Conway Alliance for the Arts (CAFTA) will host the seventh annual Conway ArtsFest, a weeklong festival of music, art, theatre, dance, creative writing and film, beginning Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. downtown in Simon Park.
Events will continue through Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10 p.m. and are open to the public.
The general theme flowing through many of the ArtsFest events and activities this year is Light, inspired by two monumental works of public art by Colorado sculptor Jen Lewin, sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas Baum Gallery.
During ArtsFest, local arts organizations, including departments from each of Conway’s three colleges, will host events throughout the city. This year’s festival will have a little bit of everything, from gallery events, music, dance, theater, activities for both kids and adults and interactive works of visual art. The festival will reach its apex during the first weekend of Oct., with “Light up the Night” activities on Friday, Oct. 4, and “Art in the Park” activities on Saturday, Oct. 5. Both events will be held at Simon Park. For a full schedule, visit www.artsfestconway.com.
“The seventh annual ArtsFest is shaping up to be another spectacular week for the arts in Conway,” said Dr. Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the University of Central Arkansas’s College of Fine Arts and Communication and a member of the ArtsFest planning committee. “The planning committee has been working weekly throughout the spring and summer to bring free arts events to the Conway community. We hope festival-goers will walk away thinking, ‘Conway is a great place to live.’”
ArtsFest will kick off on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in Simon Park with the unveiling of a yarn bombing piece by artist Julie Isom in which Conway’s iconic red caboose will be transformed into a knitted work of art. Following the unveiling of the caboose, the Conway Symphony Orchestra will hold a free concert at Kris Allen Stage in Simon Park at 7:30 p.m.Participants are encouraged to bring lawn chairs for the outdoor concert.
Also opening Sept. 27, Conway Community Arts will present Amateurs by Tom Griffin at 7:30 p.m. at the Lantern Theater. A PG-13 comedy, Amateurs is a play about an amateur theatre company as the members try to cope with professional disappointment. Amateurs will continue Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 29 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be reserved at conwaylanterntheatre@gmail.com
ArtsFest 2013 continues on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. as the Lantern Theater hosts the Arkansas Saxophone Quartet. This multi-media concert will include The Modern Art Suite by Rusty Dedrick, Line Drawings after Mark Tobey by Samuel Adler and Heartbreakers by Jacob Ter Veldius. Projections of corresponding works of art and video will accompany the music.
In celebration of the art of writing, Central Baptist College will host author Leigh McLeroy on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Burgess Auditorium on the CBC campus. A book signing will follow the reading.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the Oxford American, Toad Suck Review, and the Hendrix Aonian will partner with the Conway pop-rock-punk band Frass for an evening of literature and music on Michelangelo’s rooftop. Award-winning students from Hendrix College’s creative writing program will read at 8 p.m., and Toad Suck editors/MFA students at UCA will read at8:30 p.m. Electric poet Nickole Brown will read at 9 p.m., followed by renowned Arkansas writer Jay Jennings reading from the new paperback incarnation of his Charles Portis Miscellany with a signing to follow. Frass plays at 9:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public and appropriate for all ages.
UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall will be the venue for a free concert performed by the Manhattan-based Cassatt String Quartet on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will feature the world premiere of an original composition by American composer Bruce Adolphe, who will be present for the concert and will introduce the music. Commissioned by the UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication, the composition, titled Mary Cassatt: Scenes from Her Life, is inspired by works of art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. This concert is funded by the UCA arts fee with generous support from Crystal Bridges.
The first of ArtFest’s light-related programming will premier Thursday, Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. with the opening of two sculptures by light and sound artist Jen Lewin, presented by the UCA Baum Gallery of Fine Art. The Pool, an interactive light installation made up of 106 circular platforms, will be located at the UCA Alumni Circle. Visitors are encouraged to interact with The Pool; as they do, light will change according to their movements, creating a unique experience for each visitor. At Chandelier Harps in Simon Park, festivalgoers can make their own music by “plucking” beams of light. By moving through and playing with each installation, visitors will have the exciting experience of becoming part of a work of art. Lewin will be on hand to give a public lecture about her work on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 1:30 p.m., at the Art Lecture Hall in UCA’s McCastlain Hall. Lewin’s residency is funded by the UCA arts fee with generous support from the Conway Advertising and Promotion Commission and the Conway Chamber of Commerce.
