Tag Archives: Wildwood Park for the Arts

Light Up the Night This Weekend with LANTERNS! at Wildwood

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Don’t miss THE MOON! at this year’s LANTERNS! Festival March 6 – 8. You can check out our giant moon balloon, delight in a moon-pie, and sip on a Blue Moon beer. Visit six locations spread throughout the park!

Located in Wildwood’s award-winning Asian Woodland Garden, the Asian Vista is a perennial highlight of LANTERNS! Don’t miss the wide variety of foods, including sushi, dumplings, egg rolls and fried rice. Sake and beer will be available as well as hot jasmine tea. Two bands, The Lemon Drops and The News Kids will perform in the garden’s Tea House while a Chinese harpist and a calligrapher will be on hand to showcase their art!

Wildwood is alive with the sound of music! Austria comes to Arkansas in the lobbies of Wildwood’s Cabe Theatre. Piping hot Viennese beef soup with crepe slivers will be served with apple strudel and delectable pastries. Be on the lookout for bands of gypsy vagabonds. The theatre’s south lobby has been transformed into a Alpine winter wonderland – complete with gourmet chocolate shoppe, mountain goats and polka band!

There is a literal pot of gold at the end of Wildwood’s Ireland rainbow, and a bit o’ gold for everyone who makes it through the leprechaun’s maze. Traditional Irish dancers entertain while festival goers dine on two Irish staples: beer and potatoes. For those looking to stay warm, there’s a steaming cup of Irish coffee waiting for you, and there’s Fizzy Leprechaun punch for the kids! Be careful where you step! Daffodils are a’bloom and William Wordsworth, one of Ireland’s greatest poets, will be on hand to tell you all about them!

Are you ready to live la vida LANTERNS!? All the tastes of Mexico can be found in Wildwood’s gazebo. Beer and tequila shots will be on hand, while a mariachi and DJ get the party started. The festival’s famed floating lanterns are launched from the gazebo, piñatas will be broken nightly!

It is England in 1600 in Wildwood’s Studios, and Shakespeare’s greatest works are being performed on the hour! Smoked turkey legs and brats are for sale and you’ll find a few lovely ladies hawking cherry tarts to passers by. Make your way down High Street and be on the lookout for carnival performers of all kinds. If you’re visiting with someone special, get them a fresh orange – these rare fruits are the ultimate symbol love!

Visit America in the 1950s as the Greatest Generation is home and ready to rock! Stop by your local soda shop to enjoy a Coke Float and snack on some classic American treats. Grab your poodle skirt and get on the dance floor where Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the Supremes are waiting for you. When you’re ready for a break, sit bit and enjoy a show by amazing performance artists!

Buy your tickets at http://bit.ly/1v4DDa4.

Works from 39 UALR Artists on display at Wildwood through February 15

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8801eb42-ba23-4132-aaea-11672e96b233Through February 15, Wildwood Park for the Arts will be showcasing the works of 39 artists as part of their Art in the Park program.

This exhibit highlights recent work by Faculty, Students, and Alumni of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Department of Art.

Tonight from 6pm to 8pm there will be a reception to celebrate the exhibit.

Following the reception, the art may be viewed weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays, January 8 – February 15, from noon to 4 pm.

39 Exhibiting Artists Include:
Jasmine Av, Student
Heather Beckwith, Student
Win Bruhl, Retired Professor, Printmaking/Painting and Department Chair
Justin Bryant, Student
Byron Buslig, Student
Kevin Cates, Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Lane Chapman, Student
Taimur Cleary, Artist in Residence in Painting
Tom Clifton, Department Chair and Professor, Illustration and Drawing
Brad Cushman, Gallery Director
Jeffrey B. Grubbs, Associate Professor, Art Education
Mia Hall, Associate Professor, Applied Design
Kerrick Hartmon, Alumni
Morgan Hill, Alumni
Linda Holloway, Alumni
Amanda Hubbard, Student
Mehreen Khalid, Adjunct Professor, Photography
Joli Livaudais, Assistant Professor, Photography
Chelsye Mae Garrett, Student
Eric Mantle, Professor, Painting
Ian Park, Alumni
Tiffany Partin, Student
Jennifer Danielle Perren, Student
Katherine Purcell, Student
Laura Raborn, Alumni
Casey Roberson, Associate Professor, Photography
Sandra Sell, Alumni
Emily Shiell, Student
Allison Short Weaver, Student
David Smith, Assistant Professor, Ceramics
Aj Smith, Professor, Printmaking
Mesilla Smith, Student
Joe Tollett, Student
Joanna Waldron, Student
Michael Warrick, Professor, Sculpture
Marjorie Williams-Smith, Professor, Graphic Design
Spencer Zahrn, Student

