Arts organizations likely to bloom

Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Artist rendering reflecting the latest design change for the The U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith
Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Artist rendering reflecting the latest design change for the The U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith

Two things you can guarantee about the arts in Northwest Arkansas: Something new will always be on the horizon, and there will always be growth in unexpected places. The following organizations have some of the most growth in the near future.

MONAH

What opened to the public in 2006 as David Bogle's private collection of American Indian history has become one of the must-see stops for visitors coming to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and a repository of both rare artifacts and living history.

"We're known more internationally than we are in our own backyard," says Charlotte Buchanan-Yale, director of the Museum of Native American History. "That's why we've started trying to give everybody 15 minutes of 'yes' in our community."

To her, that means welcoming people such as flutist John Two-Hawks for the Tipi Talks series, allowing people to ask questions about contemporary American Indian practices and issues, and bringing in performers such as Bobby Bridger to share the living history of the Native people.

"Our goal this year has been to really grow the museum and expand our community radius," she says. "And we've doubled attendance. Fayetteville even knows we're here!"

ArkansasStaged

Jason Suel, Kris Stoker and Sabrina Veroczi formed ArkansasStaged three years ago with the goal to "create funny and absurd theater pieces with local artists they admired," says theater artist Laura Shatkus, who took over the reins of the company when Stoker and Veroczi moved to Kansas City.

The company has amped up its performance schedule and is making a real name for itself in alternative theater in the area.

"[We've] evolved into a small collective of theater artists working to bring staged reading and experimental and experiential theater to life in unique spaces throughout Northwest Arkansas," says Shatkus.

The company has performed at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville and the Fayetteville Underground. Their latest production was a reading of "Craving Gravy: Or Love in the Time of Cannibalism" by John Walch, the head of the playwriting program at the University of Arkansas, performed at 21C Museum Hotel.

The collaboration with the hotel has been so successful that the group is doing an entire season there. After a Jan. 20 opening, three productions will follow in May, August and October.

Artist's Laboratory Theatre

Described as "community-centric, site-specific theater dedicated to expanding the audience's role in live theater," Artist's Laboratory Theatre is the brainchild of Erika Wilhite.

Since its founding in 2010, ALT has shared the lives of the disenfranchised in Prison Stories, taken audiences into sheet forts and the alleys of Fayetteville, and most recently found its first permanent home at 1030 S. College Ave.

U.S. Marshals Museum

The U.S. Marshals Museum is raising the $58.6 million needed to build a 50,000-square-foot building on the south bank of the Arkansas River near downtown Fort Smith. The cost estimate includes preparation of exhibits; furniture, fixtures and equipment; a $4 million endowment; first-year operating costs; and contingencies.

The museum will consist of three permanent exhibit galleries, a temporary exhibit gallery, a Hall of Honor to recognize those killed in the line of duty and a National Learning Center.

Museum President Patrick Weeks announced in October that the museum would open Sept. 24, 2019, the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Marshals Service.

NW Business on 03/26/2017

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