Entertainment Notes-Northwest Arkansas

Tennessee Mafia Jug Band to play 'pass the hat' show

The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band -- Dan Kelly, fiddle; Mike Webb, Dobro steel guitar; Mike Armistead, guitar and vocals; Ernie Sykes, upright bass; and Leroy Troy, banjo, washboard, duck call, bicycle bell, etc. -- will perform at 7 p.m. Monday at the Collins Theatre, 120 W. Emerson St., Paragould, for Jonesboro public radio station KASU-FM, 91.9's Bluegrass Monday concert series.

The station will literally "pass the hat" to pay the group; suggested donation is $5 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m. Call (870) 972-2367, email mscarbro@astate.edu or visit the Bluegrass Monday Facebook page.

Mainly in the Plein

The 2016 May Festival of the Arts in Eureka Springs includes a new Plein Air Festival, today-Thursday at various Eureka Springs venues, featuring "paint-outs," prizes (including for "Pick of the Day" paintings), art show/receptions and workshops.

Instructors include Lloyd Kelley, Carl Petering, David Tripp and Wen Norton. Sponsors are the Eureka Springs School of Art and Plein Air Painters of Eureka Springs. Register and obtain more information, including workshop fees, by calling (479) 253-5384, by email at Maureen.essa@gmail.com or online at essa-art.org.

Academy grant

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FilmWatch program has given a $5,000 grant to the 2016 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, helping to create a special 25th-year "festival sidebar" called "Women Behind the Lens: Diverse Perspectives." The festival also received a 2015 FilmWatch grant for a program titled "Women Behind the Lens: Black and Latina Filmmakers." The program handed out 16 grants nationally this year amounting to $500,000.

This year's Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival will run Oct. 7-16 at the Arlington Hotel and Spa, 239 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Visit hsdfi.org.

Shakespeare grant

The National Endowment for the Arts is handing out three spring Art Works grants:

• To the Arkansas Arts Council, $651,700, "to support Partnership Agreement activities in the state."

• To the University of Central Arkansas on behalf of the Conway-based Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, $10,000 to support "pay what you can" outdoor performances of William Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream (June 10-11, 18-19, 23, 30, July 3 and 8-9 on the lawn of McAlister Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway) and to expand the "Shakespeare Across Arkansas" touring show, a family friendly, one-hour adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, with performances across the state, June through August.

• To UCA, $25,000 to support a multidisciplinary arts festival at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, marking the 60-year anniversary of the 1957 Central High desegregation crisis, including a video projection for the building facade (accompanied by an original percussion score), a pop-up jazz music and maker faire and a commemorative event in the Central High Garden with Tania Leon, composer of a Little Rock Nine opera.

The grants are part of more than $82 million the endowment is using to fund local arts projects under the Art Works rubric.

Wildwood academy

May 31 is the deadline to sign up for the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts' summer instrumental and vocal sessions for youngsters age 6-18 in the Cabe Festival Theatre complex at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock.

Online applications are available at tinyurl.com/z5nqxe7. There is a $25 registration fee. A limited number of merit-based and need-based scholarships are available. Call (501) 821-7275, Extension 253; email angela@wildwoodpark.org; or or visit wildwoodpark.org.

The lineup:

• Beginner sessions, two weeks of musical instruction for beginners age 6-13 who have little or no prior music experience. WILDMusic Instrumental program, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 11-15; WILDMusic Vocal program, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 18-22. One-week tuition for each session: $250. Optional after care available.

• Intermediate Instrumental, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. July 5-8, for students 8-18; requires at least one year of band or orchestral experience. Tuition: $200 (four-day session).

• Advanced Orchestral, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 12-24 for students 8-18, requires at least three years' experience. Tuition: $500 (two-week session).

• Vocal Intermediate, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. July 5-8, for students 8-18 seeking to strengthen vocal techniques, improve music reading skills and develop confidence on stage. Must be graduates of the WILDMusic beginners vocal program or have at least one year of choral or vocal experience. Tuition: $200 (four-day session).

• Advanced Vocal, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 20-July 1, for students 8-18 with more than two years of choral or vocal experience. Tuition: $500 (two-week session).

Ballet workshop

Western Arkansas Ballet will hold its 25th annual Lorraine Cranford Summer Dance Workshop, an intensive session for students 11 and older with a minimum of two years classical ballet training, June 5-10 at Western Arkansas Ballet Studios, 4701 Grand Avenue, Fort Smith. The workshop features three levels of instruction and four class hours each day for all levels, plus rehearsals, culminating in a June 10 in-studio performance.

Instructors are Ashley Nemeth, artistic director, Summit Dance Academy, Parker, Colo. (ballet); Walker Martin, company member and academy faculty, Oklahoma City Ballet (modern); and Marc Wayne, artistic director, Maxxas Dance Theatre, Olathe, Kan. (jazz). June 1 is the deadline to register. Workshop fee is $475 with a $50 nonrefundable deposit. Registration forms are available online at waballet.org/academy/summer-workshops.

The ballet company will also hold at its studios three summer ballet camps, June 13-17, culminating in a short studio performance on the last day. Registration deadline is June 8:

Nutcracker Camp, ages 4-6, 10 a.m.-noon. $75.

Giselle Camp, ages 7-9, 1-3:30 p.m. $85.

• Pre-Company Camp, ages 10-14, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m, each day, for students interested in becoming a member of the ballet company or who want to expand their dance knowledge and ability. $150.

Call (479) 785-0125.

Style on 05/22/2016

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