LR Cultural Touchstone: Charlotte Gadberry

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charlotte-gadberryCharlotte Gadberry has long been a supporter of Little Rock’s various cultural institutions. She has both served on boards and consulted with boards in strategic planning.  She is a Cultural Touchstone, however, because of her vision to found ACANSA Arts Festival.

A trip to Charleston, South Carolina, amid it’s Spoleto USA arts festival inspired her to dream that Little Rock could play host to a similar endeavor.  Using her fundraising prowess and connections, she started to raise funds, friends and awareness for this idea.

In September 2013, the inaugural ACANSA Arts Festival was announced for September 2014.  Under her leadership, ACANSA (a name derived from an early Native American variation of what is now called Arkansas) incorporated both local cultural institutions as well as performers brought in for the event.

It kicked off on a Tuesday with a reception at the Governor’s Mansion and concluded the following Sunday with a reception at Wildwood Park for the Arts.  In between there was theatre, dance, mime, puppetry, instrumental music, choral music, opera, jazz, painting, photography, history, lectures, and gallery tours.

Under her leadership as founder, plans are already underway for the next edition.  ACANSA Arts Festival 2015 is scheduled for September 16-20. Tickets go on sale next spring.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Ann Chotard

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Ann P ChotardAnn Chotard grew up in Little Rock singing.  After graduating from Little Rock High School, she attended Henderson State University and received a Bachelor of Music degree.  She would later receive her a master’s and doctorate in music from the University of Colorado.  In 1966, she returned to Henderson on the music faculty.

In 1973, she formed Arkansas Opera Theatre in Little Rock. By 1976, it was a full-time focus for her as she left Henderson.  From 1973 to 1990, she led the AOT as it performed at various venues around Little Rock and the state.  As the state’s only professional opera company, it presented operas in English in an effort to be accessible to a broader audience.

By the late 1980s, she started looking for a permanent home for the AOT.  Settling on land west of Little Rock, in 1990, Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts was established.  Instead of doing year-round programming, it now presented opera and other arts in a month-long festival format.

The first few years, performances took place in a black box space in the park.  (It later became the backstage area.) In June 1995, the Cabe Festival Theatre opened.  With a thrust stage and over 700 seats, it set performers near the audience.

In 2007, she retired from Wildwood after 34 years leading a professional opera company.  By the mid 1990s, arts education and youth training were capturing more of her attention.  After retirement, she founded the Chotard Institute. It specializes in offering college preparatory training for aspiring young classical singers.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Lucy Lockett Cabe

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lucy-cabeLucy Lockett Cabe grew up in Missouri and died in Texas, but made an enormous impact on the cultural life of Little Rock and Arkansas.

While best known as the major benefactor of Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, she also supported many other cultural organizations including the Arkansas Arts Center, Ballet Arkansas, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Repertory Theatre and many smaller organizations. For over 30 years, it was rare for there to be a musical performance in Little Rock without Lucy as either a performer or in the audience.

A lifelong musician, as she aged, her voice shifted from soprano to alto to tenor while singing. She also served as a church organist. She studied piano from the age of eight.  Meeting her future husband Harold Cabe while summering in Michigan, she moved to Arkansas in 1940. From that time until 1975, she lived in Gurdon but was actively involved in the arts scenes of Arkadelphia and Little Rock.  The couple moved to Little Rock in 1975.  Harold died in 1984.

In 1971 she was one of the original appointees to the state Arts and Humanities Council. For her work with musical and volunteer groups, she was honored as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Woman of the Year in 1986. In 1993 she received the Arkansas Arts Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Ed Hanlin Memorial Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Arts.

