ENTERTAINMENT: Youth jazz ensemble to bring concert to WAC

MUSIC

Youthful big band

The Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society’s All-Star Youth Ensemble, a 20-piece jazz big band made up of high school students from seven regional high schools, makes its 10th-season debut with guest “star” jazz saxophonist Adam Larson, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $23. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.

The students have been studying jazz big band repertoire, improvisation techniques and the art of ensemble performance weekly with Larson, Rick Salonen from the University of Arkansas and Ryan Yumang from the University of North Texas.

DANCE

Fairy tales en pointe

Western Arkansas Ballet stages “Snow White & A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — a ballet adaptation of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale with original choreography by Artistic Director Jared A. Mesa, paired with the story of a fairy forest where the course of love does not run smooth, based on William Shakespeare’s comedy with a score by Felix Mendelssohn — 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. May 3 at the ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith. Professional dancer Nicholas C. Mesa from Yuma, Ariz., joins a cast of local children. Tickets are $35, $20 for children through university students with ID. Visit waballet.org.

 

ART & CRAFTS

Pottery Festival

The Community Creative Center, 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville, hosts the fifth Arkansas Pottery Festival, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 3.

Festival highlights include live pottery demonstrations and lectures by ceramic artists Sean O’Connell and Catherine Lemaire Lozier on Friday and Saturday; an exhibition and sale of work by more than 50 potters from Arkansas and surrounding states; and a display of historic pottery from the Arkansas Archeological Survey. A flowerpot and plant sale fundraiser features a selection of affordable handmade planters and locally grown plants.

Sponsors are the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, First Horizon Bank and Sherrill Mudtools. Admission is free. Call (479) 571-2706 or visit communitycreativecenter.org/about-us/arkansas-pottery-festival.

Digital exhibition

The University of Arkansas Libraries’ Special Collections Division, in collaboration with the School of Art in the UA Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has launched a new digital collection titled “The Fine Arts Center: The First Years,” accessible at digitalcollections.uark.edu/digital/collection/FNARhistory.

This digital exhibit — curated by UA archivist Catherine Wallack and co-coordinated with John Blakinger, endowed associate professor and program director of art history at the School of Art — allows scholars and arts enthusiasts across the country, particularly those studying mid-century modernism in the United States, “to discover Arkansas’ role in this significant architectural and cultural movement,” according to a news release.

The exhibit gathers digitized materials documenting the university’s Fine Arts Center’s development and programming, including photographs, correspondence, programs, catalogs, flyers and exhibition announcements regarding the center — designed by Fayetteville native, noted architect and UA alumnus Edward Durell Stone — which opened in 1951. It was among the first academic buildings in the nation to bring art, architecture, music, theater and dance together in a single, purpose-built space.

The launch of the digital exhibition coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Fine Arts Center, 340 N. Garland Ave., Fayetteville, and its recent $38 million restoration.

ETC.

Genealogy workshop

The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, 201 Arkansas 195, Washington, hosts a genealogy workshop titled “Finding Your Early Arkansas and American Ancestors,” part of the U.S.’ 250th anniversary, 10 a.m.-noon May 9. Participants will hear a presentation from SARA archivist Melissa Nesbitt on how to start their own genealogy research. Participants can also use the archives’ research resources and obtain individual research assistance from staff. Admission is free but registration is required, via tinyurl.com/mtuscrdd. For more information, call (870) 983-2633 or email [email protected].