Southwest Arkansas Arts Council Year End Review

​The Southwest Arkansas Arts Council provided cultural programming consisting of professional performances, gallery exhibits, public art projects, and arts-in-education classroom and after-school programs during its 33rd year of purposeful service to southwest Arkansas, according to outgoing SWAAC Board of Directors President John Hollis, at the annual SWAAC membership meeting Wednesday, June 12, in Hope. Hollis went on to say that SWAAC’s 2018-19 programming year also included participation in community celebrations and causes, as well as work with partnership organizations.
Professional performances, presented in partnership with Hempstead Hall on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Hope, ranged from American folk music by the group Leatherwoods, to legendary, chart-topping music of Motown by the Masters of Soul, to yuletide favorites from Arkansas’s consummate professional musicians, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, according to Hollis.
“Little did we know when we brought a first-of-its-kind performance to southwest Arkansas in the form of live ice skating — on the stage at Hempstead Hall — that we’d become the traveling troupe’s favorite venue, and that they’d ask to return with Peter Pan on Ice in its world debut this year, and will repeat a world premier with us in 2020 with Cinderella,” said Hollis.
Among his personal favorite performances, Hollis said, were three traveling shows by the Arkansas Children’s Theater who brought Snow White, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Emperor’s New Clothes to Hempstead Hall. But, he said, those Children’s Theater performances are only a small part of the Arts Council’s work in the public schools.
“We have worked with and within the public schools for all of our 33 years of operation. That programing, known as Arts in Education, or AIE, has varied very little over the last three decades. All AIE programming is developed and designed to enrich existing school curriculum, using arts to strengthen language, literacy, math, science, and writing skills,” said Hollis. For the past school year, seven artists served all schools within the Hope Public School District. Their programming ranged from painting decorative eggs to homesteading in Arkansas, to writing creative poetry and silk screening T-shirts, to using music to develop goal setting, motivation and life skills. “In total, those artists were in school classrooms for 83 days and provided programming in 10 different disciplines,” said Hollis. “All totaled, the Arts Council utilized $28,039 on in-school programming, including matching funds from Hope Public Schools,” he continued.
In addition to in-school programming, the Arts Council works with after-school programming as well. Several of the after-school programs will take place in the summer months, including the Arts Council’s first-time partnership with UAHT in Kids’ College.
The popular STAR Academy, a theater workshop which culminates with a public stage production, will take place July 22 through 26, according to Hollis. This year’s workshop is described as an “old-timey” melodrama with parts for 30 students in the first through twelfth grades. The registration deadline is July 1 and cost is $50 per student for children of SWAAC members and $65 for children of non-members. A $10 discount is given for second and third participants from the same family and a limited number of scholarships are available. For more information, contact the Arts Council at 870-777-8200 or email gsid143@gmail.com.
After-school programming is designed to help develop character and improve students’ attitudes, attendance, and grades, according to Hollis. All totaled, the Arts Council utilized $8,500 on after-school programming, he said. Both in-school and after-school programming is supported through grants from the Arkansas Arts Council.
The Southwest Arkansas Arts Council, like the community in Hope, has worked to improve awareness of Hope’s downtown. As a downtown entity, the Arts Council offers gallery space to artists to showcase their talents. This past year, local artist Terri Perkins remembered Elvis in her exhibit, Sue Ann Pico’s beautiful paintings and unique decorative eggs brought nature to life, 17-year-old Alex Hutson displayed dynamic images of superheroes, and Arkansas Art Educators held their regional show in the downtown Arts Station. Hollis said the Gallery Committee is already at work planning the 2019-2020 showcases, which he said will be both heart-felt and energetic.
From September 9 through October 10, a gallery show called “Connections” will feature artists who have some connection to Hope and the surrounding community. October 21 through November 7 will be Sheila Kiever’s mosaic works and November 21 through 23 will be the second annual Holiday Bazaar featuring local and professional artists.
In his address to the SWAAC membership, Hollis again touched on connections. “It is the connections inside and outside of this organization that forge our future — the audiences we entertain, the school students we edify, the artists we engage,” he said. “It is the board members who freely give their talent, time, energy, and money; and it is the partnerships we build.
“Much goes into the daily works of the Arts Council. It takes operating grants from the state, support from public schools, and the backing and patronage of our members. We want to thank each of them for what they do to keep our mission and our works alive.
“As we move into another year of arts service, we are pledged to continue keeping, making, and expanding those connections,” he concluded, giving that as a charge to the Board of Directors, voted on by the membership at the meeting, as they carry out the organizational mission of the Southwest Arkansas Arts Council “to provide community enrichment through artistic experience, expression and education.”
New officers elected to the SWAAC Board of Directors were Dolly Henley, president; Linsey Honea, first vice president; Anna Powell, second vice president; Brian Berry, treasurer; Judy Vaughan, secretary; and Hollis, past president. Other board members are Glenda Clark, Catherine Cook, Paula Gunter, Dolly Hutson, Amanda Lance, Ken McLemore, Aley Mendoza, JoAnn Montgomery, Monica Morris, Margaret Moss, Tamara Read, Craig Robinson, Cherry Stewart, Lindsey Townsend, Christi Whitlock and Allison Wilson.
Memberships in the Southwest Arkansas Arts Council range in price from $5 for a student membership to $35 for an individual and $60 for a family. Higher levels of membership include Affiliate at $100, Associate at $250, Patron at $500, Benefactor at $1,000 and Sustainer at $2,000. For more information, contact SWAAC at 870-777-8200.