Lucy was an honorary life member of the Arkansas Symphony, the Community Theatre of Little Rock and Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts. She was involved in every step of the formation of the Arkansas Opera Theatre, which subsequently evolved into the Wildwood Park. She supported and was honored by Wildwood with the 625-seat Lucy L. Cabe Festival Theatre on the grounds.

In the early 2000s she moved to Dallas to be closer to her family.  She died in 2005.

It is fitting that she be remembered in October, as Halloween was her favorite holiday.  Starting on October 1, the Halloween jewelry, socks and shirts would be donned.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Virginia Bailey

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Bailey, Virginia MitchellVirginia Mitchell Bailey was an avid supporter and promoter of visual and performing arts.  A real estate developer, she was a wife, mother, grandmother, and tireless community volunteer as well.  She was a trailblazer in the area of balancing a business career with continued volunteerism.  While today that is common, in the 1960s and 1970s, it was very rare for women to do both.

Virginia served on the Advisory Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Fine Arts Club since 1960. She served for 17 years on the Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees and for 12 years on the Arts Center Foundation Board. She was Secretary of the Arts Center Board in 1974, President of the Board from 1976 to 1977, and Chairman of the Board from 1977 to 1978. In 1989, she received the Winthrop Rockefeller Annual Award for outstanding service to the Arts Center. In 2001, the Arts Center Board named the Virginia and Ted Bailey Gallery in her honor.

From 1992 to 1995, Virginia served on the Advisory Board of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. She served as the first President of the Friends of the Arts at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  She was also a board member of Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts.

In recognition of their philanthropic support for so many charitable groups in the community and elsewhere, and by nomination from UALR, Virginia and her husband Dr. Ted Bailey received the Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Fundraisers in 1994. In 1990, Virginia received one of the annual Outstanding Women of the Year Awards sponsored by Boatmen’s Bank. She was honored with the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Award (AHA!) in 1995.

A Grand Finale for ACANSA Arts Festival

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Tacansahe inaugural ACANSA Arts Festival concludes today with dance and song at Wildwood Park, in addition to a repeat performance downtown of Phillip Huber and his marionettes.

A POINT OF CHORUS
12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Wildwood Park for the Arts
$20 to $50

Acansa BalletBallet Arkansas and Arkansas Festival Ballet perform at the Lucy Cabe Theatre during a festival picnic on the ground of Wildwood Park, with a musical performance by Finger Food between the ballet performances

12:00       Doors Open – Box Lunch available
2:00        Ballet Arkansas Performs
3:00        Finger Food Performs
4:00        Festival Ballet Performs
5:00        VIP champagne reception and festival overview

The mission of Ballet Arkansas is to provide Arkansas and the region with the highest quality dance performance and education.  Each season, Ballet Arkansas offers a choreographic competition, a regional touring production, educational programming, an annual production of The Nutcracker, and a mixed repertory concert that features world premieres of newly commissioned choreography Arkansas

Finger Food is American Fingerstyle guitar at its best featuring three of Arkansas’ finest guitarists. Danny Dozier from Batesville and Steve Davison and Micky Rigby from Little Rock. Their performances are an eclectic mix from Chet Atkins to Merle Travis to Leo Kotke to gut bucket blues and original compositions. They perform in the round playing solo, duets and trio work that features the many voices of the guitar and showcases the many styles that make the guitar the worlds most popular instrument

Festival Ballet is a repertory dance company dedicated to classical ballet training and performance. Their seasonal programming includes enchanting storybook ballets and mixed-bill productions with new choreography and excerpts from ballet classics.  They will perform a short Neo Classical ballet based on the writings of an 18th century Suffolk poet.

 

Acansa PuppetSUSPENDED ANIMATION
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Scottish Rite Masonic Temple
$10 to $20

In a cabaret presentation distinctly adult in its sophistication and artistry, internationally acclaimed marionette artist Phillip Huber is in full view of the audience as he controls incredibly compelling characters through a series of variety vignettes revealing humor, pathos, drama and grace.

Phillip Huber is most widely known for his work in the 3-time Academy Award nominated film “Being John Malkovich” and his work in the Disney film “Oz the Great and Powerful,” starring James Franco, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis. Shimmering with nuance, sophistication and imagination, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to experience a world of sophisticated puppetry designed for entertaining discerning tastes.