Public Service, UCA College of Fine Arts & Communication, Piano Kraft, Rosen Music Company, and Arkansas Arts Council for helping make this event possible.

Featured panelists include Little Rock-based singer Irene Crutchfield; bassist Bill Huntington (born, New Orleans, LA); drummer Alvin Fielder (pictured), based in Jackson, MS; and bassist London Branch, also based in Jackson, MS. The symposium event is free and open to the public. South on Main’s doors open at 5:00 PM. with light food and drinks available for purchase.

At 8pm, the Oxford American presents jazz ensemble The Southeast Quartet at South on Main. This event is $10 regular, or $5 students/artists payable in cash at the doors on the night of the show.