The Arts and Culture Beat

The City of Fayetteville is seeking public input to help shape a planned arts district downtown. The corridor will link cultural attractions—including the Walton Arts Center, TheatreSquared’s new performing arts venue, Nadine Baum Studios, Fayetteville Public Library, and the Fay Jones Parkland—and activate the outdoor environment between Dickson and Prairie Streets with a range of amenities that will enhance the experience for city residents and visitors alike. Think public art, streetscaping, enhanced pedestrian paths, and gathering spaces.

The Mayor is asking residents and visitors to Fayetteville to participate in the planning process for development of the Cultural Arts Corridor. Your input is vital to the success of this project.

In addition to a 3-5 minute online survey, the first round of public engagement events will take place August 16th-18th. Learn more about the Cultural Arts Corridor and find times and locations for upcoming events HERE.

Staying in Fayetteville, the Fayetteville Film Fest is currently seeking volunteers for the 10th annual festival that is set to take place September 20th-22nd. Volunteers that work two of the 3-hour shifts will receive two screening tickets. Volunteers that work three of the 3-hour shifts will receive a refund of the cost of a 2018 film-lover pass that they purchased OR a credit for a 2019 Film-lover pass. The festival will include screening of 86 films in 3 days- showcasing feature films, short films and documentaries! Learn more and sign-up HERE.

ICYMI: There is also currently an open call for artists. From College Avenue to East Avenue, artists can submit ideas or works they’d like to showcase. There is no fee to apply and yes, you can sell work if you’d like! Applications close on August 15th. Learn more HERE.

NWA Fashion Week is back for their second annual Fall shows on September 20th- 22nd at Drake Field in South Fayetteville.

NWAFW recently announced that they will host The Idle Class Magazine’s Black Apple Awards as the opening night of Fashion Week and that this year will also include the Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum Student Designer Showcase.

The Black Apple awards is an annual online voting competition that honors Arkansas artists in 26 categories including maker, fashion designer, cocktail, chef, brewery, musical group, 2D and 3D artist, and more. You can vote online for your favorite creatives in Arkansas, voting ends on September 12th (even if you don’t vote, this is a great list of regional and statewide creatives). They’ll be announcing the winners during the opening night of NWA Fashion Week this Fall.

According to Idle Class, the first-ever Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum Student Designer Showcase will mark the official launch of the Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum Educational Pilot Program. Through the program, college-level and trade program students from across the state will participate in runway shows, in areas including production design, hair styling, makeup artistry, and photography. Students will have the opportunity to learn from mentors in their fields to gain hands-on experience in a live production setting.

Throughout the next year AAFF will hold workshops and speaker series events that will revolve around fashion and its artistic and cultural ecosystem. These events will be programmed in collaboration with NWA Fashion Week as well as other local stakeholders.

A regional favorite, The Sensory Iconoclasts Project returns for another year! The 2018 project both revisits old and explores new thoughtful, relevant collaborations between chef and artist regarding equal pay for women and minorities. This season’s ICONOCLASTS will dig deep into what that movement, cause means personally, culturally, and as an artist, chef, or member of society.

The project kicks off with a panel discussion at Crystal Bridges on August 15th. This is followed by a month-long exhibition at the Arts Center of the Ozarks from August 28th to September 28th with an artist/chef reception on September 6th.

Speaking of Crystal Bridges and Arts Center of the Ozarks, both received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities! Crystal Bridges will use the grant for the implementation of an exhibition on contemporary indigenous art from the United States and Canada and Native American representations of land and history. ACO will host the Frida Kahlo’s Garden traveling exhibition. Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) is considered one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century. Her body of work, consisting of some 250 paintings and drawings, is at once intensely personal and universal in scope, and relies heavily on the natural world. The exhibition Frida Kahlo’s Garden transports visitors to Kahlo’s garden to experience her world as she did.

On September 20th-22nd, the Afrique Aya Drum and Dance Company will bring two days of drumming to Turnbow park in downtown Springdale and two amazing theatre performances of Tradition of the Mask, a tale told through West African drumming and dancing, to Arts Center of the Ozarks. Plus music, cultural traditions, and an African market.

“Electric! You can’t help but dance with the company, so just join in!”

Follow the Facebook Event for updates.

Tricycle Theatre for Youth is seeking to hire a Director of Development and a Director of Marketing! Trike Theatre is Northwest Arkansas’ professional theatre for youth that provides theatre productions, literacy integrated drama residencies and drama academy programs. The theatre annually serves over 20,000 people throughout NWA, the state, and nationally. As the only theatre of its kind in Arkansas, Trike Theatre is a valuable resource for the community, a laboratory for new artistic ideas, and a home for many young artists who have found their voice. Learn more about the job openings and how to apply HERE. If you are not in the hunt for a job, be sure to check out their Fall classes and camps for the kiddos.

Terra Studio’s Fall Music & Art Festival is happening on September 9th! Go wander through the magical six-acre Art Park at Terra Studios to experience the spirit of unique Song Circles, Heritage Folk Arts, Local Craft Vendors, Live Art Demonstrations, Delicious Food Trucks, and more!

The highlight of the Fall Music & Art Festival is the Song Circle format where small groups of musicians gather in different areas around the magical six-acre Art Park at Terra Studios and play together at acoustic levels.  The drop-in arts and crafts center will be open all day during the festival. Other kids’ activities include magic acts, face painting, and balloon animals! In addition, there will be a Flow Jam, a dance experience that includes fire spinning, hula hooping, poi dancing, and other flow arts.

Lastly, Artspace, a national nonprofit developer of affordable artist spaces has been meeting with community stakeholders in Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale to elicit feedback, quantify the need, and inform artist space development in the region. The idea is to develop four new arts-centered projects, one in each city. The projects could offer a mix of uses including: affordable artist live/work housing, private studio, shared creative work, exhibit and support spaces. The group is now seeking feedback from those in the arts/creative sector via a 10-minute Arts Market Survey, which you can find HERE. Your input will influence the quantity of new space and help them prioritize the space types, design, shared amenities, and features.

Lastly, Artspace, a national nonprofit developer of affordable artist spaces has been meeting with community stakeholders in Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale to elicit feedback, quantify the need, and inform artist space development in the region. The idea is to develop four new arts-centered projects, one in each city. The projects could offer a mix of uses including: affordable artist live/work housing, private studio, shared creative work, exhibit and support spaces. The group is now seeking feedback from those in the arts/creative sector via a 10-minute Arts Market Survey, which you can find HERE. Your input will influence the quantity of new space and help them prioritize the space types, design, shared amenities, and features.

As a bonus, we wanted to share a behind the scenes sneak peek of one of the region’s newest murals being designed by Octavio Logo for a studio in south Fayetteville.