In conjunction with Lewin’s light and sound sculptures, visitors are encouraged to attend fee dance performances onThursday, Oct. 3, that will take place at the sculpture sites at UCA and downtown. At 6 and 6:30 p.m., the CORE Performance Company, a professional dance organization dual-based in Houston and Atlanta, will perform site-specific choreography within Lewin’s The Pool. They will be joined by dance students from Hendrix College and BlackbirdAcademy, as well as clients from Independent Living Services in Conway and Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled of Little Rock. CORE will perform site-specific choreography at 8 and 8:30 p.m. at Chandelier Harps in Simon Park on Oct. 3. CORE’s residency is funded in part by an award from Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arkansas Arts Council and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Additional support is provided by Summit Bank, UCA Student Affairs, the UCA Occupational Therapy Department, the UCA Student Dietetics Association, Blackbird Academy, UCA Sponsored Programs, and the Conway Alliance for the Arts.
ArtsFest’s Friday night event in Simon Park, “Light up the Night,” will highlight activities for the college crowd. Kris Allen Stage will be host to four live bands, including one touring act. The park will be full of many exciting activities. Festivalgoers can try their hand at gesture drawing, and maybe even win a prize, in the Graphite Guerrillas contest, or paint with light at the Light Bomber booth, and share the creation on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram (#conwayartsfest). The Little Photo Booth with be back this year by popular demand. Armed with props and a friend, guests can pose for photos and, seconds later, receive a photo strip to take home.
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4 and 5, the Lantern Theater will host the Conway Film Festival, now in its fourth year. This juried festival features films directed or produced by Faulkner County filmmakers and includes narrative shorts, documentaries, and music videos. Screening hours include Friday, 7-9 p.m. and Saturday, 1-3 p.m.
Saturday morning, Oct. 5, Reynolds Performance Hall will present Lightwire Theater’s The Ugly Duckling & The Tortoise and the Hare, at 10 a.m. Seen on the 2012 season of America’s Got Talent, Lightwire Theatre uses LED technology to create electroluminescent puppetry that is fun for the whole family. Tickets, $10 for adults and $5 for children, are available at the Reynolds box office (501-450-3265); uca.edu/reynolds. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and one hour prior to the event. Parking for individuals with disabilities is available near the performance hall. For individuals in wheelchairs, please request special seating when placing your ticket order. Wireless hearing enhancement systems are available, free of charge, on a first come, first serve basis in the main lobby before the performance.
There will be many events for the whole family to enjoy at the “Art in the Park” activities in Simon Park Saturday, Oct. 5, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., including plenty of hands-on art activities for the kids such as sidewalk chalk, book making, clay crafts and a puppet theater. The kids can also visit the Instrument Petting Zoo, hosted by Preston Palmer Studios, where they can play a number of fun instruments.
Art in the Park will hold its second annual ArtsFest Marketplace in which local artists are invited to show and sell their goods. A full schedule, information about Marketplace booth rentals, and volunteer opportunities can be found on the ArtsFest website at www.artsfestconway.com.
ArtsFest will conclude on Saturday evening, Oct. 5, with a JazzFest in Simon Park from 7-10 p.m. Scheduled performers include the UCA Dixieland Band, coached by Dr. Jackie Lamar, UCA professor of saxophone. The group performs both “Early New Orleans” style and “Chicago Style” traditional jazz. Jazz duo Simona Donova (flute) and Michael Yoder (bass) will also perform jazz standards of the swing, bossa nova, and ballad styles. The evening will conclude with a community jam session. Jazz artists and enthusiasts are invited to bring their own instruments and join the fun.
ArtsFest is planned and presented by the Conway Alliance for the Arts (CAFTA), its board of directors and community volunteers. Updates and other information will also be posted on ArtsFest’s Facebook at www.facebook.com/
ArtsFest is planned and presented by the Conway Alliance for the Arts (CAFTA), its board of directors and community volunteers. Updates and other information will also be posted on ArtsFest’s Facebook at www.facebook.com/
