GET SAVVY ABOUT YOUR ART
THURSDAYs 6/4, 6/11, 6/18, 6/25. Arkansas Arts Council Facebook page. 1 p.m. Free.
Artists of all stripes: The Arkansas Arts Council, a division of Arkansas Heritage, is hosting free talks every week about grants, professional development workshops and ways to connect to resources that may help you make a living with your craft. “As the economy begins to reopen,” the Arts Council says on its event page, “the Arkansas Arts Council is here to help artists and arts organizations create a stronger and more robust creative economy. The Arts Council understands the importance of arts-related businesses and organizations, which contribute millions to Arkansas’s overall economy and are instrumental to the state’s quality of life.” Find talks on the Events portion of the Arts Council’s Facebook page.
Daisy Bates’ “The Long Shadow of Little Rock”
JOIN CENTRAL HIGH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE’S VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB
Central High School National Historic Site Facebook page. Free.
Knowing the name Ida B. Wells is one thing. Exploring how a woman born into slavery would break ground in the fields of investigative journalism and social work — and earn a posthumously awarded Pulitzer for it — is quite another. In May, Wells was the subject of the Central High School National Historic Site’s virtual book club, a project park guide Rebecca Hoffman dreamed up prepandemic and brought to life when in-person visits to the historic site became impossible. In keeping with the National Historic Site’s theme of studying women in the civil rights movement, the book club will explore Daisy Bates’ memoir, “The Long Shadow of Little Rock,” in June. Follow facebook.com/centralhighnps to get the download link for the book under discussion and jump into the conversation.
DUST OFF YOUR LIBRARY CARD
Don’t know about you, but my pandemic budget doesn’t have a “new comic books” category or a spot for that $160 kit from 23andMe. If you are in the same boat, you can jumpstart your genealogy project, rent “1917,” learn how to fix your damn bike tires or get your trashy suspense novel fix at your local Central Arkansas Library System branch online (closed for physical visits but available nonetheless) for free. When the Arkansas Times went to press, all CALS branches save for Brooks Library were offering curbside and telephone service. Get a library card online at cals.org/library-card-basics and browse the stacks at https://cals.bibliocommons.com. Garland County residents: An enthusiastic staff at the Garland County Library has fired up its summer reading programs for kids and teens a bit early (and virtually); check that out here.
SCHEDULE A PLAY FROM CURBSIDE
THEATRE IN YOUR FRONT YARD
MONDAY 6/15-TUESDAY 7/30. Northwest Arkansas homes. Donations.
Northwest Arkansas theater pathfinders Michael Bell, Mischa Hutchings, Kholoud Sawaf, Laura Shatkus and Adrienne Dawes are putting together what they’re calling “a theatrical care package,” to be performed curbside at 30 households in Northwest Arkansas for free between June 15 and July 30. “Given the need to adapt and change in the time of social distancing,” a press release states, “the play is performed on curbsides, facing your front door, outside of your kitchen window, or in your backyard — always observing the rules of social distancing — with the goal of making you laugh, engaging your sense of wonder and bringing you hope in absurd times. Each performance will be customized and staged with your particular dwelling in mind through a pre-show consultation.” The piece is family-friendly, with a runtime of 30-45 minutes, and is created and performed under the ArkansasStaged umbrella, a Northwest Arkansas collective that seeks out under-heralded repertoire and unusual performance spaces. Reservations go up at curbsidetheatre.com in June; you can throw a few bucks toward the cause at curbsidetheatre.com/donate.
